Matty Lamb has experienced the euphoric rises golf offers and the dramatic falls which can be just around the corner. At the age of 27, he has already experienced so much – from the Walker Cup to professional success on the national stage – and back where his story began, at Hexham Golf Club, he opens up about his journey so far and what the future holds
Progressing through golf is often compared to climbing a ladder, with players expected to make a perilous climb consistently and without a backward step. It rarely works out like that, with plenty of snakes along the route to send you tumbling back down the board.
Coming out of the 2021 Walker Cup at Seminole, Matty Lamb was at the top of the amateur game. One of the star players of the two-day match, he earned three points out of a possible four – only losing his opening foursomes match – as GB&I narrowly lost 14-12 to the US team.
Then 23 years old, a move to the professional ranks quickly followed, bringing a close to an amateur career which was spent under the spotlight since he won the Scottish U14 Championship. Matty’s rise, from an eight-year-old who first picked up the game at Hexham and has been mentored by Andy Paisley ever since, appeared to be going only one way.
“Coming off the Walker Cup, which was such an awesome week, I was on a massive high,” says Matty. “It was absolutely the right time to turn professional, I’ve got no regrets about that decision – I was ready to turn pro. I was excited to move on, I’d been to the biggest event in the amateur game and it was time.”
As a Walker Cup player, Matty received invitations to compete on the HotelPlanner and DP World tours, and was signed by Trinifold Sports Management – led by music manager Bill Curbishley and Golfing4Life founder Jimmy Byers – as soon as he joined the professional ranks.
Those first few months as a professional went as expected, with some strong finishes on the EuroPro Tour and some learning experiences on the HotelPlanner and DP World tours.
“I turned pro when the season was already underway, but I played well in a few events and while I didn’t go crazy and get a win or anything, I was solid and felt like I belonged in those events – even the couple I played on the DP World Tour in Ireland and Scotland. Nothing made me feel out of my depth or that everyone around me was miles better than I was. While I was a bit disappointed, I knew I had all the time in the world to learn and become the best professional golfer I could be. It wasn’t a wildly different game out there and I took confidence from those early events, despite not getting the results I wanted.”
Going into the 2021/22 off-season, Matty identified some areas to work on and improve.
“I’ve always been one to tinker with my swing and look to change things to get better, and in short, that completely derailed me,” he says. “With such a long career ahead of me, I thought I had loads of time to try things. While what I was getting from my coaches was really solid, I went away and tried to hit the ball as hard as I could.
“I was 20 yards longer going into the 2022 season, but the trade-off for that was massive. I finished second in one of the early EuroPro Tour events and my game felt alright. A few weeks later, it caught up with me and my technique started to let me down. I hit a few bad shots, then a few more, and it wasn’t long before I was playing horrendously.
“A good result went from a top 10 finish to keeping it in play for 18 holes. I felt like I’d totally lost my swing.”
By the end of 2022, Matty admits he’d reached the point where he didn’t want to be on the golf course anymore. Rather than give up, or try and fix the problem on his own, he turned to his long-time coach, Andy, and began working with a cognitive behavioural therapist.
“While I’ve never been one to rely on a coach too much – and Andy is big on having ownership of your own game – I knew I had to get back to working with Andy more closely and away from tinkering too much on my own.
“The way confidence spirals, both up and down, is really interesting too. I think it all begins from a technical point and long careers come from having a technique which is repeatable and stands up to pressure,” adds Matty, who also joined the PGA in 2022 – training under Phil Waugh at Brampton and now working with him at Tyneside.
“It’s amazing how much you don’t see in your own game, even as a professional. Having done a bit of coaching in the last couple of years, I can see that in players and I’ve only been looking at golf swings for a tiny fraction of the time a coach like Andy has been doing it.
“I also think changes which take a long time are the ones which last the longest. Having gained 20 yards in a few months, I now realise I cut corners to get there. That kind of approach doesn’t lead to long-term success, and I think the work I’ve put in these last two years is far more likely to lead to a positive outcome in the future.
“I don’t regret what I’ve done – I enjoyed doing it at the time – but in hindsight there was a better way to do it and I won’t be making that mistake again.”
In 2023, while working hard on his game, Matty focused on rebuilding his confidence and found some success locally, particularly in a couple of one-day events on the North East & North West PGA circuit. He has also played mini tour golf, mainly on the Clutch Pro Tour.
“The 2023 season and a lot of 2024 felt like I had this massive hangover from 2022, and to a point that’s still there now. It’s been slow and I’ve done a lot of hard work, both on my swing and mentally, to get back to the sort of golf I want to be playing.
“That scar tissue will always be there and it’s now about managing it and using it to be a better golfer in the future.”
In 2024, Matty jumped back into the golfing spotlight at the Coca-Cola PGA Assistants’ Championship at Farleigh – shooting rounds of 66, 70 and 64 to lead the field by five shots and collect the £5,000 winner’s cheque, a spot in the 2025 PGA Play-Offs, and a year’s supply of Coca-Cola products.
“Being back at the top of a leaderboard was awesome,” says Matty. “I hadn’t planned to play a lot of PGA events and it was a pretty relaxed week with my mum caddying for me.
“I played my best golf for probably three years – particularly the last round, shooting 64 in a 40mph wind. Having hit the fairway on the last with a five shot lead, I turned to my mum and said, ‘I’ve won.’ It was such a nice feeling to play well and win – you almost forget what it feels like to be in that situation.
“That was a big moment. I didn’t feel like anything was going to go wrong, which was weird given what I’d been through in the last two years.”
Being able to play in the event, and be part of the PGA, has been really important to Matty in the last few years.
“Joining the PGA was initially a reaction to not playing well on the mini tours and being anxious about my long-term future. That said, it’s been brilliant. Not only did it take away some of that pressure when I was at my lowest, I really enjoy my coaching and it takes me out of full-time golf mode. I also get a lot from it – that feeling when you watch someone hit a better shot and improve is even better than doing it yourself.
“Playing the odd local event, and working with Phil at Brampton and now at Tyneside, has also been fantastic and I feel a lot less isolated than I did at times in 2021 and 2022 when I only had tournament golf in my diary.”
Rising and falling in golf is inevitable, whether it’s the short-term flow of a birdie followed by a double bogey or the longer term journey Matty has been on.
Matty has had a great deal of support throughout that ride – from friends at Hexham and his family to his fellow PGA professionals, his management team at Trinifold, long-time sponsor FMG Consultancy, and equipment partner Callaway.
“Everyone around me has been so supportive and allowed me the time to get back to my best golf. From Andy and Phil to all my family and friends, and my amazing sponsors, I can’t thank them all enough for sticking with me.”
Having reached the stage where he’s able to look back on the lowest points, and having won again, Matty has a positive outlook on his fifth year as a professional golfer.
“I’m bad at giving myself credit, but getting a win in 2024 was something I wanted and I’m proud to have got it.
“I’ve got a nice mix ahead in 2025 – from Clutch Pro Tour and five or six HotelPlanner Tour events to a couple of PGA ones, and then my coaching. Having a fixed diary for the whole season for the first time is huge and I’m looking forward to being able to prepare properly knowing which events I’ll be in – and with all my PGA exams now out the way.
“I’m in a good place. I know what I’m doing, and I can be fully in the present for the first time in a long time this season. My game is solid and I feel good after the first few events of this season. It’s now about staying patient, getting better at playing tournaments week in and week out, and enjoying my golf again.
“I want to have a long career in this sport and my focus is on doing it through tournaments. I’m back in a good place and I’m looking forward to what’s ahead this season.”
