Killen Golf - Putt.com

Early Life

Matt Killen was born March 4, 1985. He began to play golf at the age of ten and fell in love with the game. His dad Tom Killen and mother Debbie Killen encouraged him and helped him pursue his passion. Matt’s father is the Steel Guitar player for George Jones and his mother is a nurse. After playing golf for a few months he began to play golf with PGA Tour Pro Kenny Perry’s son, Justin, whom Matt met while playing on the same Little League baseball team.

The Competition Heats Up

Justin had a lot more experience in golf than Matt did, and got a lot of enjoyment out of beating Matt the first few years they played together. As time went on, however, Matt became dedicated to the game (and maybe a little more dedicated to beating Justin). Although Justin played very well, Matt became increasingly harder to beat. The fierce competition between the two helped both of them become much better players and ultimately win many junior tournaments throughout their youth.

Matt Pursues Golf Instruction

Kenny Perry was helping both Matt and Justin every step of the way. Kenny took Matt and Justin with him on many golf trips to practice at places like TPC Sawgrass, and also introduced Matt to well known golf teachers around the country. During this time, Matt spent a lot of time with top golf teachers, questioning them relentlessly about how the golf swing worked and their theories as to how to improve the swing. These experiences helped form Matt’s future.

Matt began helping his friends and teammates with their game while he was still in High School. In 2003, his Senior year, Matt won the Kentucky High School Regional Golf Tournament, and soon after, gradutated from Franklin-Simpson High School. He then made his decision to start teaching golf a little more seriously. He started with a video camera and a computer Kenny had purchased to evaluate his own swing.

Business started out great for a guy who had just graduated high-school, he had 3-4 people coming every week. After the fourth week it turned into 15-20 people, and continued to grow throughout the year. As time went on, people in the community began to recognize his skill and would seek his help with their game. Kenny was still around helping Matt and watching as his camera, computer, and sons best friend began to help improve the golf swings of hundreds of people.

Matt Hits the Big Time

After some small struggles in early 2004, Kenny Perry approached Matt and asked him for some help one day when nobody else was on the range. He liked what Matt had to say, and continued to let Matt look at his swing and listen to his advice. A few people in the community were aware of this oddity but in Franklin, Kentucky, it didn’t seem like too big of a deal. Kenny wasn’t telling people about his new personal swing coach, but who could blame him? He was working with a guy who was only 19!

As Matt and Kenny began to work more and more, Kenny’s play continued to improve. After the final round of the Bay Hill Tournament in 2005, which he won, Kenny let the world know about Matt Killen for the first time. Suddenly, media attention and a lot more business were at Matt’s door. He signed a contract with Taylor-Made adidas, and filmed some infomercials. Business picked up a substantial amount and he made his first appearance on The Golf Channel later that year as well as in Sports Illustrated and USA Today. The media attention helped him immensely, but there where still the guys out there who doubted his abilities because of his ties to Kenny as a child and his friendship with Kenny’s son. However, it was after his second Golf Channel appearance on the game improvement show “Academy Live” that he picked up another client on the PGA Tour and helped put some of the doubts to rest.

Matt Lands More PGA Tour Pros

Shaun Micheel called Matt soon after he saw Academy Live, and the two began working together. Shaun had been playing poorly for a while, and he knew he needed a talented young coach to help him improve. After working with Matt a short period of time, Shaun started posting top 25 finishes, beat Tiger Woods in the World Match Play, and finished 2nd in the 2006 PGA Championship. Shaun enjoyed Matt’s help and gave him plenty of media attention as a reward for his efforts.

As business continued to pick up, and Matt became more of a fixture at Tour events, another Tour player came along looking for someone to help him. This player was the long ball hitter from Matt’s home state of Kentucky, J.B. Holmes. Although Matt had met J.B. a few times prior to the Tour, they didn’t know each other very well. That soon changed, as Matt began working with J.B. a lot and his game began to improve. Matt even caddied for J.B. at the Mercedes Championship in Maui, where the duo placed 4th.

The very next week, Matt was at the Sony working with J.B., Kenny, and Shaun when another well known player walked up and asked Matt for his help, the player was 2008 Ryder Cup Captain Paul Azinger. Matt worked with Paul on numerous occasions throughout 2007, and Paul’s game improved, but his responsibilities as Captain slowed down his amount of play.

The future certainly looks bright for Matt Killen, as he continues to improve and refine his coaching and swing analysis methods. We at Putt.com are extremely proud to have Matt as part of our team.

A Few Facts About Matt Killen

• Matt Recently Graduated from Western Kentucky University with a Degree in Management. He went to school full time while fulfilling his responsibilities to his local clients and his Tour players.
• Through 2007, Matt wrote articles for Golf Magazine and Golf Digest.
• Matt was voted in the “Top 20 Under 40″ golf instructors in the world (the youngest on the list).
• Matt teaches college players from many schools including 6 players in the top 100 in the NCAA rankings.
• In 2006, Matt taught both the Kentucky and Tennessee Junior Players of the Year, and taught both the Kentucky and Tennessee State Junior Amateur Champions.