Australian Golf Digest interview with Jeffrey Guan.
JEFFREY GUAN
Australian junior champion
Age: 16
Handicap: +6.5
Club: The Australian
Career-low round: 60 (11-under) – The Vintage, NSW
Instagram: @jeffrey_guan14
AGD: Tell us when and how you got hooked on the game?
Jeffrey Guan: When I was 4, my dad took me to a driving range with his friends and I just wanted to join them in hitting a few golf balls. If I remember correctly, he bought me a few plastic golf clubs and I had a few hits with him. But then one day the driver of the plastic golf set broke. So the week after he got me a set of cut-down steel clubs and that was it – I was hooked from that point.
What was it about the game that appealed to you so much?
I think it really helped when I joined Bexley. I had a couple of friends that played golf so I really enjoyed spending time with my mates playing an outdoor sport. I won’t lie, I also loved smacking a golf ball and seeing it fly straight [Laughs].
What sort of golfer was your dad back in the day?
He used to play off about 4 or 5, but nowadays he doesn’t really play that much. He just chips and putts. But his short game is unreal. I think he’s off about an 18 handicap now and is still a wonderful mentor for me, on and off the course.
What are some of the lessons he’s taught you?
With Dad it’s been more about my technique, just teaching me the fundamentals early on through his experience and talking to me about what I should do and how to do it. He’s been particularly influential in helping me develop a good attitude on and off the course. With his work ethic, he’s always set a good example for me and I really want to follow that.
Can you remember your first proper golf lesson with a PGA professional?
I think I got my first official golf lesson when I was 6 years old. It was with Glenn Whittle at The Ridge. I still see Glenn today. He’s had such a huge influence on the development of my game.
Winning a club championship at any age is an amazing achievement. You won your first as a 12-year-old. Describe the feeling.
I was pretty nervous, actually, on the first tee in the final around. Even though I was a couple of shots ahead – I think seven or eight – I didn’t have the best last round. I shot eight-over, from memory. Luckily the other guy who came second carded nine-over, so I was a bit fortunate to win that year.
What did winning that day, against the men, tell you about yourself?
It was such a big confidence booster for me, just to be able to win something that nobody expected me to win as a 12-year-old. People were coming up to me and congratulating me and you could hear the chatter in the clubhouse. Not long after that I had the courage to go play in some Jack Newton Junior Golf events, where I met other passionate golfers my age. I made new friends and suddenly golf just became more fun and addictive.
Two years later, you’re a member of The Australian Golf Club in Sydney, and you win the club championship there. How on earth did you pull that off?
I remember I only just made the top-16 for the matchplay portion of it. That was my main target, to be honest, to get through the strokeplay section. What came next surprised me as much as anyone else. Again, I got a bit fortunate to win a few matches and make it into the 36-hole final and then I played some pretty good golf to win that so, yeah, I felt pretty lucky.
You won the final, 8&7, even though you couldn’t reach a lot of greens in regulation. What was the secret?
I just played my own game and didn’t worry about what my opponent was doing, or how far he could hit it. I just managed to hit the ball dead straight that day – hitting driver-3-wood towards the greens to leave myself with chances to get up and down. It worked pretty well because I don’t think I had many bogeys that day, probably one or two in total for the 29 holes I played.
Is that a big part of your mentality when you play, Don’t Make Bogeys?
I dislike making bogeys, like most golfers, but I just try to make the least amount of mistakes as possible on every hole. The way I see it, to make a bogey you usually make two mistakes on that hole. So, if I manage to make only one mistake, I try not to make any more mistakes to finish par on that hole. Making one mistake, for me, is eliminating that birdie opportunity. I don’t want to let it get any worse than that. It doesn’t always pan out that way, of course [Laughs].
You’re now also under the tutelage of Gary Barter via the foundation at The Australian, who coaches one of your idols, Matt Jones. What’s Gary taught you?
My time with Gary has been more about swing and weight transition. I love Matt Jones as a player, his swing is so good. It’s funny to think Gary teaches him and now he’s helping me. It makes you want to learn more to get that perfect swing. As a junior foundation member at The Australian, we get tickets to the Australian Open when it’s held at the club. I love using my time off school to walk around and follow the pros, guys like Matt, just to see how they go about it. It’s pretty cool being able to pick up what they’re thinking and how they play the course I now call home.
You mentioned the Australian Open at your home course. There’s a good chance that happens at the back end of this year, pending the COVID situation in Sydney. After winning the Australian Junior title, you must be pretty excited about making your debut in the Australian Open at your home club?
I’m definitely looking forward to it. I might need to go there every day just to see the green breaks and work it all out. I’m sure it will play a lot differently in tournament condition than it does on my Saturday round [Laughs].
MY ADVICE
Hit the ball first in fairway bunkers
When I’m in a fairway bunker, my immediate thought after walking in and assessing the lie is, Make contact with ball first. I know if I can avoid taking sand before the ball, I’m a good chance to make proper contact and pull off a shot that’s hopefully not too different to a normal lie from the fairway. Don’t think about the bunker lip or what’s between you and the green. Concentrate on making contact with the ball and aim to merely brush the top of the sand, taking as little a divot as possible.
Your scoring average around there has a few people keen to put a sneaky bet on you. Reckon you’ve got what it takes to get high up the leaderboard?
Well, the setup at The Aussie suits my game. If I can manage to knock a few balls close, who knows? The greens are so smooth and pure there, it’s pretty hard to miss a putt unless you misread the break. My intention, like it is in every round, is just to hit it as close to the flag as possible, and then the birdies will hopefully come. But I don’t have any expectations.
What would you say are the strengths and weaknesses of your game?
The strength of my game would probably be putting. A few weaknesses would be miscalculating shots on the course and trying to create new ones. But I’ve got time to work on that.
What about equipment? Would you call yourself a gear nerd?
Yeah, I am a little bit. I love what today’s gear can do for your game. I’m currently using a TaylorMade combo set of irons. They’re like semi-blades. I was after more accuracy with my short irons and more forgiveness in my long irons, and these certainly deliver both. Then, with my driver, obviously as much distance and control as I can get the better so I can continue to improve my scoring potential. The TaylorMade SIM2 driver has given me a big jump in ball speed so I’m pretty happy about that.
Now, that putt for the 59 at The Vintage… How close did it get and were you nervous?
I didn’t know I was going to shoot 59 had I holed it. If I did, I probably would have given it a proper go [Laughs]. I was just hoping I didn’t hit it too far past the hole because it was like 25 feet, downhill and off the green. All I was thinking was, Just hit it near the hole, and if it drops, it drops. It was a pretty hard putt but I’d like to have it again.
When you’re a chance to shoot 59, you’re clearly ‘in the zone’. What does that feel like?
[Laughs] I don’t know. It’s just subconsciously giving myself more chances, I guess. A birdie’s a birdie, I don’t think of it after I play that hole. As soon as I finish a hole, I block it out and then focus on the next shot, like it never happened. Obviously I was doing a good job of that because I remember finding out I was, like, 10-under after nine holes. It was unbelievable.
You seem to have a great network around you. Your school and mates have obviously been a great help with supporting your golf?
Yeah they have. They congratulate me every time I play well in a tournament. And they’re really supportive, so I’ve got to thank them a lot. My school has actually let me leave for important golf tournaments and they give me the homework in a booklet to complete while I’m away. It’s working really well – I just finish the booklet and then I hand it into the teachers on the due date. Paul Davis, Beverley Park’s pro, has also helped me a lot. He’s helped me with my equipment choices and with that scholarship application at The Australian. I really can’t thank him enough for taking me under his wing at such an early age.
You seem like you’re very determined to make it to the professional circuit. What are the plans moving forward?
I think so. I hope so. I’m just looking forward to playing good golf, then hopefully my game takes me to higher levels. The goal will be to turn pro in two years, when I’m 18 and finished school. In the meantime, I just want to try to shoot every round under par. I generally only get to play off the white tees too, so as I hit it farther and farther, my target will reach higher expectations. My dream as a little kid has been to play the PGA Tour and be a top-50 player in the world.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
There’s actually quite a few pieces of advice that I’ve received over the years. The first one is related to nearly every round of golf: there’s always that little devil on the side of our shoulder that says, ‘Oh, you haven’t missed an eight-footer yet,’ when you’re standing over one. And I was told that’s the point where you just have to focus if you want to sink that putt. The other one is related to dealing with missed opportunities: even if you do miss a putt, there’s always more holes to come. The birdies will come sooner or later if you just keep lifting your head up high and hitting golf balls close to the hole.
MY ADVICE
Copy Scotty between shots
I’ve heard people say they think I’m very composed out on the course and that nothing seems to faze me. That’s nice. I think it comes down to my routine between shots and how I ‘switch off’. I follow Scotty’s (Adam Scott) rule. After I play a shot, I remove my glove and that Velcro sound is the trigger for me to relax and talk to my playing partners about anything. A lot of the time I talk to my friends about schoolwork and stuff like that. When I’m approaching my ball for the next shot, I put my glove back on and that’s the trigger for me to ‘switch back on’ and focus on what I need to do on the next shot, no distractions. Find your trigger move and make it a ritual.
