MATT STAFFORD

Macquarie Links International, NSW October 2017 handicap: 19.7 October 2018 handicap: 5.9

Matt Sta ord’s plunge from a 20 handicap to six in less than 12 months really only tells half the story.

Back in 2015, the 24-year-old fencing installer was a member at Windsor Country Club, on Sydney’s western outskirts, and playing o a 36-handicap. And he couldn’t have cared less.

“I started o 36 there and I didn’t really care how I went, I was just having a bit of fun with my mates,” Sta ord said. “I’d just go out there for fun … we’d crack a few beers walking down the 1st fairway, it was great fun.”

It wasn’t until he joined Macquarie Links early last year that he caught the “improvement bug”.

“When I joined here I was playing with better golfers … they were hitting fairways and greens and I thought, ‘I need to catch up to these blokes’. That’s what pushed me to get my first lesson,” he said.

He booked in for a few lessons with Macquarie Links’ PGA Professional Anthony Storich and he started stripping shots from his handicap almost immediately.

“Heading into last summer I started getting a few lessons and would try and get to the club every afternoon, just playing and practicing and my game just seemed to come together.

After that my handicap seemed to come down really quickly,” Sta ord said.

“I had five or six lessons and I learnt something di erent every time … just little things, which really helped. They were simple things really, and I just put all these together.” The improvement was dramatic. “I didn’t start out with major goals. I had lots of little goals,” Sta ord says. “Halfway through 2017 my goal was to be o 10 by the start of this year and I did it, which was good.

“That was my biggest goal and since then I’ve had just little goals, where I’ll try and hit six fairways on each nine during a round, or have less than 30 putts … things like that.”

Sta ord says the key to his rapid rise into A-grade can be attributed to getting over his fear around the greens.

“I could not chip or putt to save my life,” he said. “I played cricket when I was younger so I’ve always been able to hit the ball and distance has never been a problem. But the short game was killing me.

“But now I’m more confident taking a wedge in close to the green instead of trying to putt up a hill from o the green or through the rough.”

Storich adds: “Matt was typical of many guys who can hit the ball long. His feel around the green was not so good and he would decelerate into the ball, causing a lot of problems.

“By working on his technique and feel through practice, his short game is now far more consistent.”

Sta ord now has his eyes set on becoming a scratch marker.

“I’d love to get to scratch … I really would. But It’s a long way still,” he said.

“The drop from 10 to six has been the hardest because you have to be so much more consistent with every round you play. Consistency … that’s a part of my game that I will have to work harder on if I want to get to scratch.”