February 20, 2026 • 8 mins
Phil Smith has been teaching golf for over 30 years.
He began as a player, but shifted into a more instructional role in his 20s and 30s after sinking quite a bit of time into researching the golf swing.
He joined Craig Kerr for a chat about his career, his love of the game, and what it’s like to coach.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Phil Smith, the golf coach Extraordink and Phil, welcome to
the program. How are you doing well, I'm outstanding. How
are you getting on.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I'm getting on really well. Thank you, Thank you for
having me on your show.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
No, I'll just tell us a little bit about yourself.
How the hell did you get yourself into golf coaching?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
How long have you got.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Well, we don't have that long just by the way.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
I guess from an early age, I took a passion
to golf, And like everybody that plays golf, you set
your dreams and your targets. And I guess when I
started playing, I set myself some goals that I wanted
to achieve in my golfing career, and I thought, well,
if I can achieve those, then I've done exactly what
(00:43):
I want to do in my golfing career. So once
I had done that, which wasn't easy for me, so
I took quite a few lessons with some of the
PGA pros, and I guess I never really got an
understanding of the swing concept and a whole, and I
always founded a struggle everybody out there that goes out
one day and hits good, then the next day they
(01:04):
don't know why they hit it so good. So I
guess then I just started researching golf, researching this swing,
learning more and more about it. Then I found that
a bit later on in my twenties early thirties, I
started doing some coaching, and I was blessed to be
able to live out at Clearwater and had the facility
(01:26):
out there at the practice range, and I was able
to coach some of my friends out there, and then
I found out I became quite good at it, and
they all told me that I don't know why you
don't do it full time. So I couldn't do it
full time because I had a family to bring up,
and you know how it goes. Otherwise would all be professionals.
And I guess from there just doors opened, and then
(01:51):
I guess just of late, I worked now at the
golf warehouse at Rickon Park, the driving range, and I
had an opportunity through chy Rechbishop and day Flights, they
offered me a role here coaching at the Reckon and
Park driving Range, which I just leaped that and from
there it's just a success story. My clients, I just
(02:13):
absolutely love them to bits.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
I'm reading your book at the moment called on and
I can't say the second words, but you know that
what I'm talking about your goal swinging is that your
style I'm picking. That's that's you're sort of coming from
the same place as that blokers.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
I certainly am. And I mean I guess when I
when I get people that come to me here at
the range and they've been playing golf for a long time,
So my first thing with them is that I stand
there and say, right, you've got all your body bits,
your knees, your hip stale, all yours? Are they plastic
or metal? Or have you got spinal issues? So I
(02:51):
basically find out first what I'm working with because we've
all got different swing styles, we all swing different, we're
all way different, and the golf swing it comes in
many different forms. But so what I do is I
don't try and change that person as such. What I
work on is the key fundamentals of what makes the
(03:11):
bull leave the ground, and that's obviously club path and
getting it down at the right impact zone, where your
hands are, where your body is if you're using ground force.
And once I show these people this through my swing style,
they go, why haven't I known this for a long time.
Why have I been spending all this money on coaching
(03:33):
and I don't even know this? And I just always
say with them, after twenty balls, I'll guarantee. So if
you come to me with a slice, I say, after
twenty balls, you'll be hitting a drawer and you'll be
going away with the drawer. And they're just blown away
by the fact is that they've sliced all their life
and then they leave with a drawer. So yeah, I
just love working with people and making it simple.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Can you work with left handers?
Speaker 2 (03:58):
I work with left handers right And I actually coach
a lady with one arm, so right now.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
I'm just checking phil because I'm a left handed With
the slice, as most left handers tend to tend to do.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
You're easy, so you just turn it upside down on
its head and with the other way. In fact, I
coach a family, a lady and her young daughter, both
left handers, never played golf in their life. They came
to me a year ago here at the range, beautiful family,
and now they're hitting the ball. In fact, they're playing
in a golf tournament today. So I guess, I guess
for me my pleasure and excitement comes from when I
(04:34):
send somebody away and they ring me out and go
pill I won a club championship, or Phil, I just
got a hole on month today, or I played the
best game I've ever done. That really gives me warm fuzzies.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
You're still playing with a golf Phil.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
I love playing golf. Golf. If I couldn't play golf,
I'd want to leave the earth. That's how much I
love the game. It's the best game on the planet.
I play as much as I can, but because I
coach more now than I play, I do get to
go out on playing lessons. So I take people out
(05:08):
over nine holes or six holes and we do a
playing lesson. So I play with them and I also
do play. But my passion now is giving what I
got out of golf giving it to other people now
so that they can go on and enjoy the rewards
that I've got out of the game.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Have you got a moment in golf that stands out, like,
for example, if you get if you had a hole
in one or two or three of ums.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
I've had two hole in one. Yes I've won. So
I did set my goals, and my goals were when
I started was to represent myself at my club in
inter clubs and that so I played Woo Good Club,
I played Blank Club Cup, and then I played Samon
Cup and then from there. Once i'd done all that
(05:55):
over a few years, I got a couple of hole
on ones and then I went out and I got
a course for it which was sixty six under. It
was sixty six under and that was that a Muri
golf course and I still hold that course record. And
then I thought, well, I've done and of course my
(06:15):
club championship, so I've done everything that I wanted to do.
So as I say now, I want to pass it
on because everybody out there has got the opportunity to
be able to do exactly what I've done. If they
work hard and but the swing is easy, we make
it hard. If you understand how easy this swing is,
(06:35):
then that's easy.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
What's the biggest challenge I've got. I'm going to say YouTube.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
That's exy funny. It's exy funny because they get clients
that come to me and they go, well, I've been
watching this on YouTube, and I go, mate, that's all right,
but YouTube you can't see on YouTube, they can't see
what you were doing wrong. So they might be working
on something they think they're not right, but it might
not be. They might not be getting enough depth in
(07:04):
their hip going backwards. Does the concept or a misconcept
that people have got to turn their hits rotate more, Well,
it's actually it's like starting a lawmar when you're bending
over you're right, it goes up and slightly around and
then you're left. It does the same in the backswing
or in the follow through. So if you can get
those concepts and working your arms in the swing at
(07:26):
the same time coming down through into impact, it's easy.
It really is easy. And once I show them, I
video their swings and we only work on the bad things.
And like people like you might come to me and
say I've got this slice and I open up my
stands and I open up this to try and correct it. Well,
(07:47):
all you're doing is you're making more faults to fix
the fault. So let's just fix the fault. Bay one
simple thing with your hand or the way you stand
or something like that.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Right a fault. Look, it's been a lightning of your
chat to you, so people want to get hold of
you're lessening you down at the golf warehouse down there
at at Ricking and Race. Of course, really down that way,
aren't you.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Yeah, it's at the driving range down here. And anybody
that's looking at getting new clubs or anything like that,
I look at their clubs while we're having a lesson,
and we've got some great young technicians in here. I
give the person the swing and then I passed them
on to them and they put them into a set
of golf clubs that connects absolutely help their swing going forward.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Good on your phone, Appreciate your time and all the
very best. Thanks for talking to us.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Thank you very much for having me on your show,
Phil Smith.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Our Golfing Chat today in association with the Arab Trading Company.
Thanks to Marty and this team for bringing us that. Yeah,
we love our golf Chat.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
For more from news talks that'd be listen live on
air or online, and
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Keep our shows with you wherever you go with our
podcasts on IR Radio
Phil Smith, the golf coach Extraordink and Phil, welcome to
the program. How are you doing well, I'm outstanding. How
are you getting on.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I'm getting on really well. Thank you, Thank you for
having me on your show.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
No, I'll just tell us a little bit about yourself.
How the hell did you get yourself into golf coaching?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
How long have you got.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Well, we don't have that long just by the way.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
I guess from an early age, I took a passion
to golf, And like everybody that plays golf, you set
your dreams and your targets. And I guess when I
started playing, I set myself some goals that I wanted
to achieve in my golfing career, and I thought, well,
if I can achieve those, then I've done exactly what
(00:43):
I want to do in my golfing career. So once
I had done that, which wasn't easy for me, so
I took quite a few lessons with some of the
PGA pros, and I guess I never really got an
understanding of the swing concept and a whole, and I
always founded a struggle everybody out there that goes out
one day and hits good, then the next day they
(01:04):
don't know why they hit it so good. So I
guess then I just started researching golf, researching this swing,
learning more and more about it. Then I found that
a bit later on in my twenties early thirties, I
started doing some coaching, and I was blessed to be
able to live out at Clearwater and had the facility
(01:26):
out there at the practice range, and I was able
to coach some of my friends out there, and then
I found out I became quite good at it, and
they all told me that I don't know why you
don't do it full time. So I couldn't do it
full time because I had a family to bring up,
and you know how it goes. Otherwise would all be professionals.
And I guess from there just doors opened, and then
(01:51):
I guess just of late, I worked now at the
golf warehouse at Rickon Park, the driving range, and I
had an opportunity through chy Rechbishop and day Flights, they
offered me a role here coaching at the Reckon and
Park driving Range, which I just leaped that and from
there it's just a success story. My clients, I just
(02:13):
absolutely love them to bits.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
I'm reading your book at the moment called on and
I can't say the second words, but you know that
what I'm talking about your goal swinging is that your
style I'm picking. That's that's you're sort of coming from
the same place as that blokers.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
I certainly am. And I mean I guess when I
when I get people that come to me here at
the range and they've been playing golf for a long time,
So my first thing with them is that I stand
there and say, right, you've got all your body bits,
your knees, your hip stale, all yours? Are they plastic
or metal? Or have you got spinal issues? So I
(02:51):
basically find out first what I'm working with because we've
all got different swing styles, we all swing different, we're
all way different, and the golf swing it comes in
many different forms. But so what I do is I
don't try and change that person as such. What I
work on is the key fundamentals of what makes the
(03:11):
bull leave the ground, and that's obviously club path and
getting it down at the right impact zone, where your
hands are, where your body is if you're using ground force.
And once I show these people this through my swing style,
they go, why haven't I known this for a long time.
Why have I been spending all this money on coaching
(03:33):
and I don't even know this? And I just always
say with them, after twenty balls, I'll guarantee. So if
you come to me with a slice, I say, after
twenty balls, you'll be hitting a drawer and you'll be
going away with the drawer. And they're just blown away
by the fact is that they've sliced all their life
and then they leave with a drawer. So yeah, I
just love working with people and making it simple.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Can you work with left handers?
Speaker 2 (03:58):
I work with left handers right And I actually coach
a lady with one arm, so right now.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
I'm just checking phil because I'm a left handed With
the slice, as most left handers tend to tend to do.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
You're easy, so you just turn it upside down on
its head and with the other way. In fact, I
coach a family, a lady and her young daughter, both
left handers, never played golf in their life. They came
to me a year ago here at the range, beautiful family,
and now they're hitting the ball. In fact, they're playing
in a golf tournament today. So I guess, I guess
for me my pleasure and excitement comes from when I
(04:34):
send somebody away and they ring me out and go
pill I won a club championship, or Phil, I just
got a hole on month today, or I played the
best game I've ever done. That really gives me warm fuzzies.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
You're still playing with a golf Phil.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
I love playing golf. Golf. If I couldn't play golf,
I'd want to leave the earth. That's how much I
love the game. It's the best game on the planet.
I play as much as I can, but because I
coach more now than I play, I do get to
go out on playing lessons. So I take people out
(05:08):
over nine holes or six holes and we do a
playing lesson. So I play with them and I also
do play. But my passion now is giving what I
got out of golf giving it to other people now
so that they can go on and enjoy the rewards
that I've got out of the game.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Have you got a moment in golf that stands out, like,
for example, if you get if you had a hole
in one or two or three of ums.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
I've had two hole in one. Yes I've won. So
I did set my goals, and my goals were when
I started was to represent myself at my club in
inter clubs and that so I played Woo Good Club,
I played Blank Club Cup, and then I played Samon
Cup and then from there. Once i'd done all that
(05:55):
over a few years, I got a couple of hole
on ones and then I went out and I got
a course for it which was sixty six under. It
was sixty six under and that was that a Muri
golf course and I still hold that course record. And
then I thought, well, I've done and of course my
(06:15):
club championship, so I've done everything that I wanted to do.
So as I say now, I want to pass it
on because everybody out there has got the opportunity to
be able to do exactly what I've done. If they
work hard and but the swing is easy, we make
it hard. If you understand how easy this swing is,
(06:35):
then that's easy.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
What's the biggest challenge I've got. I'm going to say YouTube.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
That's exy funny. It's exy funny because they get clients
that come to me and they go, well, I've been
watching this on YouTube, and I go, mate, that's all right,
but YouTube you can't see on YouTube, they can't see
what you were doing wrong. So they might be working
on something they think they're not right, but it might
not be. They might not be getting enough depth in
(07:04):
their hip going backwards. Does the concept or a misconcept
that people have got to turn their hits rotate more, Well,
it's actually it's like starting a lawmar when you're bending
over you're right, it goes up and slightly around and
then you're left. It does the same in the backswing
or in the follow through. So if you can get
those concepts and working your arms in the swing at
(07:26):
the same time coming down through into impact, it's easy.
It really is easy. And once I show them, I
video their swings and we only work on the bad things.
And like people like you might come to me and
say I've got this slice and I open up my
stands and I open up this to try and correct it. Well,
(07:47):
all you're doing is you're making more faults to fix
the fault. So let's just fix the fault. Bay one
simple thing with your hand or the way you stand
or something like that.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Right a fault. Look, it's been a lightning of your
chat to you, so people want to get hold of
you're lessening you down at the golf warehouse down there
at at Ricking and Race. Of course, really down that way,
aren't you.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Yeah, it's at the driving range down here. And anybody
that's looking at getting new clubs or anything like that,
I look at their clubs while we're having a lesson,
and we've got some great young technicians in here. I
give the person the swing and then I passed them
on to them and they put them into a set
of golf clubs that connects absolutely help their swing going forward.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Good on your phone, Appreciate your time and all the
very best. Thanks for talking to us.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Thank you very much for having me on your show,
Phil Smith.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Our Golfing Chat today in association with the Arab Trading Company.
Thanks to Marty and this team for bringing us that. Yeah,
we love our golf Chat.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
For more from news talks that'd be listen live on
air or online, and
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Keep our shows with you wherever you go with our
podcasts on IR Radio
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