Welcome to Play Smart, a regular GOLF.com game-improvement column that will help you become a smarter, better golfer.
Once again, Scottie Scheffler is a major champion. At Quail Hollow, the 28-year-old outlasted the field at the PGA Championship en route to his third major title, ending the week with the Wanamaker Trophy hoisted high above his head.
Through it all, his longtime coach, Randy Smith, was by his side.
“He’s the one who teaches me how to swing, and he’s pretty much the only guy I consult when it comes to that kind of stuff,” Scheffler said. “He’s a savant when it comes to teaching me the golf swing, and he’s a pretty special guy as well. I’m thankful for what he’s taught me in the game of golf, and life as well.”
Smith, who in 2022 was inducted into the World Golf Teachers Hall of Fame, has tutored the three-time major winner out of Royal Oaks in Dallas since Scheffler was seven years old. In that time, Scheffler has evolved from a precocious kid who loved beating range balls into the best golfer in the world.
After his latest triumph, Scheffler was asked about the best advice he’d ever received from Smith. And his answer is something that every golfer looking to improve can learn from.
Smith’s advice to Scheffler
Scheffler did not become the best golfer in the world overnight. His journey from the range at Royal Oaks to the top of the World Golf Ranking had many twists and turns — but throughout it all, Smith had a key reminder for Scheffler.
“I felt like throughout the entire time he taught me, he always did a really good job of helping us all stay patient,” Scheffler said. “When you’re younger and things aren’t going the way they’re supposed to, Randy always did a really good job of reminding me that it was a long journey to become good at golf.”
Improvement in golf is rarely linear. It’s a game of two steps forward, one step back, and if you get too high or too low about what you shoot, it’s difficult to appreciate your progress.
What the best golfers in the world (such as Scheffler) do so well is fall in love with the process of improvement. By committing to the process of getting better, rather than the results along the way, building up to greatness becomes easier to achieve.
“You’re going to have ups and downs,” Scheffler said. “I wasn’t always the best player. I felt like I could be the best player. But I was a good junior player, a good amateur player, and I did a good job kind of rising up the ranks in professional golf. Randy was always by my side helping me stay patient and teaching me little things along the way.”
If you’re looking to improve at golf, take a page out of Scheffler’s playbook and heed Smith’s advice of staying patient. If you commit to the process of improvement — and are patient along the way — results will eventually follow.
