So you want to feel what it’s like to win on one of the world’s top tours? Before, during, and after? Or how to even get there in the first place? In Episode 9 – “The Putting Couch” Podcast, Steven Tiley ~ CHAMPION ~ talks!! You do not want to miss this amazing journey of self-analysis, self-assessment, self-belief, and self-control in this riveting discussion with our good friend Steven Tiley, Winner this week of the European Golf Challenge Tour event Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge. Steven goes into amazing detail, sharing his emotions, his strategies, and his physical and mental challenges brought on by the intense pressure of going wire to wire to win a life changing event on tour.
“The Putting Couch” presented by SeeMore Putter Company, is a podcast where any golfer can listen to anything and everything about putting.
Putting is 40% of the game and the fastest way to lower scores. You will be amazed at how much you learn from these podcasts! Sit back, relax and listen to some great and fun information. “The Putting Couch” is the first golf podcast exclusively devoted to all things Putting.
Welcome to episode nine of the putting couch presented by the Seymour putter company’s tour team I am Jim I’m here with Ted Galina today Cody hail actually I think he celebrated a huge win last night by drinking too many vodka shots I’m just kidding Cody he’s completely
For today and so he can’t join us but I can’t say how thrilled I am and how excited I am to have our good friend Stephen Ty on today from the UK coming off of a huge win yesterday on the European challenge tour he’s going to
Have to pronounce the name since I don’t speak French but uh so exciting wire to wire winner beat out a couple of regular European tour winners in Gregory hav and Richard Bland Stephen so happy to have you on the podcast today welcome happy thank you I’m happy to be here well St
Thanks guys thanks guys and I don’t think people uh I’m just going to let people know right now that I mean you are one of us I mean you’re like one of my kids we’ve known you Ted and I have known you as long as we’ve been with
Seymour you’re you’re the most Seymour guy we’ve ever known and uh you know you’re your career I think is uh is going to be an inspiration to millions of golfers because quite frankly the millions of golfers that think they want to be professional golfers at the
Highest level I mean what you’ve done is pretty incredible but it also shows just how many Peaks and valleys there are Stephen and and I know you know 10 years ago you actually won a Tour event okay which was uh it’s not an official challenge Tour event because they had
Just designated it that year as a challenge Tour event so it was I guess going to become official the next year yeah but that was in Egypt and and you beat Colin Montgomery and Rory maoy among others so to me that was a real world win and since that day we’ve just
You know we’ve talked every year we’ve talked on a regular basis we know how hard it is but tell us I mean what what’s what’s the journey been like and tell us about the win yesterday yeah um yeah it’s been a long journey um and I’ve pretty much used the
Sey more pter for for pretty much most of it which has been good um a couple of guys certainly in the last couple of weeks have actually asked me how long have you used that pter for and I have to I have to recall like how long it’s been 12 years
I’ve been using that same pter I saw the pictures I saw the pictures and I I told somebody I said this is like one of the world’s yeah it’s like one of the world’s great surgeons who can’t give up to scalpel because yeah it probably
Needs a new paint job but way to go I mean yeah I mean it’s it’s um it’s 07 the the only I I can actually remember when I got the poter but it was the the poter was made in ‘ 07 which I found out like sort of earlier this year
That the numbers on the pter and it was 07 at the end yeah so that’s been 12 years and I pretty much have used it I’ve used it ever since so we we we we appreciate it but man we’re we’re just so excited for your story Stephen I know
I know you and I talked this off season and you you you were doing a self assessment and you said you know the game is is is hey like many players that are known for their precision and for their short games you said it was becoming tougher and tougher to find
Golf courses that suited you um but you said that you were going to just continue to put your focus on your strengths and you had this amazing self-belief that you were going to win the way that you knew how to win which was uh which was taking advantage of
Your skills in the short game and not worrying about trying to hit at 300 plus yards so H how did that come to fruition yeah um yeah I think there’s a couple of things I mean like we we’re all creatures of like sort of seeking Perfection golfers always you know
There’s only the trouble is with golf is that there’s only only one winner every week you know there’s there’s one guy that’s going away from the tournament really happy and all the other guys are going away sort of reasonably uh searching you know how do I win how do I
Get better and I I just think every year every golfer that we every every golfer that plays the game at a really really high level always are are looking to things to improve at the end of the year and sort of it’s very easy to focus on
Your weaknesses at the end of the year what do I need to get better what do I need to to get onto the European tour and win on the European tour and and with me it’s always been sort of you know I need to hit it longer I need to
You know when I was on tour we played some long golf courses and it’s you know and the the rough was up so if I missed the Fairway um I was normally not being able to reach the green or hitting a long IR into greens and not being able
To stop it near flag so uh um I I think every year I I always battle with myself in terms of you know this offseason I’m going to get longer right this is it and then I think I do that for a couple of months and realize actually you know
What I’m missing Fairways now I’m not that much longer it hasn’t made much difference and then I come across a few podcasts that I normally listen to one of them being uh Zach Johnson with Ed mlet and he talks a lot about sort of um improving strengths and um he’s always
Talking about you know what do we need to get better what what can I do to get better in terms of my strengths and uh get my wedge play really good and and just getting my putting really good and just stuff that I can control um and yeah it’s it’s been a
Tough road I think I I finished yesterday that was a course that suited me it’s quite tight it’s quite short and I’ve been practicing my strengths leading up to it and they all sharp ready to go my pter was good that was back I’ve been struggling with that and
Not terms of struggling just not paying enough attention as what I should have been I was paying attention to other parts of my game trying to get them from a weakness up to being okay and my strengths had just come off a little bit so um and and I hold out extremely well
And I and I I managed to win wire to wire which for my first win was incredible incredible yeah and thank you and I I got off and we I was doing the interview and they said it was my 130th start and I was like you’re joking and
They’re like no you’ve played 130 times out here and I’m thinking oh my God that is a long long that seems like a lot of tournaments uh which it is and it’s been Incredible Journey some weeks I’ve played well other weeks I’ve been soul searching and it’s tough you know we’re
Going to places like Kazakhstan and China and you know you missed a cut there and you’re just away from your family and it it’s not all it’s not all rainbows and that everyone sort of imagines it is so um but for moments like this where you’re driving back from
France and you’ve got the trophy uh strapped in the car next to you on the passenger seat it’s just uh makes it all worthwhile you know it seems that way it’s it’s like you know I think most people would be you know winning the lottery one time in their lifetime I
Think would would you know would suffice and Stephen for somebody who’s just got the perseverance I mean you want to be a professional golfer and you compete at it and you work at it like you know nobody else and you’re just a testament to What It Takes and I know you and I
Talk on a regular basis and it’s just it’s incredible to watch this and it’s not that uh as I look at your resume it’s not that it hasn’t had successes but as you said time gets away I mean the the you know the days of of a guy
Coming out winning five times in a major in his first two years I mean that’s that’s one in a million right that happens occasionally yeah very much so and and the more that you play the more that I you know I was thinking I had very different emotions last week playing and
I thought you know you know at 36 nearly 37 is there is there many more times that you’re going to get this opportunity where you’ve got like a three shot lead and you know you’re you’re around a golf course that suits your game and you’re playing well and everything’s going well you know
Sometimes you just got to seize the moment and um fortunately I was uh able to do that yesterday so and that’s an incredible thing right there you you mentioned wire to wire and I think you know people that play the game I mean you came out and you blitzed
The golf course on day one and you slept on the lead three nights and just knowing that everybody’s coming after you and that’s really tough to do I mean we players on the PGA tour you look at major championships you look at PGA Tour the closing rate uh is very very low for
Players that start off hot so tell us about how that happened tell us about the incredible round to start and then sort of how your mindset changed each and every day yeah um well just come off like three Mis Cuts so I mean it’s just an
Incredible game in in terms of I mean you’re down in the dumps for three weeks I missed the open by one shot I mean you’re thinking you’re driving up to the airport at at 4:00 a.m. in the morning uh hardly any sleep trying to get a uh a
Flight out to Slovakia at 6 o’clock in the morning you just missed the open by one shot and you’re thinking you know do do I really need this anymore you know and then I went to lavre I practiced on my strengths at the weekend Mr the cut at Slovakia practiced on my strengths
Got my track man out started doing my trackman test um got back on my chalk line got back on um you know stuff like that sort sorted out my driving and and went to Lau Dr actually um changed my driver shaft to like a a straighter hitter driver I’ve been actually um
Struggling with my driving in terms of accuracy this year um struggling with uh a lot of spin I need I need quite a lot of spin with my driver and I’ve changed the new ball and and just stuff like that and it hasn’t been quite clicking
Um but I changed my driver shaft and and that seemed to be going really well and I was confident with that and just turned up to the golf course where I’ve I I played I finished second last year so had some good memories and just said
Let’s just go out there and play let’s just go out there and just see what happens hit a few wedges closed hold some good parts um and and just sort of went out in five under and just um uh shot 7 under the first day and tied for the leag
And then went out the next day and I was obviously right come on let’s not do anything stupid let’s not you know let’s not miss the miss the weekend and go out there and build on that lead which is tough to do tough to go out the next the
Next day after shooting a low score is always hard to follow it up um as all golfers know um obviously golf is just such a unique game where one day you could be seven under and the next day you could easy quite easily be seven over or five over and and there’s no
There’s no answer to it it’s you know it’s one of those incredible Mysteries um and I just went out there and and played well the front nine I think I shot one under the front nine easy sort of you know gol not you know I played
The back nine which is a harder nine of the two and then I had the front nine which was a few wedges and um I felt that I can score um I made a few bad swings on on the front line a bit nervy trying to get
In and made a some really really good saves uh chipped in for par on one hole and I thought actually thought do you know what this could be your week you get a certain number of signs and you you hear a number of golfers like feel
It uh when they win tournaments and they certain things go your way that normally don’t where you chip in or you get up and down from an unbelievable spot or you you see that you know you pull apart and it lips in rather than lips out and
A couple of and that was happening on on that back nine on the on the Friday and I posted the number and then uh yeah and then the next day uh woke up with the lead on the on the on the Saturday and maintain it yeah yeah maintained it very
Nervy day very um sort of you know let’s let’s keep this position let’s you know let’s let’s sort of keep our lead for tomorrow um which I managed to do nice birdie up the last to get a three- shot lead and then um yeah slept on the lead again I
Mean that is Inc it’s it’s so hard to um to do I mean it was just incredibly uh draining both mentally and and sort of physically I I didn’t sleep that well you’re not sleeping that well sleeping on the lead uh you wake up with a a sick stomach you’re not eating much
You’re not eating much during the day um and it’s just yeah you just sort of get through it really so yeah Stephen this is Ted one hi t on Saturday and Sunday going into the round in your mind do you do you still keep the hammer down or is
It a little conservative I mean now that you’ve been in that situation and know that feeling I know it probably be a little bit better the next time you get in that position but what do you tell yourself I mean do I continue to fire at you know the guys behind you are
Probably doing the same way so what what what was that feeling like to you um yeah it was a strange fing really you you’re constantly telling yourself you’ve got to go out and hit goal shots I mean I was you know a three shot leag can absolutely go within a couple of
Holes um a couple of bad swings and it’s gone um you know a seven shot lead I think you’re you’re pretty much just hitting the middle of the green two putting and if you make a birdie then that’s great and then you move on I think the three shot lead you still got
To play golf um and the guys behind me I knew they were going to play golf as well and they were going to try their their best so um it was half and half really it was not not doing anything silly and in terms of firing up pins
With with a four iron and and and short siding yourself um but when the opportunity came and I had a wedge in my hand I was still firing up pins and still trying to trying to hold putts as well um and not just just two P from 30
Feet um and it was a strange last year I was four behind and it was just push push push and you’ve got no time to get nervous you’ve got to be like I’ve got to go and get this guy and if you shoot 67 great if you shoot 72 then there’s
There’s nothing gained so it’s you know but I had it I felt like I had not everything to lose but I I feel felt like I had a lead to lose and um it’s very it’s very nerve-wracking playing that way and you’ve got to control your emotions uh throughout the day which uh
Sometimes I didn’t and sometimes I did um so yeah tell us about those last few holes um yeah um it was quite a tough stretch actually um I think from 15 um it’s a tough hole I think it’s like five 110 yard power four um so I
Hit a good drive down the middle and then um I hit I mean this was I was getting a bit nervous I was in between clubs where 4 iron had to hit a little four iron or hard five iron I chose a little for iron and I come out of it and
Hit it way right I’ve I’ve had a right Miss actually uh all year and it came at this time and it was I was just thinking I I actually listened to a Jordan Speed podcast uh earlier in the week and he was talking about his Masters where he had
That right Miss and I was thinking you know that’s what I’ve got let’s not and I anyway I thought about that for a split second and then um sort of uh made bogy there and that was a tough hole but I actually I actually said that’s you
Know if you’re going to make bogey that’s going to be the one you are going to make bogey coming in it as 15 was a tough hole 16’s a par three um an eight iron Pinder was at the front and I’ve actually absolutely Flagg this thing i’
I’m I’m eying it up from about 160 yards um and it’s come up about two yards short in the front trap gone in the front trap so I’m thinking okay you know just don’t be plugged in there it wasn’t plugged splashed out and hold from five
Feet so that was a nervy part coming back down the hill um I’d hold out all well all week I think um I missed six parts inside 10 ft all week so I was I was I was holding out really well so so that was that was good um 17 I hit a
Good drive and then in between clubs again but this is where next time under that experience uh with the adrin in uh fling I would have picked the lower club and this time actually picked the picked the club that U the higher Club um the longer club and it pitched by the pin
Hit a great shot right by the pin about pitch about 3 ft away one bounc and over the back uh like sort of in the semi- rough uh not a very nice lie little sort of five yard chip down the hill so I was thinking oh come on just you know get
This on the green somewhere inside 10 ft and we we hold apart and get out of here hit a decent chip to about 4 feet and I had four feet down the hill and it was pretty much straight maybe inside left and I was like right come on just hit
The teg I put to a teg um when I’m pting and I was like just hit the teg hit the teg just saying that constantly over myself just over the ball and stuff and I’ve actually left this part short from four feet I was like oh my God how have I left that
Short and then I just said you know what just just put it down to nerves and that actually helped actually refocused me onto the last hole um and I I saw that bland was at 10 under and I was at 11 so I had to par last to win so then that
Actually refocused my mind missing that little part and I was like right you’ve actually got to play golf here you can’t you can’t just wing it down the last and and make par or make Bogey and you know and getting a play off you’ve got to
Play some gol so I hit a really good drive down the last um and then it got to a point where I was constantly just talking to myself um picked out a Target on the te and I was like come on hit that Target hit the target hit the
Target uh and sort of just kch on talking um of everything that I wanted to do in terms of not wanting to do picking out targets I laid up hit a wedge to about um pitched about 9 ft away and then spun back to 40 feet and
Had had a 40f footer up the hill uh two parts and I hit this part and I thought oh my God that short and I was like go go go and then it got up there to literally a foot away and I marked it and I was like I think I think you’re
Good from here it was literally a foot away so um and then I was just walking over to hit it in and I just thought of when tiger won the Masters earlier this year and he had it looked like it was like four feet and he literally walked up and just
Tapped it in it looked like he was just like tapping it in on a on a on a friendly round with friends and I was like right come on this is like a foot away you know tiger would just go out and tap that in and and the rest is
History so I just went up and and tapped it in so that was good oh that is just that aome it’s making my stomach just get nervous just listen to it I just I cannot imagine thank you for taking us through that we’re listening that’s right we’re listening to Stephen tyy
Great friend of Seymour uh this is the putting couch presented by the Seymour part company’s tour team Stephen tyy won yesterday at the LA VRE uh Challenge on the European challenge tour and uh really fulfilled another one of your one of your goals one of your dreams I know
You’ve won before again your your background here um people are listening from around the world you played English junior golf and then you went to college in America Georgia State um you played us college golf there and um you’ve been on the European tour the Asian tour the
Challenge tour um you led the open at St Andrews after the first round in 2010 so I mean it’s it’s it’s incredible to see where you’ve been you’ve been a runner up four times on the challenge tour before winning yesterday and you’ve you’ve had a a top 26 finish at the Open
Championship in 2013 at mirfield so um it’s it’s just it’s up and down it’s Peaks and valleys but it’s just this amazing self-belief that you’ve had to stick with it and stay positive and wow I mean to have to go through the mental pressure you went through I feel like this is
Possibly going to unlock some of your your your great potential Stephen and and and I hope we see you win many more times and uh and you use this as a springboard and you know tell us a little bit about the Seymour Potter I mean you know we we just you you’ve been
So associated with us I mean it’s it’s sort of Payne Stewart Zack Johnson and Stephen tyy around here and we we really appreciate that and you’re you’re in our you’re in our wall of Champions and we love that but yeah tell us a little bit about your experience and
With Pat O’Brien and with our team here and you know you’re a guy that’s very cerebral and as you said you you’ve had you know you have to be better than everybody else when it comes to the short game yeah that’s right um yeah I I
Don’t know I just picked up a see more it was in a shop uh a golf shop uh in in s and I was um sort of picked it up and I think with like every new putter you you hold the first couple of putts with
It um from from 20 ft like every every new pter that you have like yeah I I take this and off I went and I think the first tournament um I think I hold a 40f footer on the last to win uh with a good
Friend of mine in in a in a team competition and um yeah from that from that day on I I just used it and and haven’t looked back I just like every day um I think the M the main difference that I feel with Seymour um which is such a positive is
That every day I feel like I set up the same and I aim the pter uh pretty much the same um I think a lot of a lot of times when if I’ve used a a Newport style before I used uh Seymour um my forward press was was very
Different each day and I think that can that can have a an impact on setup um and I just like the way way that I put it down and um you know if I hide the Red Dot I know that the p is set up um
Um Square so I just go with that and and take that take that out of the equation as long as I know that it’s set up square if I’m not starting online then then it’s something to do with my path um and then it comes down to Pace really
Um if I’m not holding parts then um how’s my pace so um there’s only a couple of things to work on um pretty much set up is taken care of with the with the unique rifle scope technology which is great um and and then that’s it really so yeah
Um I I’ve been using Cameron mcor Max um which is a golf stat lab uh for the last couple of weeks and that gives you Strokes gain sort of putting and stuff like that and I just noticed that sort of inside 10 ft my holding out wasn’t um
As good as what it has been in the past so I was working on that went back to a CH line and just focused on that this week so um that was it yeah so we’ll keep doing that for now yeah absolutely absolutely and if you know if I don’t
Putt well um I’m not going to be competing it’s it’s as simple as that you know very much like you know like Zach Johnson I I listen to a lot of his stuff and and pay a lot of attention to to him and um and what he’s doing and he
He talks about in his podcast about the three things that he has to do well to compete um driving accuracy and his wedge Game and his putting and pretty much the same um pretty much um and Zach’s just a a highly refined model of myself um and maybe he’s um you know
He’s he’s a little he’s he’s definitely uh really really like really well mentally um he’s mentally a lot a lot better than I probably am um competitive and he he probably believes in himself a little bit more and that’s why he’s reached the the heights that he has um
And and probably stuck to it a little bit more to his game plan where he’s he’s turned up to these courses on the PJ tour and a little bit more better at accepting okay maybe on not going to win this week or you know chances are I’m
I’m struggling to beat Dustin and those guys and Brooks but do you know what I’m going to grind it out and get as high as I can whereas myself has probably get down a little bit more if I’ve played those long courses and and and sort of
Tried to change change the world as it were hey I think this has just been the first chapter for you as crazy as it’s been as long and arduous and up and down you’re old you’re 36 years young you’re continuing to learn new things and about yourself
And I I think you know there’s an awful lot of golfers I mean really you’re right in The Sweet Spot Stephen as far as I believe and uh you know I know it’s it’s going to be you know I I guess you know what what your goals are going to
Be moving forward from here um you know I guess real shortterm hey big celebration parade back home you don’t have to worry about family life or going and playing another event this week right or am I wrong uh yes it’s just been a short yeah just got just got the children behind
Me they’ve all come in there we go I mean mom’s coming back from work so um yeah sorry about that oh no not only do you have to be the best player in the world yesterday or one of them you have to come home you have to drive back to
Back to the UK today and and and be a dad and and and and a husband and all that kind of stuff and then back up and head off again huh yeah straight back on Daddy Daycare today I was uh looking after my four-year-old son and you know
He he he doesn’t care what I did yesterday he’s just wor about you know whether he’s going to get a toy or whether he’s going to get an ice cream I mean that’s that’s as much as it it gets for him so or what what what show he’s
Watching on TV normally so um but yeah um going back to your question yeah um celebration just um I’m going out for a dinner in a in a minute uh with the family just a just a uh a lowkey so like sort of family dinner and then I’m
Straight back on a flight tomorrow um 8 o’clock in the morning so um yeah to Austria so straight back playing um and um yeah straight back on the CH line I think that’s awesome hey would you join us again sometime Stephen if we could do this again down the
Road yeah hey we we so appreciate I hate to steal any time in this really special day for you the winner of the 2019 La VRE challenge to our event and uh huge win and uh for you personally and and uh I I know it’s just there’s nothing like
Winning and holding that trophy so we appreciate your time Steve and Ty’s been a great friend of Seymour always will be this is the putting couch brought to you by the Seymour putter company’s tour team Jim Ted Cody and today Stephen tyy Stephen go get him thanks guys thank you
Very much I just like to uh appreciate everything you’ve done for me and the support that you’ve given me and uh I can’t wait to come over back to Tennessee and and visit the studio soon hey that’s going to be awesome can’t wait all right you’ll have some fun
Tonight all right thank you very thanks Steen congrats again thanks safe travels okay bye bye thanks very much bye bye bye we appreciate you joining us if you haven’t subscribed to the show make sure you do wherever you’re listening be sure to leave a rating and review because
That’s how we get the putting couch podcast content in front of more people also take a screenshot and share it on social media and tag us at Seymour Putters or # team Seymour
