Matt Lees ABILITY Magazine Interview

I'm Matt Lees. I'm a golfer by trade.

You wouldn't think it considering I have one hand.

I've been doing it for a long time.

I feel like this is what I was born to do.

Growing up having only one hand

and being able to be a golfer at a level that

most people can't come close to achieving

even with two hands.

It's been the drive for me in my personal life

and in my golf game, the difficulty of it, and

...being able to overcome.

I would use athletics to kind of make myself even

with the other kids I went to school with.

People would give me a hard time.

The way that I would deal with that is by

excelling at in sports and beating them at sports.

When it got to golf, golf is the hardest thing

I could think of that you could be really good at

with one hand.

It's funny, most people would think I come from a family that are big time golfers, but honestly

I'm not. I actually got my own dad involved in the game

after I had taken it up.

I grew up caddying, and the thousands of rounds

caddying...that's the one thing that I picked up...

...if you want to learn about a guy, you want to get

to know somebody, go out and play a round of golf

with them. Because, by the end of day, you'll know

exactly the person he is.

Golf, for any body with any ability starting out

is very difficult to learn and to get the feel for it.

Ninety percent of folks out there that want to

learn how to play golf...they'll give up on week one.

Because it's just a very challenging thing to do

The golf ball is only a small ball and you gotta

hit it with a stick. It requires timing...

...it requires hand - eye coordination.

I have a tattoo that says, "In Golf As in Life."

The way that you go through life

...the decisions you make... the way you react...

...to problems that arise... the way you react to...

...good things happening to you...

Throughout the day at a round of golf...

...you have obstacles to overcome

...somethings go your way...somethings don't...

...you catch good breaks... you catch bad breaks...

Sometimes that guy you're playing gets lucky...

There's so many things that come up in a round of golf.

For me, it's almost like my mantra...

...what I live by...

When I'm out golfing, it's so much practicing

my golf swing...

...or practicing pulling off shots or what my score is...

My goal, when I'm out on the golf course, is

how well I handle my emotions and how well

I handle the things I come up to throughout a round of golf.

Golf is a mental game.

And it's all about being able to control

your emotions and it's about believing in yourself

It's not what your score is or how well you're playing

...days when you can handle yourself and your

emotions mentally... if you can do that...

then, the scores and the good shots... they come

with that.

The one thing that allowed me to stick with it

and to continue to pursue my dream

was support that I got from my parents and my

family. As absurd as it sounds for an 8 or 9 year old

to say that I'm going to be a professional golfer and

have one hand... not that I'm a little older and looking

back, the support that they showed

when I was younger, that's the reason why I'm still

here today playing golf.

They instilled that belief in myself when I was

...a little kid.

And that has always been with me

...through the years.

Everybody's got their story.

This one's mine.