Sam Vickers

At the start of the year, I spent some time marshalling various ideas and thoughts for potential articles into an embryonic running order for the weeks and months ahead.

One of the ideas is to try and ‘shine the spotlight’ on other professions within the golfing industry, following on from the article on Kevin Diss, a professional golf course and events photographer, which was published in December 2019.

One such profession is ‘Performance Coaching’ and one of the leading practitioners in this discipline is Sam Vickers, a golf performance specialist who is now attached to The National Performance Centre at Woodhall Spa Golf Club, Lincolnshire, England.

Cutting a very long and convoluted story short, Sam and I met up, albeit via Zoom to adhere with the UK Governments social distancing guidelines for COVID-19…we chatted at length about his life in golf both as a player and as a professional performance coach…and much much more.

Hope you enjoy.

The First Tee

Golfing Herald (GH): I started by asking Sam what sports he enjoyed playing when growing up.

Sam Vickers (SV): Just about anything and everything. I played a lot of football, cricket, squash…to be perfectly honest probably golf was the one sport I didn’t play when I was growing up!! I think I first started playing golf when I was 15 so I was quite late to golf compared to the other sports I played. I think that was one of the main reasons why I loved it so much and got into it so quickly because when you have played a lot of what I would like to say are more ‘mainstream’ sports like Football and Cricket you traditionally just fall into them through school.

(GH): That’s right…I think in most schools in the UK, the staple diet of sports for boys is Football, Rugby and Cricket.

(SV): Exactly…and I think if you like sport then at some point you are going to be playing for a football team, a rugby team, etc. Although you love those sports at that age, you are somewhat forced towards them more than other sports. I think unless you have got a parent who plays a different sport or you live next to a club that does a different sport then it is unlikely you will start to participate in some of these ‘lesser’ sports…I think that is what happened to me with golf.

Late Starter

(GH): What was the catalyst that sparked your introduction to golf?

(SV): I always remember it clearly as I still talk about it to this day. My best friend and I went away to Centre Parcs on a family break and they have so much to do there in every sport. They had a 9 hole golf course…just a Par 3 course which we played. I think it was about March time, but certainly early Spring. But ever since then, it was almost like ‘I really like this sport’…and actually, there was a golf course, Horncastle Golf Course, that was perfect for beginners, literally 10 minutes down the road from where I grew up and up to that point I wasn’t really aware it was there!! As a course, it was almost perfect as an introduction to golf as we could go there in the evenings after school, no golf gear, a few clubs that we had picked up and just play. Even in the middle of the season, there was barely a single person on the course. A good way to just start playing with no financial commitment.

(GH): How did your golf progress from those innocent ‘picking up a few clubs and playing’ days?

(SV): I think because I started playing golf with my best friend it was such an easy way to start up and I didn’t think I had to integrate with the junior section for example. It was quite easy for us to just say ‘let’s go play’ and just enjoy the process of getting better. We didn’t have any lessons and the enjoyment was purely from getting better and learning by trial and error. I think that gave me an extra passion for the game and just enjoying the sport for what it was. Even at that age golf was unbelievably refreshing and I don’t think that feeling has ever changed.

Now Its Golf

(GH): Listening to you describe your earliest golfing experiences sounds very much like sports participation in its purest form…so what next during those early days of your golfing journey?

(SV): I don’t know if you are familiar with Lincolnshire, but it is only about a 15-minute drive from Horncastle to Woodhall Spa Golf Club…a club which is internationally recognised. We were not aware of that at that time…we had no idea!! That was essentially the nearest affiliated golf course. So the next step was to go and join a club where we could play more, including competitions. That was pure chance and pure luck to become a junior member at Woodhall Spa. Once you have been fortunate enough to play at a club with 2 courses of such quality and with some very good players there then I think it just took off very quickly. So I thought this is now my main sport and I was almost like not interested in playing any sport other than golf. It almost happened overnight which is bizarre when you have grown up playing so many sports…not all to a high level but some county representations and a decent all-round sportsman to almost going ‘now its golf!!’.

(GH): So hypothetically all of your other sports kit, boots, equipment, etc. went into the cupboard!!

(SV): No…literally!!

First Handicap

(GH): OK…so can you remember what handicap you were allocated when joining Woodhall Spa?

(SV): I had a handicap at Horncastle Golf Club and I think (from the top of my head) that was 24. When joining Woodhall Spa I was given that handicap…but when you start playing there you realise this course is just a little bit different so in today’s terms I would have been (initially) playing off something like a 32 handicap. In a sense, it forces you to get better quicker and I think in the space of one summer I was down to low double digits…12 or 13.

University

(GH): I will pick up the thread of your golf journey from a playing perspective later, but for now, what influenced your thinking to read Sports Science and Coaching at University?

(SV): Having grown up playing a lot of sport to a respectable level, interlinked with my personality, I always found that the analytical side of sports was something that gave me a nice little passion…so even when I was in my early teens I can recall almost being more interested in how the performance worked and how you could maximize your own game. It almost felt there was a lot more going on than the people and coaches I was around could tell me. So when I came to golf, because you can do a lot of ‘trial and error’ and it’s all about you and figuring it out…watching other players…watching ball flight and understanding how this impacted ‘this, that and the other’. I didn’t start playing properly until I was about 16 or 17 and that coincided with when I was at college where I was studying sports at the time. Not sure where I wanted to go with it but realised there was a genuine passion there for Sports Performance and I wanted to pursue this further. So that is how I studied Sports Science and Coaching at University.

(GH): So unlike most students, myself included, your time in tertiary education was very much a focused stepping stone.

(SV): Absolutely. I have had this conversation with coaches and with players, in that, if you think of the dedication that is required to become an elite sportsperson, then what people don’t often realise is there are people out there who apply that same amount of dedication, time, energy and resources to coach. They are now starting (coaching) when they are 16 or 17, learning so much and not bothered how they perform (at sports). Today you now see elite-level coaches in a variety of sports in their late twenties whereas before you almost had to have played to a certain level then as you mature you retire then move into coaching. That is far from the case nowadays. Coaching is an education, it’s an art form, it’s a science…today it’s almost like you have to be one or the other in that you can’t be a player and a coach. Of course, it can happen and does happen but it is becoming less and less.

Post Graduation

(GH): After you graduated, what was your first step on the golf coaching career ladder?

(SV): Strange in some ways, though I suppose you do make your own luck at times…the Director of Sport at the college I went to used to play golf and I bumped into him over the years and played against him the odd time in matches. He rang me up out of the blue just as I was graduating with my degree in Sports Science. At the college, they were starting a new course…a degree in Golf Science…essentially a Sports Science course focused around golf. Because they were only a small institution they didn’t have the resources to hire multiple different coaches. He basically said ‘I know you are a decent golfer, obviously you have got your Sports Science background and asked me to come in and essentially run the course and also do some Sports Science lecturing’. So straight from University, I was in a role where I was probably a little bit out of my depth but at the same time, I fell directly into everything I wanted. It wasn’t something I was looking for but there was so much crossover there between a further understanding of Sports Science, educating players, being able to work with people 1-on-1 and build a team approach. I was lecturing as well which was very interesting and that certainly helped build my communication skills and research skills further.

New Discipline

(GH): As you say, Sam, there is no rhyme or reason why at times in our lives we somehow benefit from (making our own) luck!! So how long did you work at the college in this multi-faceted position?

(SV): It reached the point where the course was not getting the student numbers it needed and they couldn’t continue to fund it which is so often the case. I was 3 years in my first professional job, straight from University. Probably 60% of the way through those 3 years I was getting to a point where I was like OK, this has been a nice stepping stone but what is my next step and how do I take these skills forward but without continuing just to be a Sports Science lecturer. It didn’t offer me anywhere near as much as I wanted.

(GH): So what was your next step to try and find what you did want?

(SV): The next step was to almost choose an area of Sports Science that I had a deeper interest and understanding in and also an area that I could see work essentially. That was probably the key thing. When you are actually in the real world of Sports Science it is not a pretty industry, there are very few jobs out there in general, the competition is unbelievably high and the financial rewards are pretty awful. You hear these stories of someone who works at a Premier League (Football) Club in the Sports Science team and think that must be a great job. But even if you are working for one of the Top 4 clubs it is certainly not as good a job as you would expect it to be and financially the reward is much lower than you would expect. I know I am not painting the picture very well for the industry but more the point you have to be realistic. So I identified where there were gaps in the market and where there were routes that you could take that were not traditionally used or understood and that led me down to the discipline of Strength and Conditioning. Again, it is still quite a new discipline of Sports Science in its own right and the best way I like to explain it is:

‘Biomechanics and Physiology combined in a real-world environment’

SV Golf Performance

(GH): Did you have to undertake further training and education to facilitate your transition into this new (career) discipline of ‘Strength and Conditioning’?

(SV): Yes…I went back to University to do a Professional Masters which gave me the experience in elite level Strength and Conditioning but also gave me the qualifications to ‘get out there’ and do it from a qualified and in-depth perspective and so I built up a business around that.

(GH): Was that the point when you set up your own business, namely SV Golf Performance?

(SV): That was exactly it…I always had that in mind when I was lecturing because I was probably getting more inclined to be my own boss. I am not working in the ‘9 to 5’ world…more the overworked and underpaid sort of principle!! It was very obvious to me that if I was going to enjoy my work but also have an impact in my industry then I almost needed to be freelance and create my own reputation, my own client base and my own connections…all very important. Start with absolutely nothing but then build it up over time. That would scare a lot of people but that kind of excited me as that is what I am about in a sense. I enjoy building those relationships and the complexities of understanding people and building those connections and trust.

Definition

(GH): How do you define the core discipline of Strength and Conditioning from a golf perspective?

(SV): In some ways, I almost hate the phrase Strength and Conditioning as it makes people kind of just think of fitness or personal training or something like that. How I define Strength and Conditioning, in its most simple terms is that my role is to:

‘make an athlete or a golfer better by physically changing how their body performs’

A really good example would be a weekend golfer who plays off a 12 handicap. What do they want to do? They probably want to hit the ball more consistently…they probably want to play golf without pain or injury…and they probably just want to hit the ball a bit further. Now all of those things are strongly determined by how your body moves and what it can physically do.

(GH): How does your approach differ or how is your approach refined for a Professional golfer?

(SV): Moving up the playing calibre to say a Tour Professional you start to move into other areas where you are looking at nutrition, looking at preparation for tournaments, how well does the individual recover and what strategy you need to put in place to make them recover better. We get them moving with complete freedom and efficiency. Because obviously, their technique level is so much higher we don’t want them searching for timing in a golf swing if they are feeling a bit stiff or they are lacking some power through fatigue…so we are trying to reduce the impact their bodies is having on their performance. A massive one, certainly in elite golf nowadays at Professional level is distance and how far they can hit the ball. If I can help them generate more clubhead speed which is a massive role of mine for say Category 1 level and above then that is what we try to maximize. Whether that is through what they are doing physically in the gym or what they are doing biomechanically…how is their body moving and interacting with the club or the clubhead. If they have got a very good golf coach then their golf coach will have a very good understanding of my role and we will be able to work together as a team and it will almost be an integrated approach. But not all golf coaches have that background so that is when my role becomes more of a consultancy role to try and educate the player and the coach.

Youth Development

(GH): In preparation for today, I spent some time navigating around the SV Golf Performance website and I enjoyed reading about the varied array of services that you provide, over and above what you have just briefly outlined for the weekend and professional golfers. I would like to start with the Youth Development Programme so could you expand upon this Programme and how it aligns to golf?

(SV): Long-term athletic development is nothing new but it is something that I specialised in quite early on in my career. The story behind it is when I was lecturing there was a tutor at the college who used to work for Lincoln City Football Club. When I started it was their offseason in the summer and he said we have got several individuals from about the ages of 11 to 14 who were physically behind to where they (Lincoln City) needed them to be on their programme and that they were probably at risk of losing their place/scholarship. He asked whether I would be able to help during the offseason and try to get young, up and coming, talented footballers into a better position for when they returned to the club, as they did not have the resources ‘in-house’. So that is kind of how I started. Sports such as Football and Rugby are rightly viewed as athletically and physically demanding but with something like golf, that is regarded more as a skill-based game, then at times the physical side doesn’t get looked at in those formative years. It probably only gets considered when you reach a certain playing level and unfortunately, that is overlooking a huge part of a young golfers development, both physical and cognitive. Something that is so important for children into their adolescent years is the type of physical training that they do.

(GH): And we all know from our growing pains and experiences that the pace of development, especially physically, is almost unique like a fingerprint and varies from person to person.

(SV): Linking into what you have just said, within Sports Science you have the chronological age vs the biological age…for example, a young person’s chronological age is 12 but their biological age could be anywhere up to say 14 or as low as 9 or 10. When we take that into account it is really important because if you have a group of say 10 youngsters together who are all chronologically aged 12 then in that group you potentially have got young men vs young children. That is not a fair game. Also, the technical coaches, depending on how skilled and knowledgeable they are will look and say this individual is just not good enough or a long way behind when actually they could be really advanced for their biological age. Give them a couple of years they will probably be way further ahead than that individual who is 12 but is demonstrating a biological age of 14. We have all seen it, certainly in other sports, where a young sportsperson who is much bigger, much stronger and much more powerful will almost dominate the other players but then they reach the age of 16 or 17 where everyone catches up physically they just fall off the planet!! It is the same with golf. There is no difference in that you attempt to develop the individual as an overall athlete and not just as a golfer.

(GH): So what is your approach in the development of young golfers?

(SV): You don’t want a youngster just playing golf. You want them playing lots of other sports and learning lots of other skills and physical qualities but unfortunately today, a youngster will typically just specialise in one sport from a very young age. As a result, they miss out on huge learning development cognitively and also physically. So the programme follows an integrated approach and outlining the bigger picture of what we are trying to achieve short, medium and long term. The principles behind it are just trying to make that young person as healthy and as injury-free as possible and if that helps them in sport then fantastic. At that younger age, we try to develop so much more than how it just impacts their golf.

Statistical Analysis

(GH): Another service that you provide which caught my eye because of my mathematical background is ‘Statistical Analysis’.

(SV): It’s not something I do much of now, but when I was doing lecturing part of the curriculum was course management strategy and how that linked with statistics. I then got hired as a freelance ‘Sports Data Research Analyst’.

(GH): Sounds interesting…what did that role entail?

(SV): It was essentially me writing reports for a company (The Stats Zone) on PGA golf events where we were trying to bring current Sports Science and Sports Statistics in a format that provided an opinion based on evidence. So we kind of dug a bit deeper by using the available statistics, typically something called ‘Strokes Gained’. We then took that information about the players, tournament, etc. and translated into a basic format. For example, say it was the Masters next week and the favourite is Tiger Woods…but why is he the favourite? Is it just based on my opinion and why I like him or is it based on evidence…so we drilled a bit deeper on whether he is heading to the Masters with a genuine chance? It was a little bit different in that I took that information and my understanding of statistics which is good, though don’t get me wrong I am not a statistician!!

(GH): I thought I had read an article or a post somewhere that you also used Statistics to assist players to improve.

(SV): That’s right…in the real-world application, golf especially, I can help and have helped players make better use of their statistics and how they record them and make sure they are recording the right ones. Help them interpret the statistics better and then how to push that information to better practise, to better course management. It links back a little bit to Biomechanics which I mentioned earlier in that if a golf coach is clued up, well researched, educated and understands that side of things they will promote that (statistics) anyway. It is just another service that I can offer ‘on the side’ as it kind of interlinks with the other services such as Strength and Conditioning.

Sam then provided an illustrated example through a (hypothetical) conversation between himself and a Tour Professional…as follows:

If you think of an elite player and they come to me and I will say something like:

Sam…“What are you trying to achieve?”

Pro…“I feel like I need to hit the ball further”

Sam…“OK, is there any evidence of that?”

Pro…“I just know that when I play with other players on Tour they knock it 20 yards past me”

Sam…“OK, but how much is this going to bring to your overall score? We need some evidence of this and then we need to be able to test and quantify that evidence”

(SV): This illustrates that again nothing works in isolation and linking with other areas we need to get a clear structure of what we are trying to achieve.

National Performance Centre

(GH): Thanks for that Sam…aligned to the specific services you provide how did your relationship with the National Performance Centre at Woodhall Spa Golf Club come about?

(SV): For people who don’t know, the National Performance Centre down at Woodhall Spa is purely for golf so the squads train there. About 2 & 1/2 to 3 years ago the facilities were updated, for the Golf Club and England Golf, and are used by elite players, including the national teams. I don’t know the exact figure but let’s say that players are only based there about 15 weeks of the year. For the rest of that time, the gym is unused. Where I was at location wise and my background I got talking to the General Manager/Director and he asked me if I would be interested in working there and building up the Strength and Conditioning side of golf. That facility was there anyway and was not designed as a commercial unit. It was just a natural fit. You could say it was just good timing more than anything. At the same time Neil Harvey, the Head Coach at Woodhall Spa very much understands the importance of how Strength and Conditioning can impact his coaching. For example, if he sends me a player who has some sort of movement limitation that he has noticed is impacting the players’ golf swing, then he will hand him over to me. Then in time, through my work with the player, that will help the results for what the coach is doing and what the player can achieve. That integrated approach at a golf club is not something that traditionally has been in place. How many clubs have a driving range let alone a gym or a stroke conditioning unit?

Continuous Improvement

(GH): How do you keep abreast of trends and changes within your industry?

(SV): I think for me because I spent that time lecturing I am naturally more inclined to read and to research regularly. Also, online discussions with fellow coaches and other experts and leaders in the field. I try and update my education wherever possible…for example, I am meant to be going back to University in September/October to undertake research over the next few years. That will just be part-time alongside my current role as I want to progress my understanding and my expertise but also become more of an expert in my field. I am not the sort of individual who will learn something from qualifications and take that as gospel for the rest of my working years. It links back to probably what I was saying at the beginning is where I am a little bit more invested in the understanding of the performance of people because I know it is complex. So if I say I have learnt some information from a qualification who is to say that information is even correct? Who is to say it is up-to-date? Who is to say it is ‘black and white’ as that? So it is the case of exploring and constantly learning and trying to evolve and it’s kind of one of my main passions probably as a coach and as a person.

(GH): At the end of the day you have got to have faith and trust in your ability and a current understanding of (as you say) a very complex subject and likewise your respective clients place faith and trust in your coaching and approach.

(SV): Massively…I have a good rapport with several very good golf coaches who I respect very highly where we often have chats and discussions and kind of bounce ideas and understanding of each other. I am not a player as such and have not competed at a high amateur level or as a professional golfer which is traditionally the case in golf coaching and because of that, I think there is somewhat a need for me to be at a higher level of my knowledge base to prove myself sometimes to players. It is common in golf and I am sure it is common in other sports…a case of ‘you were a good player does that make you a good coach?’ No, not in any shape or form. But a lot of players at all levels will respect or go and see a coach if they were a good player. Almost after the first two or three sessions, it is irrelevant. But for me I need to kind of prove that if you are coming to see me then 1) you will get a result and 2) you will get the highest level of expertise that I can personally offer. That is what kind of drives me constantly to become a better coach.

New Client

(GH): That leads neatly into my next question which is a potential new client gets in contact with you and indicates that they would like to work with you…what would be your new client engagement model?

(SV): Initially, I always send a consultation form to the player because I need background information. First and foremost I need to know about their injury history, what potentially their occupation was, standard of player that they are…then I need to know what they are looking to achieve. This is where the psychological element comes into play where I try to understand what is driving that individual. Then almost from the outset, I can determine what level I am going to interact with the individual…though that interaction will invariably evolve. For example, an 18 handicap player may get in touch and say they want to get better at golf but that they have had a lower back problem for several years and want to strengthen that area up. You know there is a very clear purpose there and we probably don’t need to be too in-depth with the golf.

(GH): And if say a Tour Professional contacted you?

(SV): If a tour player gets in contact and says I need to get to that next level then I need to explore what that next level is…going a bit deeper that might link to the statistics I mentioned earlier, Biomechanic analysis, whatever it might be. So I always need to understand the individual and then essentially they would come and see me and we would do some movement screening, for which I have created tests to establish a personal biomechanics profile. You could fail a test or not perform a test to the level required to pass that test because of how your body moves completely natural. You will never change the way the body moves. I could have someone comes in who for example has had surgery or they have had a knee replacement or maybe a trauma from a bad car crash. Any of those is going to impact how they can and cannot move. It is not as simple as saying you have failed this test it’s more why have you failed? Once we gather that kind of information then we can put in place an intervention to progress and improve those areas, which would typically be in the form of exercise. We try to apply a Strength and Conditioning programme to improve on physical limitations that have been identified. It is all about the individual and all about the end goal of what they are trying to achieve over an agreed period.

(GH): The way you have clearly described the engagement and execution process, it comes across as having almost an infinite number of permutations from which you create a carefully selected bespoke programme for the individual.

(SV): It is…and if I am trying to improve a golfer physically then in every way possible there has to be some form of communication with the golf coach and with the player and everyone has to be on the same page.

Professional on Tour

(GH): I know that you are actively involved with professionals on various tours so how do you plan out the year in terms of an offseason programme and/or a playing season programme, respecting client confidentiality as we agreed before catching up today?

(SV): It depends on the individual in terms of where they are at, their goals, their history. Take a player who is competing on the PGA EuroPro Tour, their season is typically something like May to October so you have a very long period around that in the winter when they are not going to be playing much golf here (in the UK) unless they go off to play in some of the minor tours abroad. So you have got huge amounts of time to make significant progress and no excuses!! But then you might have another player who plays on the European Challenge Tour which is still played over a similar window (to the EuroPro Tour) but is more complex as there is more travel. Then you move upwards to the European Tour which is technically all year round with massive amounts of travel and often not spending much time at home and not having the facilities to train properly.

(GH): So what is your approach for each of these Tour Professionals?

(SV): All three of these individuals will be looked at in completely different ways and then it comes down to what they are applying their Strength and Conditioning for. I have quite a few guys who have grown up in the generation where Strength and Conditioning wasn’t the thing and so they are carrying lots of injuries, which you would expect from an older player who has not done anything physically. So the Strength and Conditioning for them is to try and keep their injury rate and risk at the lowest it can be so that they can play and practise. Their training would look very different from someone who is looking to generate a lot more clubhead speed. So it all comes down to the needs of the individual and thus I can’t give a definitive answer. But one thing I would say is if we took what I would say is my ideal client then I would want them training 4 times a week regardless of when they are playing. It doesn’t matter if you are on the road or playing in a major championship or at home then you have to be doing 4 sessions a week of some shape or form. I also want them training in a very particular way or with a very particular outcome for a couple of those sessions and then the other sessions will have a different focus. It then comes down to can we get a plan in place for that individual and can they do it to the level that is required to get the outcomes.

Podcast

(GH): In preparation for today I recently watched the visual podcast you did with Ben Mason, the PGA Teaching Professional at the iGolfStudio in Sheffield, England. I thought it was entertaining, informative and really good chemistry and interaction between you and Ben, so what was your thinking behind this podcast?

(SV): That feedback is pleasing to hear. Ben is a very good coach and someone who I learn plenty from but I also like the fact he is very open-minded. That is so important in any field but certainly with golf coaching. We did the podcast just before Christmas but it was something that I had planned to do ‘forever and ever!!’. It was only when I had a free week just before Christmas and I thought I am going to use that time, get up to Sheffield to see him and do the podcast. The plan was to do more podcasts with others and a follow up with Ben but they have just not happened simply because I have just not stopped…and now we have been impacted by COVID-19.

If you would like to watch/listen to Sam’s podcast with Ben Mason then please click Podcast.

Advice

(GH): What advice would you give to someone who is looking into or thinking about a career in Sports Science, such as golf performance coaching?

(SV): My advice would be to try and be realistic. If you are expecting to work for a certain amount of money or you are expecting to go and work with elite level athletes in a short space of time and you are not prepared to do hard yards at a lower level…that is why most people do it as they want to work with elite athletes. I mean, there is only 1% of sportspeople that are ‘elite’ so it a very small pool and there are probably a lot of people trying to get into that pool!! Is it realistic? Even for me, independent conditioning coaches are quite rare even today, though give it 5 years and I reckon it will be quite a common thing to have a very high-level conditioning coach just working almost freelance. So basically not being afraid to kind of go against the grain a little bit.

Golf Today

(GH): Returning to your golfing journey from a playing perspective, which I unilaterally ‘put on hold’ at about the time you went to University to study Sports Science, where are you at today with your golf?

(SV): At the moment I am playing off 4. Where am I with my golf? I don’t know!! For me, I probably love playing golf now more than I ever have done which is a good thing and now that I am based (through work) at Woodhall Spa I get more opportunities to play and practise and to get out to play a few holes more than ever. I think in the past, certainly from the age of 22 up to probably last year when I started at Woodhall Spa is that golf for me was hard work because I was obviously in a place where I was trying to increase my business and my education so all of my energy, time and resources were focused on that. Although I still had a membership I was playing at best probably once a week. I was still trying to compete and play to the level I know I can but it just wasn’t realistic or happening but at the same time, I probably was not in a place where I could make it happen anymore. So I lost a bit of confidence with my own game.

(GH): What was your handicap when I placed your golf ‘on hold’?

(SV): I got down to a 3 handicap when I was 18 and I was fortunate enough to grow up around a lot of very good players who have gone on to achieve a lot in the game. So as an 18-year old I was fundamentally rubbish compared to them!! With that in mind, I have never really kicked on from that. I got down to 2 which is the lowest I have got down to but I have never kicked on and played scratch golf which I was expecting to be the case. With my role I get to play a lot with scratch, plus (handicap) and professional golfers and I certainly think it is achievable for me to be playing scratch golf. I have never really had lessons and I have never really been coached. I am my own coach and as a coach, I am too aware of golf as opposed to following and learning from someone else…a good illustration is that I have tried to change my golf swing over the years based on what I want to discover about the golf swing. So if I want to understand something about biomechanics I will try that myself to know what that feels like. If that meant me playing worse golf so be it. I have got to a point now where I don’t need to do that really as my understandings are the highest they have ever been. I want to keep improving and so back in October, I bought a set of new golf clubs which for the first time were (custom) fitted. So that has given me a bit of motivation.

(GH): …and no doubt lots of patience as we await golf courses to re-open in the UK.

(SV): That’s right…up until this (COVID-19) happened I had outlined the season with some goals and some processes…the first time I had properly done that. I was making sure I was playing more, practising more and sticking to more of a routine and processes. Keeping things simple and trying to focus more on my competitive game and my attitude on the course. I almost see that as the single most important thing as opposed to deviating back to technique. Yeah, my golf is in a place where I feel like I can make another strike forward for the first time in years but whether that will happen or not I don’t know!!

Best Facet

(GH): When you are playing, or rather I should say when you start playing again when golf courses in the UK reopen after the (COVID-19) lockdown, what would you say is the best facet of your game?

(SV): I am the type of golfer where every part of my game can in its own right be at scratch/plus handicap standard golf but when it’s not it seems to be more like 10 handicap golf!! I can drive the ball pretty long and I can hit lots of fairways but then another day I will hit it 30 yards wide out of nowhere!! The same with putting…I can roll the ball and hole loads of putts and feel just amazing on the greens but another day not hole as many putts and then on another day I might start missing a few short ones. I will go from not missing the hole to not being able to hit the hole from 2 feet!!

(GH): Like most of us you just don’t know from one game to the next which Sam is going to turn up, but that is why we keep returning to play?

(SV): Yeah…for me, I think it is mental and I am understanding that more than ever. To answer the question, I think the best part of my game is ball striking.

Outside of golf

(GH): What are your interests outside of your golf coaching business and playing golf?

(SV): It’s funny in that I had a client who used to be a student of mine when I was at the college and he was a really good high-level swimmer. He asked me this question recently about my interests outside of my profession and I told him and he looked at me as if to say “you boring…whatever!!”. I think the reality is for me honestly is that I don’t see the work I do as work. So a massive part of my general life and time still focuses towards work but I just don’t see it that way. I find learning and reading something really interesting. Watching something like a documentary…at the moment I am watching the (documentary series) ‘Sunderland ‘Til I Die’…have you seen it?

(GH): I have heard of the series but as a Newcastle United supporter, there is absolutely no way I could ever bring myself to watch anything about Sunderland Football Club!!

(SV): Yeah, you can’t watch it!! But at the moment I am watching that as I find it so fascinating looking into so many areas that link to what I do. I play a lot of golf and socially I enjoy spending lots of time with friends and family. In a sense it is boring but it’s not…I don’t feel like I need to escape, lets put it that way.

Favourite Sporting Event

(GH): What is your favourite sporting event?

(SV): I think nowadays it is between the Euros and the World Cup in football just because I don’t get the chance to watch a lot of football now. Both are in the summer and everyone is rooting for the same team. It is a shame we are not going to get the Euros this year (due to COVID-19). Secondly would be the Open championship. Never really used to appreciate it enough but now I have been fortunate through work where I have had days where I could sit and watch it all day. I think they start coverage from the first tee at 06:00 through to close of play. The Open is so unique within professional golf. Probably between the football championships and the Open.

Favourite Golf Course

(GH): Which is your favourite golf course in the UK (excluding Woodhall Spa!!)?

(SV): The ‘Hotchkin’ at Woodhall Spa is an unbelievably good golf course but my favourite is Carnoustie. Because when I first started playing golf and I had only been playing a matter of probably 6 months me and my friend we went to watch the Open there in 2007. That was the first time I had ever watched any live golf. It is the biggest tournament going and it was massive then with Pádraig Harrington and Sergio Garcia in the playoff. I didn’t have a clue at the time but it is, without doubt, one of the hardest golf courses in the world. Then I was fortunate enough to go and get to play at Carnoustie one year and the emotions attached to that experience. For me, I think a championship golf course should be tough and it was!! Carnoustie is a proper, proper golf course…then there is the history of the course and also because the Open has not been played there all that much. Probably one of the courses that do not get quite the same notice as they should.

(GH): And your favourite golf course in the ‘Rest of the World’?

(SV): The golf course I would want to play the most and pay the most would have to be Pebble Beach. I think when it is set up properly for US Open standard it is nailed…its scenery, its history. I think there is an emotional attachment to it as when I first started to play golf I used to play ‘Tiger Woods on Playstation’ and Pebble Beach was one of the only courses they had on there so you feel you understand the golf course in a strange way!!

Fantasy Fourball

(GH): In addition to yourself, who would you pick for your ‘Fantasy Fourball’?

(SV): For me, the first pick has to be Tiger Woods. I think most millennial golfers would choose Tiger.

(GH): And your second pick?

(SV): Probably Tom Watson for his record on Links golf in the Open and then when he nearly won it and probably should have won it in 2009 at Turnberry. In modern golf, there is a huge debate about how golf has changed and how it is now a power game. And yes, golf has evolved so that some skills are no longer needed anywhere near as much as they were. But you put the players on a certain type of golf course for the biggest championship in the world and the realisation that in a senior golfer like Tom Watson the skill, mental ability and technique never dies. A player from that generation doing that, then maybe today we are missing a trick from that generation. I don’t think that golf coaches and players have taken and learnt enough from some of the great players in the history of golf. At times it is just perceived as ‘that was 60 years ago’ and that golf has changed so much that they would not be able to compete today, but I don’t personally agree with that. Being able to watch someone like Tom Watson hit a ball around a golf course would be unbelievable.

(GH): A great second pick…I recently published an article about Pete Kelbel, PGA Professional at Walloon Lake Country Club, Michigan in the United States. Pete, his late father and Walloon Lake all have a connection with Tom Watson that goes back many years and so when out of the blue I received a personal note from Tom to say how much he had enjoyed reading the article I was completely blown away!! OK, we now have Tiger, Tom and your good self…so who clinches the final spot in your Fantasy Fourball?

(SV): I am going to pick who I think will be the next superstar in golf and that is Viktor Hovland. There is just something about him…the way he swings the club and the way he appears to have quite a laid back personality which you don’t see that often in golf. So you have got 3 different generations in this Fourball.

(GH): Absolutely…the past, the present and the future of golf. But the burning question is who do you partner in this Fourball?

(SV): Me and Tiger every time!! Golf fans are just in awe of him. For me, having studied some of Tiger’s background a little bit and understanding some of his upbringing and how he has gone about things and how that relates to so many of the principles that coaches use today, including myself. He is at the forefront of what modern professional golf is about and we will probably only appreciate him in about 50 years…fully appreciate him. It is amazing just to think that no one in the current game is even remotely near his level. Similarly, you think of (men’s) tennis and it is obviously Roger Federer but Nadal and Djokovic could both surpass him which almost I don’t want that to happen. It is the same with the Barcelona Football team of 10 years ago onwards but then another team will suddenly come along to play just as effectively. Whereas in golf nobody is coming along that is even remotely on the same planet as Tiger Woods and I think that is what only adds to his uniqueness and until someone comes along and blitz’s the game like he has I don’t think that will ever change.

Bucket List

(GH): Sam, what is #1 on your golfing bucket list?

(SV): I always feel with my golf is that I have not fulfilled my potential as a player. Is this important? Not really because I think my profession is more about helping players as opposed to my own game. But I would be quite proud if one day I was able to be a scratch golfer. At one point it felt very achievable and actually as time goes on it almost feels impossible in its own right. But to be able to one day take the work I do in helping players ‘for myself’ and play to scratch would be #1.

The Nineteenth

(GH): And finally. How do you see your professional career evolving and progressing over the next few years?

(SV): This is something that I have been in a conundrum with but have tried to process probably over the past 12 months. I have tried to identify what that is and then be able to plan it. I am still not fully there yet but I am probably closer than I have been for a long time. My goal probably for the next 10 years at least is to be able to move into a golf performance role where I am the individual that integrates the various facets. So not the expert in every aspect, nobody can do that. For example, let’s say a Tour Player came along and says “I was 100th in the Order of Merit last year but my game is falling quickly and I want you to be able to come in and try and get me performing again and to rise back up the rankings”. For me, I see that as a process in being able to identify what is causing this fall and then rectify. Using the expression ‘lowest hanging fruit’…then in this example, the lowest hanging fruit might simply be very black and white in that the player changed his coach 2 years ago and that has not worked so let’s go back to the old coach, though very rarely does it work like that.

(GH): Absolutely…in all walks of life, problems are very rarely resolved that easily!!

(SV): Or it might be a bit more complex where there are quite a few different areas that are impacting one another in small ways but adding up to big things. Then my role is to be able to identify that clearly in a way that I can then bring other experts in to create that team and then almost be the head of that team where everyone is working on that same common goal but I am there trying to guide to make it happen. In golf, that approach is not very common but in other sports, it is very common. It has not filtered into golf yet. That is what I want to try and get to…a consultant coach and a level of expertise to work with some of the top players. It doesn’t even need to be top players because in a sense there is something quite exciting to be able to support a player through the levels.

(GH): I take it that ‘excitement’ is something you have already experienced?

(SV): Yes it is…I have worked with a player who has gone from the PGA EuroPro Tour to the European Tour. Now that as a process, as a journey, is quite rare in general and certainly for someone of his age. There is something quite nice to work with individuals who for whatever reason have not yet fulfilled their potential, to then dig a bit deeper to try and understand why, bringing people in, educating them and going forward in a way that is simple but takes a genuine level of expertise. I would like to think with some players I do that on a smaller scale already and that is why I probably realise I can do it on a larger scale…I want to be able to move more into a ‘what I become known for’ role that in time players approach me. My ‘bread and butter’ will always link back to the physical side…again, the physical side is an area that is growing and hopefully, I can be at the forefront.

(GH): Sam, a great way to finish at ‘The Nineteenth’. Thanks so much for your time today and for kindly sharing such an engrossing, passionate and candid insight into your golfing journey and professional career so far…and it would be great to catch up again in the future to chat more about your research, golf performance coaching and your progress in achieving a scratch handicap.

To find out more about Sam, the golf performance services he offers and his articles for ‘The Stats Zone’ then please visit SV Golf Performance