By: Shane Matzen
Graves Golf Membership Liaison/Coach
If you’ve ever heard me speak or write before about my former career as a basketball coach, you heard me talk about the way we always tried to teach our players and teams about how to deal with success and failure. That is, we always acknowledged that it’s good to celebrate our successes and feel down about our setbacks but that we always would only allow 24 hours for those emotions before we got back to work and tried to move things forward again. One of the things I’ve enjoyed about my opportunity to work here at Graves is that the same attitude really exists here.
When I joined the Single Plane Academy as a member back in the summer of 2020, I was so excited about the possibilities of having professional coaches evaluate and make corrections with my swing via video. And as someone who really eats up instruction, having the old SPA website was a godsend for me. I tore through that material with every spare minute I could find. Having said all that, I was satisfied and happy with everything that my membership was bringing me. I was a little over a year in though when I realized that this company was not one to rest on their laurels.
Back around the end of 2021/early 2022, Graves Golf On-Demand came into existence. As someone who has put together video collection and set up keywords myself, I quickly realized the amount of time and effort that was put in to make On-Demand a reality from an idea that our COO, Thomas Purvis, had in mind to advance member access to our vast array of teaching materials. Something we take for granted now was a MAJOR step forward for the service our members got to take advantage of.
This past year of 2023 has been one of major advancements here at Graves. From the rollout of our comprehensive, individualized coaching levels with VIP and Elite in January to the incredibly ingenious tool created by Todd and Tim that we have available that’s made the game easier with the Lock-N-Roll Putter to the new travel options that became reality with the inaugural Single Plane Showdown in Las Vegas to the detailed new Fast Forward Winter Training Program and now as we end the year with Todd’s rollout of the Single Plane 4D System which everyone has quickly realized is revolutionary in how golf can be taught and learned. And to wrap all of that up, don’t forget the amazing Graves Golf Performance Center which is moving from a dream of Tim and Todd’s to being constructed as I type.
From a personal story standpoint, I’ll relate this to you….we had a really great year at Graves in 2023 in no small part from what you read about above. But as a member of our staff, I’m really pleased to call out my cohorts as there was a lot of hard work put in this year to advance our company and business. I recall vividly that we had a couple of months where we’d just made some really amazing progress within the company and how we judge our efforts. Everyone was very excited obviously but I hearkened back to my coaching days when, after acknowledging some of our accomplishments, it was decided rather quickly to focus on “how can we make next month a bigger month for the company and what ideas can we bring to our members to make their experience an even better one?”
In my mind, and I now go back to the title of this article, that’s why Graves Golf is truly a “10% organization”. We don’t exist, we grow. We don’t provide services to our customers and members; we help them advance. And I hope you, as someone who has a relationship with us, feel this in every dealing that you have with us however minor or large.
I’ll summarize with this: I’m at a stage in my life where I could drift off into retirement after the 32 years I gave my heart and soul to my previous career. But I’m sure I’m like most of you who have retired from a career and a chapter in your life, I want to keep living and see what other challenges are out there. Graves is a good place for this whether you’re an old retired basketball coach like me who has more to give or you’re a golfer who hasn’t given up on the game and the possibilities of getting better and having even MORE fun with it.
2023 was great and I’ll even allow myself to celebrate this as there are a few more days left on the calendar as I pen this article but 2024 is on our doorstep. Let’s make it even better.
