It all started when my dad bought me a video game called “Tiger Woods 98”.
They say that "kids absorb learning like sponges". Through that game I learned how to play golf.
Watching 2D reruns of Tiger's swing got me off to a good start with my mechanics. My dad recalled how I "set up just like Tiger" and even had a decent swing.
Not bad for an 8-year-old with a PC!
I didn’t golf much when I was younger because of my short attention span.
Instead, I got into playing baseball, piano, and guitar. At that time, my mind was dead set on replacing Derek Jeter as New York Yankees shortstop.
Fast forward to high school…I needed something to do in the Fall when baseball wasn’t going on.
I joined the high school golf team.
I thought, “FREE GOLF and get out of school early to play?" Sign me up!
My high school golf experience was far from sunshine and rainbows.
I practiced hard BUT struggled to break 50 on 9-holes!
My first 18-hole score that year was a 126 😲…
I’d hit this unbelievable slice off the tee. My ball flight was so wild that it looked like a football player running a post-pattern right. It was ugly!
I didn’t want to be this bad at golf forever, so I started taking lessons.
1000s of range balls and 100s of grueling practice hours later…
I went from shooting in the 100s to shooting in the low 80s and high 70s.
By the time I finished my senior year, my best tournament score was a 73. It was a round I'll never forget.
I was beginning to feel good about my golf game and shifted my focus to playing professional golf on the PGA Tour. A kid can dream, right?!
After high school, I went to Coastal Carolina University and enrolled in their PGA Golf Management program.
I had my sights set on playing PGA Tour golf, and this program was the place to do it.
Tuition included UNLIMITED everything - rounds of golf, golf lessons, range balls, and a high-tech launch monitor bay for practice.
In my mind, there was no way I could fail at this!
I knew I could get good if I took Ben Hogan's advice and "outworked everyone". I practiced 4 to 6 hours every day with a burning desire to become a professional golfer.
Golf was my full-time job. I hit 1000s of balls on the range each week.
I frequently booked lessons and dedicated myself to mastering golf swing moves.
I golfed almost every day – even when the weather was freezing cold.
Despite practicing for 4 hours a day, my game got worse… and worse… and worse…
My scores ballooned from the low 80s to the mid 90s. (Even after taking tons of lessons)
Contact was unpredictable - it was always fat or thin, with nothing in between.
The ball striking was so bad that I had no idea where my club was coming into the ground.
My drives got shorter and wilder off the tee.
I stood over the ball completely CLUELESS as to where it was going.
And, to make it even WORSE, I felt nagging lower back and right knee pain.
Body pain at 18 years old?! I was afraid of getting hurt at such a young age (“No thanks!”)
My game collapsed into a downward spiral…
I was trying golf tips all the time. I spent at least 3 hours a day desperately searching YouTube for a solution to fix my pathetic swing.
There were many EARLY mornings where I could be found watching golf tip videos at 2AM.
The only solution I could think of was to hit MORE balls. Take MORE lessons. Play MORE golf.
The harder I practiced the worse I got, and the more pain I experienced.
I was begging the proverbial “golf gods” for a break, but no relief came, not even a glimmer of hope.
My game got so bad that I decided to QUIT and do something more enjoyable and productive with my life.
I vented about my terrible golf game to my dad. When I told him I was quitting golf forever, he understood.
He also encouraged me to finish out the last semester of my freshman year and complete one golf internship. After that, I’d be free to choose another career path.
That summer I went on an internship at a high-end private club.
It was a very challenging Pete Dye course that regularly hosted US Open qualifiers and similar high-profile events.
It was my first day on the job and the state of my "golf mind" was in the place of:
“Let’s just get through this internship.”
“I’m done with golf forever.”
“I don’t plan on working in the golf business after this.”
In a last-ditch attempt to salvage my golf swing, I asked the assistant pro for a golf lesson.
He said, “Sure. Come on out to the range when you’re on lunch break.”
The lesson began with me hitting some warmup shots with a 6-iron. I hit my usual “fade, chunk, and thin” pattern. I was only 3 balls into my warmup when he said, “STOP!”
He made a couple of STRANGE swing adjustments!
"Get my weight forward" and "swing my hands low" under this alignment stick.
Then he said the most controversial line, “Keep your weight forward during your entire swing.”
I thought he was crazy! The changes he made went against everything I had ever learned about the swing. So, I objected.
He didn’t waste any time.He told me to “Shut up and hit the ball!”
I took the club back feeling that weight on the front leg... (gosh that feels weird!)… then getting those hands low around my hips (are you serious?!) … and I gave it a whack…
Swoosh… CRACK!
I stood there blank-faced as I didn’t know what just happened to me. It felt like the purest golf shot ever.
“Am I still alive? What was THAT?!”
The ball effortlessly flew 184 yards with a high, tight push-draw.
He put another ball down and said, “Do it again.”
OK. "Weight forward and low hands." Let’s swing…
Swoosh… CRACK!
The same thing! High, far, effortless. The ball landed in the same spot as the previous one!
“Do it again.”
Swoosh… CRACK!
“Oooh I didn’t know it could FEEL THAT GOOD to hit a ball!”
“Again…” he said.
Swoosh… CRACK!
At this point, I noticed a nice straight line of crispy divots forming.
The pro nonchalantly kept saying, “Again…” as if this was a normal thing.
Swoosh… CRACK!
“WOAH!!! It’s the same shot as before!!!”
I hit 10 perfect shots in a row LIKE THAT and I was FLOORED!
Each shot landed within 5 yards of my target.
I had a straight-line divot trail just like the pros.
The ball compressed and exploded off the face.
I had a smile so wide, you would’ve thought I went to heaven and came back.
I was numb from all the excitement, “Was this REAL life or was it a quick fantasy?!”
The pro said, “Lesson’s over. Time to get back to work.”
“That’s it?! I get a 5-minute lesson and experience ball striking like I’ve never seen. Not to mention, hitting 10 perfect shots in a row!”
Eager to keep the “magic mojo” going from that fantasy golf lesson, I rushed back to the range after work.
I hoped this wasn’t another “lightning in a bottle” experience.
While walking to the range, I was assaulted by intrusive thoughts from my dark golfing past:
“What if that golf lesson was just a fluke? I can’t really hit the ball THAT consistently.”
“I’m anxious to keep the magic going. I hope my new swing didn’t leave me already.”
“There’s no way I’ll be able to do this without help. I mean, I just had a 5-minute lesson and it’s all so new.”
I plopped down a few balls. Set my weight forward and whispered:
“Please still be there… Don’t go away…”
I swung those arms low around my hips and
Swoosh… CRACK!
A high towering draw exploded like a missile into the distance.
“Oh WOW! It’s perfect AGAIN!!!!”
Then another… Swoosh…. CRACK!
“Again!”
Crispy strike after crispy strike. Just like it was during my lesson.
TEN MORE PERFECT SHOTS went by without a single mis-hit.
My self-doubt began to vanish with each shot as I struck the ball first and took a nice, crispy divot after it. Now my mind was filled with:
“Consistency is a REALthing!”
“This is how pros STRIKE the ball!”
“This is what EFFORTLESS POWER feels like. It’s incredibly easy feeling on the body!”
For the first time in my golfing life, I began to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
As the sun set on that first practice session,
I discovered that consistent golf isn’t the result of 1000s of hours of practice.
Consistent golf happens when you work on the right things.
This new mental shift went against EVERYTHING I knew about golf.
Previously, I spent 1000s of hours practicing and getting worse…
Now, I’m getting pro-level ball striking right after making a couple of simple changes.
Unbelievable.
I thought I was supposed to hit 1000s of balls to keep my swing working. I’m supposed to practice every day so I don’t lose my swing.
Traditional golf techniques are full of “supposed to’s”.
I’m conditioned to believe that I’m supposed to embrace the struggle for years.
And, if you look around you, golf is a struggle. There are far too many golfers hitting far too many bad golf shots!
However, this new system tells me I can skip the struggle and get on with playing great golf right now.
I don’t have to wait years to get good. I just achieved great ball striking in 5 minutes without working hard.
My golf game improved at a ridiculous pace in the two weeks following that life-changing golf lesson.
And even though work was busy, I was able to practice for 5 minutes a day.
As it turned out, my short “5-minute practice sessions” paid off BIG TIME.
I moved back two sets of tees - from playing the white tees to the tips (I moved back from 6300 yards to 7200 yards).
My average score dropped from 93 to 75.
I had a consistent ball-divot strike, and the contact felt out of this world!
My driver distance jumped from 260 to 290 yards.
And, for the first time, I drove it over 300 yards. I didn’t realize it could feel so easy to hit it that far.
And the cherry on top. I did all of this with ZERO back or knee pain.
That’s when it all clicked for me, and I realized…I spent my whole life working on the wrong things in my swing.
After that miracle lesson, I began to learn EVERYTHING I could about this new swing system.
I couldn’t contain my excitement and began to share these techniques with other golfers.
Working at a private club, you see the same members play golf every day.
Many of the members scored in the 90s and 100s.
They weren’t happy playing 90s and 100s golf… in fact, they were MISERABLE!
You could see it on their faces. Complaining about bad shots here and there… cursing and swearing after shots.
It’s like they played golf out of obligation.
They’d ‘clock in’ at their 10AM tee time and ‘clock out’ at 2PM. Their faces tired and weary from yet another miserable ball striking day.
It got to the point where they cared more about pace of play than score. Whoever played the fastest was the best.
They had tremendous devotion to the game but no hope for improving their swing.
I couldn’t stand watching them suffer, so I began giving members quick swing tips on the range.
That’s when I noticed the tremendous power of this system.
I’d tell this member to “make a tweak here” and she started taking a divot after the ball.
I’d tell that member to “change this” and his slice immediately turned into a draw.
These changes happened within minutes, not days or months. The best part was seeing the smiles on their faces.
This revolutionary swing system was beyond successful. It was extremely satisfying to watch them hit the ball farther, straighter, and crispier without any pain or stress on the body.
You could tell they entered a state of golfing bliss.
I wasn’t stopping there.
I had a voice inside me that screamed, “You’ve got to get this out to the whole world!”
Imagine golfers everywhere hitting the ball crispy like that!
I launched SagutoGolf in 2017 with ONE VISION – “Lower the average golf score from 95 to 82”.
I started with ZERO clients and no income (just my savings).
All I had was this burning desire for everybody to play great golf and experience crispy ball striking.
My business steadily grew one lesson at a time to the point where I had over 400 regular students.
The SagutoGolf vision was being accomplished BUT at a very slow pace.
I had to think BIGGER to reach the entire golf world!
Then THIS happened…
In 2020 I had a lesson with a student who said he “wanted to make BIG changes”.
He was tired of swinging “the same old way”. He was determined to make a change (so I thought).
In our lesson, he resisted every swing change I suggested.
He wanted to go back to the traditional way of swinging. The same old swing that didn’t work for him.
It got to the point where I had enough. He was wasting my time - and I was wasting his time. It wasn’t going anywhere.
I don’t have much of a temper but, after the lesson, I was fuming.
I was so annoyed that he wanted to be stuck in the bad habits of his old swing. Habits that would cause him to be stuck in the 90s and 100s forever.
I can’t stand golfers NOT improving! It’s my kryptonite.
At that time, I’d film a YouTube video and release it to my audience every Thursday.
I had to film, but I was so upset after that lesson. I said, “Tom, never film when you’re angry. You’ll look like an idiot if you film yourself right now.”
I paced back and forth debating whether to film or go home.
My passions got the best of me, and I pressed the “Record” button.
What came out of this was a 20-minute unscripted video titled “You've been swinging the club WRONG your whole life - here's WHAT TO DO and WHAT NOT TO DO.”
I went on a rant talking about the problems of the traditional golf swing, and why golfers don’t improve.
I thought nothing of it. My mom watched the video and said, “Tom, you can’t post that. You’re mad!”
I didn’t care. I had nothing to lose.
That $50 “angry golf lesson” turned out to be the best investment of my life.
A month later, that video went viral and had over 100,000 views.
In April 2020, just one month after that viral video, I launched my online golf school Saguto.Golf.
Since then, I’ve transformed millions of golfers through a simple, powerful golf swing system.
My students learn through a step-by-step video training program that shows them how to strike the ball crispy, hit farther, and control their ball flight.
The program contains everything you need to build your swing and keep it in peak performing shape regardless of skill level.
My online golf school has grown to 5,000 members from countries all over the world – from the USA to Hong Kong, Australia to the UK.
There’s a strong community of SagutoGolfers in almost every country!
It’s an incredible blessing to help so many people enjoy golf through the power of a simple swing system.
The SagutoGolf vision is coming to life, one golfer at a time.
What’s my life like outside of golf?
I'm an avid guitar player. I used to split time as a touring musician for a country-rock band while teaching golf during the day.
We went as far as recording a studio album and performing at the Carolina Country Music Fest and Cruise.
I'm a big fan of classic rock, southern rock, and blues. If you shout "FREE BIRD" at one of my shows, I will play it!
If you ever come to the Myrtle Beach, SC area, come check out my bands, “The Guys” and “Flat Rock”.
I’ve met a few SagutoGolfers at my shows and it would be nice to meet you there.
A fun fact about me that nobody knows - I’m an aviation geek. I love flying planes. In fact, I turned my PC setup into a flight simulator so that I can practice.
In 2022, I recorded my first takeoff and landing in a real plane. Someday, I might get that pilot’s license. For now, I’m sticking to the simulator (you don’t have to pay for gas!).
The SagutoGolf story is still being written and I’d love for you to be a part of it.
We only get one shot at life, so don’t waste it playing bad golf.
Enjoy Life. Enjoy Golf. SagutoGolf.
“Life is Too Short to Play Bad Golf!”
Tom Saguto, PGA
It all started when my dad bought me a video game called “Tiger Woods 98”.
They say that "kids absorb learning like sponges". Through that game I learned how to play golf.
Watching 2D reruns of Tiger's swing got me off to a good start with my mechanics.
My dad recalled how I "set up just like Tiger" and even had a decent swing.
Not bad for an 8-year-old with a PC!
I didn’t golf much when I was younger because of my short attention span.
Instead, I got into playing baseball, piano, and guitar.
At that time, my mind was dead set on replacing Derek Jeter as New York Yankees shortstop.
Fast forward to high school…I needed something to do in the Fall when baseball wasn’t going on.
I joined the high school golf team.
I thought, “FREE GOLF and get out of school early to play?"
Sign me up!
My high school golf experience was far from sunshine and rainbows.
I practiced hard BUT struggled to break 50 on 9-holes!
My first 18-hole score that year was a 126…
I’d hit this unbelievable slice off the tee.
My ball flight was so wild that it looked like a football player running a post-pattern right. It was ugly!
I didn’t want to be this bad at golf forever, so I started taking lessons.
1000s of range balls and 100s of grueling practice hours later…
I went from shooting in the 100s to shooting in the low 80s and high 70s.
By the time I finished my senior year, my best tournament score was a 73. It was a round I'll never forget.
I was beginning to feel good about my golf game and shifted my focus to playing professional golf on the PGA Tour. A kid can dream, right?!
After high school, I went to Coastal Carolina University and enrolled in their PGA Golf Management program.
I had my sights set on playing PGA Tour golf, and this program was the place to do it.
Tuition included UNLIMITED everything - rounds of golf, golf lessons, range balls, and a high-tech launch monitor bay for practice.
In my mind, there was no way I could fail at this!
I knew I could get good if I took Ben Hogan's advice and "outworked everyone".
Golf was my full-time job. I practiced 4 to 6 hours every day with a burning desire to become a professional golfer.
I hit 1000s of balls on the range each week.
I frequently booked lessons and dedicated myself to mastering golf swing moves.
I golfed almost every day – even when the weather was freezing cold.
Despite practicing for 4 hours a day my game got worse… and worse…and worse.
My scores ballooned from the low 80s to the mid 90s. (Even after taking tons of lessons)
Contact was unpredictable - it was always fat or thin, with nothing in between.
The ball striking was so bad that I had no idea where my club was coming into the ground.
My drives got shorter and wilder off the tee.
I stood over the ball completely CLUELESS as to where it was going.
And, to make it even WORSE, I felt nagging lower back and right knee pain.
Body pain at 18 years old?! I was afraid of getting hurt at such a young age (“No thanks!”)
My game collapsed into a downward spiral…
I was trying golf tips all the time.
I spent at least 3 hours a day desperately searching YouTube for a solution to fix my pathetic swing.
There were many EARLY mornings where I could be found watching golf tip videos at 2AM.
The only solution I could think of was to hit MORE balls. Take MORE lessons. Play MORE golf.
The harder I practiced the worse I got, and the more pain I experienced.
I was begging the proverbial “golf gods” for a break, but no relief came, not even a glimmer of hope.
My game got so bad that I decided to QUIT and do something more enjoyable and productive with my life.
I vented about my terrible golf game to my dad.
When I told him I was quitting golf forever, he understood.
He also encouraged me to finish out the last semester of my freshman year and complete one golf internship. After that, I’d be free to choose another career path.
That summer I went on an internship at a high-end private club.
It was a very challenging Pete Dye course that regularly hosted US Open qualifiers and similar high-profile events.
It was my first day on the job and the state of my "golf mind" was in the place of:
“Let’s just get through this internship.”
“I’m done with golf forever.”
“I don’t plan on working in the golf business after this.”
In a last-ditch attempt to salvage my golf swing, I asked the assistant pro for a golf lesson.
He said, “Sure. Come on out to the range when you’re on lunch break.”
The lesson began with me hitting some warmup shots with a 6-iron.
I hit my usual “fade, chunk, and thin” pattern.
I was only 3 balls into my warmup when he said, “STOP!”
He made a couple of STRANGE swing adjustments!
"Get my weight forward" and "swing my hands low" under this alignment stick.
Then he said the most controversial line, “Keep your weight forward during your entire swing.”
I thought he was crazy! The changes he made went against everything I had ever learned about the swing. So, I objected.
He didn’t waste any time.
He told me to “Shut up and hit the ball!”
I took the club back feeling that weight on the front leg... (gosh that feels weird!)… then getting those hands low around my hips (are you serious?!) … and I gave it a whack…
Swoosh… CRACK!
I stood there blank-faced as I didn’t know what just happened to me. It felt like the purest golf shot ever.
“Am I still alive? What was THAT?!”
The ball effortlessly flew 184 yards with a high, tight push-draw.
He put another ball down and said, “Do it again.”
OK. "Weight forward and low hands." Let’s swing…
Swoosh… CRACK!
The same thing! High, far, effortless. The ball landed in the same spot as the previous one!
“Do it again.”
Swoosh… CRACK!
“Oooh I didn’t know it could FEEL THAT GOOD to hit a ball!”
“Again…” he said.
Swoosh… CRACK!
At this point, I noticed a nice straight line of crispy divots forming.
The pro nonchalantly kept saying, “Again…” as if this was a normal thing.
Swoosh… CRACK!
“WOAH!!! It’s the same shot as before!!!”
I hit 10 perfect shots in a row LIKE THAT and I was FLOORED!
Each shot landed within 5 yards of my target.
I had a straight-line divot trail just like the pros.
The ball compressed and exploded off the face.
I had a smile so wide, you would’ve thought I went to heaven and came back.
I was numb from all the excitement, “Was this REAL life or was it a quick fantasy?!”
The pro said, “Lesson’s over. Time to get back to work.”
“That’s it?! I get a 5-minute lesson and experience ball striking like I’ve never seen.
Not to mention, hitting 10 perfect shots in a row!”
Eager to keep the “magic mojo” going from that fantasy golf lesson, I rushed back to the range after work.
I hoped this wasn’t another “lightning in a bottle” experience.
While walking to the range, I was assaulted by intrusive thoughts from my dark golfing past:
“What if that golf lesson was just a fluke? I can’t really hit the ball THAT consistently.”
“I’m anxious to keep the magic going. I hope my new swing didn’t leave me already.”
“There’s no way I’ll be able to do this without help. I mean, I just had a 5-minute lesson and it’s all so new.”
I plopped down a few balls. Set my weight forward and whispered:
“Please still be there… Don’t go away…”
I swung those arms low around my hips and
Swoosh… CRACK!
A high towering draw exploded like a missile into the distance.
“Oh WOW! It’s perfect AGAIN!!!!”
Then another… Swoosh…. CRACK!
“Again!”
Crispy strike after crispy strike. Just like it was during my lesson.
TEN MORE PERFECT SHOTS went by without a single mis-hit.
My self-doubt began to vanish with each shot as I struck the ball first and took a nice, crispy divot after it.
Now my mind was filled with:
“Consistency is a REALthing!”
“This is how pros STRIKE the ball!”
“This is what EFFORTLESS POWER feels like. It’s incredibly easy feeling on the body!”
For the first time in my golfing life, I began to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
As the sun set on that first practice session,
I discovered that consistent golf isn’t the result of 1000s of hours of practice.
Consistent golf happens when you work on the right things.
This new mental shift went against EVERYTHING I knew about golf.
Previously, I spent 1000s of hours practicing and getting worse…
Now, I’m getting pro-level ball striking right after making a couple of simple changes.
Unbelievable.
I thought I was supposed to hit 1000s of balls to keep my swing working.
I’m supposed to practice every day so I don’t lose my swing.
Traditional golf techniques are full of “supposed to’s”.
I’m conditioned to believe that I’m supposed to embrace the struggle for years.
And, if you look around you, golf is a struggle.
There are far too many golfers hitting far too many bad golf shots!
However, this new system tells me I can skip the struggle and get on with playing great golf right now.
I don’t have to wait years to get good. I just achieved great ball striking in 5 minutes without working hard.
My golf game improved at a ridiculous pace in the two weeks following that life-changing golf lesson.
And even though work was busy, I was able to practice for 5 minutes a day.
As it turned out, my short “5-minute practice sessions” paid off BIG TIME.
I moved back two sets of tees - from playing the white tees to the tips (I moved back from 6300 yards to 7200 yards).
My average score dropped from 93 to 75.
I had a consistent ball-divot strike, and the contact felt out of this world!
My driver distance jumped from 260 to 290 yards.
And, for the first time, I drove it over 300 yards. I didn’t realize it could feel so easy to hit it that far.
And the cherry on top. I did all of this with ZERO back or knee pain.
That’s when it all clicked for me, and I realized…
I spent my whole life working on the wrong things in my swing.
After that miracle lesson, I began to learn EVERYTHING I could about this new swing system.
I couldn’t contain my excitement and began to share these techniques with other golfers.
Working at a private club, you see the same members play golf every day.
Many of the members scored in the 90s and 100s.
They weren’t happy playing 90s and 100s golf… in fact, they were MISERABLE!
You could see it on their faces. Complaining about bad shots here and there… cursing and swearing after shots.
It’s like they played golf out of obligation.
They’d ‘clock in’ at their 10AM tee time and ‘clock out’ at 2PM.
Their faces tired and weary from yet another miserable ball striking day.
It got to the point where they cared more about pace of play than score. Whoever played the fastest was the best.
They had tremendous devotion to the game but no hope for improving their swing.
I couldn’t stand watching them suffer, so I began giving members quick swing tips on the range.
That’s when I noticed the tremendous power of this system.
I’d tell this member to “make a tweak here” and she started taking a divot after the ball.
I’d tell that member to “change this” and his slice immediately turned into a draw.
These changes happened within minutes, not days or months.
The best part was seeing the smiles on their faces.
This revolutionary swing system was beyond successful.
It was extremely satisfying to watch them hit the ball farther, straighter, and crispier without any pain or stress on the body.
You could tell they entered a state of golfing bliss.
I wasn’t stopping there.
I had a voice inside me that screamed, “You’ve got to get this out to the whole world!”
Imagine golfers everywhere hitting the ball crispy like that!
I launched SagutoGolf in 2017 with ONE VISION – “Lower the average golf score from 95 to 82”.
I started with ZERO clients and no income (just my savings).
All I had was this burning desire for everybody to play great golf and experience crispy ball striking.
My business steadily grew one lesson at a time to the point where I had over 400 regular students.
The SagutoGolf vision was being accomplished BUT at a very slow pace.
I had to think BIGGER to reach the entire golf world!
Then THIS happened…
In 2020 I had a lesson with a student who said he “wanted to make BIG changes”.
He was tired of swinging “the same old way”. He was determined to make a change (so I thought).
In our lesson, he resisted every swing change I suggested.
He wanted to go back to the traditional way of swinging. The same old swing that didn’t work for him.
It got to the point where I had enough. He was wasting my time - and I was wasting his time. It wasn’t going anywhere.
I don’t have much of a temper but, after the lesson, I was fuming.
I was so annoyed that he wanted to be stuck in the bad habits of his old swing.
Habits that would cause him to be stuck scoring in the 90s and 100s forever.
I can’t stand golfers NOT improving! It’s my kryptonite.
At that time, I’d film a YouTube video and release it to my audience every Thursday.
I had to film, but I was so upset after that lesson. I said, “Tom, never film when you’re angry. You’ll look like an idiot if you film yourself right now.”
I paced back and forth debating whether to film or go home.
My passions got the best of me, and I pressed the “Record” button.
What came out of this was a 20-minute unscripted video titled “You've been swinging the club WRONG your whole life - here's WHAT TO DO and WHAT NOT TO DO.”
I went on a rant talking about the problems of the traditional golf swing, and why golfers don’t improve.
I thought nothing of it. My mom watched the video and said, “Tom, you can’t post that. You’re mad!”
I didn’t care. I had nothing to lose.
That $50 “angry golf lesson” turned out to be the best investment of my life.
A month later, that video went viral and had over 100,000 views.
In April 2020, just one month after that viral video, I launched my online golf school Saguto.Golf.
Since then, I’ve transformed millions of golfers through a simple, powerful golf swing system.
My students learn through a step-by-step video training program that shows them how to strike the ball crispy, hit farther, and control their ball flight.
The program contains everything you need to build your swing and keep it in peak performing shape regardless of skill level.
My online golf school has grown to 5,000 members from countries all over the world – from the USA to Hong Kong, Australia to the UK.
There’s a strong community of SagutoGolfers in almost every country!
It’s an incredible blessing to help so many people enjoy golf through the power of a simple swing system.
The SagutoGolf vision is coming to life, one golfer at a time.
What’s my life like outside of golf?
I'm an avid guitar player.
I used to split time as a touring musician for a country-rock band while teaching golf during the day.
We went as far as recording a studio album and performing at the Carolina Country Music Fest and Cruise.
I'm a big fan of classic rock, southern rock, and blues. If you shout "FREE BIRD" at one of my shows, I will play it!
If you ever come to the Myrtle Beach, SC area, come check out my bands, “The Guys” and “Flat Rock”.
I’ve met a few SagutoGolfers at my shows and it would be nice to meet you there.
A fun fact about me that nobody knows - I’m an aviation geek. I love flying planes. In fact, I turned my PC setup into a flight simulator so that I can practice.
In 2022, I recorded my first takeoff and landing in a real plane.
Someday, I might get that pilot’s license. For now, I’m sticking to the simulator (you don’t have to pay for gas!).
The SagutoGolf story is still being written and I’d love for you to be a part of it.
We only get one shot at life, so don’t waste it playing bad golf.
Enjoy Life. Enjoy Golf. SagutoGolf.
“Life is Too Short to Play Bad Golf!”
Tom Saguto, PGA
It all started when my dad bought me a video game called “Tiger Woods 98”.
They say that "kids absorb learning like sponges". Through that game I learned how to play golf.
Watching 2D reruns of Tiger's swing got me off to a good start with my mechanics.
My dad recalled how I "set up just like Tiger" and even had a decent swing.
Not bad for an 8-year-old with a PC!
I didn’t golf much when I was younger because of my short attention span.
Instead, I got into playing baseball, piano, and guitar. At that time, my mind was dead set on replacing Derek Jeter as New York Yankees shortstop.
Fast forward to high school…I needed something to do in the Fall when baseball wasn’t going on.
I joined the high school golf team.
I thought, “FREE GOLF and get out of school early to play?"
Sign me up!
My high school golf experience was far from sunshine and rainbows.
I practiced hard BUT struggled to break 50 on 9-holes!
My first 18-hole score that year was a 126 😲…
I’d hit this unbelievable slice off the tee. My ball flight was so wild that it looked like a football player running a post-pattern right. It was ugly!
I didn’t want to be this bad at golf forever, so I started taking lessons.
1000s of range balls and 100s of grueling practice hours later…
I went from shooting in the 100s to shooting in the low 80s and high 70s.
By the time I finished my senior year, my best tournament score was a 73. It was a round I'll never forget.
I was beginning to feel good about my golf game and shifted my focus to playing professional golf on the PGA Tour. A kid can dream, right?!
After high school, I went to Coastal Carolina University and enrolled in their PGA Golf Management program.
I had my sights set on playing PGA Tour golf, and this program was the place to do it.
Tuition included UNLIMITED everything - rounds of golf, golf lessons, range balls, and a high-tech launch monitor bay for practice.
In my mind, there was no way I could fail at this!
I knew I could get good if I took Ben Hogan's advice and "outworked everyone".
Golf was my full-time job. I practiced 4 to 6 hours every day with a burning desire to become a professional golfer.
I hit 1000s of balls on the range each week.
I frequently booked lessons and dedicated myself to mastering golf swing moves.
I golfed almost every day – even when the weather was freezing cold.
Despite practicing for 4 hours a day, my game got worse… and worse… and worse…
My scores ballooned from the low 80s to the mid 90s. (Even after taking tons of lessons)
Contact was unpredictable - it was always fat or thin, with nothing in between.
The ball striking was so bad that I had no idea where my club was coming into the ground.
My drives got shorter and wilder off the tee.
I stood over the ball completely CLUELESS as to where it was going.
And, to make it even WORSE, I felt nagging lower back and right knee pain.
Body pain at 18 years old?! I was afraid of getting hurt at such a young age (“No thanks!”)
My game collapsed into a downward spiral…
I was trying golf tips all the time. I spent at least 3 hours a day desperately searching YouTube for a solution to fix my pathetic swing.
There were many EARLY mornings where I could be found watching golf tip videos at 2AM.
The only solution I could think of was to hit MORE balls. Take MORE lessons. Play MORE golf.
The harder I practiced the worse I got, and the more pain I experienced.
I was begging the proverbial “golf gods” for a break, but no relief came, not even a glimmer of hope.
My game got so bad that I decided to QUIT and do something more enjoyable and productive with my life.
I vented about my terrible golf game to my dad.
When I told him I was quitting golf forever, he understood.
He also encouraged me to finish out the last semester of my freshman year and complete one golf internship. After that, I’d be free to choose another career path.
That summer I went on an internship at a high-end private club.
It was a very challenging Pete Dye course that regularly hosted US Open qualifiers and similar high-profile events.
It was my first day on the job and the state of my "golf mind" was in the place of:
“Let’s just get through this internship.”
“I’m done with golf forever.”
“I don’t plan on working in the golf business after this.”
In a last-ditch attempt to salvage my golf swing, I asked the assistant pro for a golf lesson.
He said, “Sure. Come on out to the range when you’re on lunch break.”
The lesson began with me hitting some warmup shots with a 6-iron.
I hit my usual “fade, chunk, and thin” pattern.
I was only 3 balls into my warmup when he said, “STOP!”
He made a couple of STRANGE swing adjustments!
"Get my weight forward" and "swing my hands low" under this alignment stick.
Then he said the most controversial line, “Keep your weight forward during your entire swing.”
I thought he was crazy! The changes he made went against everything I had ever learned about the swing. So, I objected.
He didn’t waste any time. He told me to “Shut up and hit the ball!”
I took the club back feeling that weight on the front leg... (gosh that feels weird!)… then getting those hands low around my hips (are you serious?!) … and I gave it a whack…
Swoosh… CRACK!
I stood there blank-faced as I didn’t know what just happened to me. It felt like the purest golf shot ever.
“Am I still alive? What was THAT?!”
The ball effortlessly flew 184 yards with a high, tight push-draw.
He put another ball down and said, “Do it again.”
OK. "Weight forward and low hands." Let’s swing…
Swoosh… CRACK!
The same thing! High, far, effortless. The ball landed in the same spot as the previous one!
“Do it again.”
Swoosh… CRACK!
“Oooh I didn’t know it could FEEL THAT GOOD to hit a ball!”
“Again…” he said.
Swoosh… CRACK!
At this point, I noticed a nice straight line of crispy divots forming.
The pro nonchalantly kept saying, “Again…” as if this was a normal thing.
Swoosh… CRACK!
“WOAH!!! It’s the same shot as before!!!”
I hit 10 perfect shots in a row LIKE THAT and I was FLOORED!
Each shot landed within 5 yards of my target.
I had a straight-line divot trail just like the pros.
The ball compressed and exploded off the face.
I had a smile so wide, you would’ve thought I went to heaven and came back.
I was numb from all the excitement, “Was this REAL life or was it a quick fantasy?!”
The pro said, “Lesson’s over. Time to get back to work.”
“That’s it?! I get a 5-minute lesson and experience ball striking like I’ve never seen.
Not to mention, hitting 10 perfect shots in a row!”
Eager to keep the “magic mojo” going from that fantasy golf lesson, I rushed back to the range after work.
I hoped this wasn’t another “lightning in a bottle” experience.
While walking to the range, I was assaulted by intrusive thoughts from my dark golfing past:
“What if that golf lesson was just a fluke? I can’t really hit the ball THAT consistently.”
“I’m anxious to keep the magic going. I hope my new swing didn’t leave me already.”
“There’s no way I’ll be able to do this without help. I mean, I just had a 5-minute lesson and it’s all so new.”
I plopped down a few balls. Set my weight forward and whispered:
“Please still be there… Don’t go away…”
I swung those arms low around my hips and
Swoosh… CRACK!
A high towering draw exploded like a missile into the distance.
“Oh WOW! It’s perfect AGAIN!!!!”
Then another… Swoosh…. CRACK!
“Again!”
Crispy strike after crispy strike. Just like it was during my lesson.
TEN MORE PERFECT SHOTS went by without a single mis-hit.
My self-doubt began to vanish with each shot as I struck the ball first and took a nice, crispy divot after it.
Now my mind was filled with:
“Consistency is a REALthing!”
“This is how pros STRIKE the ball!”
“This is what EFFORTLESS POWER feels like. It’s incredibly easy feeling on the body!”
For the first time in my golfing life, I began to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
As the sun set on that first practice session,
I discovered that consistent golf isn’t the result of 1000s of hours of practice.
Consistent golf happens when you work on the right things.
This new mental shift went against EVERYTHING I knew about golf.
Previously, I spent 1000s of hours practicing and getting worse…
Now, I’m getting pro-level ball striking right after making a couple of simple changes.
Unbelievable.
I thought I was supposed to hit 1000s of balls to keep my swing working.
I’m supposed to practice every day so I don’t lose my swing.
Traditional golf techniques are full of “supposed to’s”.
I’m conditioned to believe that I’m supposed to embrace the struggle for years.
And, if you look around you, golf is a struggle. There are far too many golfers hitting far too many bad golf shots!
However, this new system tells me I can skip the struggle and get on with playing great golf right now.
I don’t have to wait years to get good. I just achieved great ball striking in 5 minutes without working hard.
My golf game improved at a ridiculous pace in the two weeks following that life-changing golf lesson.
And even though work was busy, I was able to practice for 5 minutes a day.
As it turned out, my short “5-minute practice sessions” paid off BIG TIME.
I moved back two sets of tees - from playing the white tees to the tips (I moved back from 6300 yards to 7200 yards).
My average score dropped from 93 to 75.
I had a consistent ball-divot strike, and the contact felt out of this world!
My driver distance jumped from 260 to 290 yards.
And, for the first time, I drove it over 300 yards. I didn’t realize it could feel so easy to hit it that far.
And the cherry on top. I did all of this with ZERO back or knee pain.
That’s when it all clicked for me, and I realized…I spent my whole life working on the wrong things in my swing.
After that miracle lesson, I began to learn EVERYTHING I could about this new swing system.
I couldn’t contain my excitement and began to share these techniques with other golfers.
Working at a private club, you see the same members play golf every day.
Many of the members scored in the 90s and 100s.
They weren’t happy playing 90s and 100s golf… in fact, they were MISERABLE!
You could see it on their faces. Complaining about bad shots here and there… cursing and swearing after shots.
It’s like they played golf out of obligation.
They’d ‘clock in’ at their 10AM tee time and ‘clock out’ at 2PM.
Their faces tired and weary from yet another miserable ball striking day.
It got to the point where they cared more about pace of play than score. Whoever played the fastest was the best.
They had tremendous devotion to the game but no hope for improving their swing.
I couldn’t stand watching them suffer, so I began giving members quick swing tips on the range.
That’s when I noticed the tremendous power of this system.
I’d tell this member to “make a tweak here” and she started taking a divot after the ball.
I’d tell that member to “change this” and his slice immediately turned into a draw.
These changes happened within minutes, not days or months. The best part was seeing the smiles on their faces.
This revolutionary swing system was beyond successful.
It was extremely satisfying to watch them hit the ball farther, straighter, and crispier without any pain or stress on the body.
You could tell they entered a state of golfing bliss.
I wasn’t stopping there.
I had a voice inside me that screamed, “You’ve got to get this out to the whole world!”
Imagine golfers everywhere hitting the ball crispy like that!
I launched SagutoGolf in 2017 with ONE VISION – “Lower the average golf score from 95 to 82”.
I started with ZERO clients and no income (just my savings).
All I had was this burning desire for everybody to play great golf and experience crispy ball striking.
My business steadily grew one lesson at a time to the point where I had over 400 regular students.
The SagutoGolf vision was being accomplished BUT at a very slow pace.
I had to think BIGGER to reach the entire golf world!
Then THIS happened…
In 2020 I had a lesson with a student who said he “wanted to make BIG changes”.
He was tired of swinging “the same old way”. He was determined to make a change (so I thought).
In our lesson, he resisted every swing change I suggested.
He wanted to go back to the traditional way of swinging. The same old swing that didn’t work for him.
It got to the point where I had enough. He was wasting my time - and I was wasting his time. It wasn’t going anywhere.
I don’t have much of a temper but, after the lesson, I was fuming.
I was so annoyed that he wanted to be stuck in the bad habits of his old swing. Habits that would cause him to be stuck in the 90s and 100s forever.
I can’t stand golfers NOT improving! It’s my kryptonite.
At that time, I’d film a YouTube video and release it to my audience every Thursday.
I had to film, but I was so upset after that lesson. I said, “Tom, never film when you’re angry. You’ll look like an idiot if you film yourself right now.”
I paced back and forth debating whether to film or go home.
My passions got the best of me, and I pressed the “Record” button.
What came out of this was a 20-minute unscripted video titled “You've been swinging the club WRONG your whole life - here's WHAT TO DO and WHAT NOT TO DO.”
I went on a rant talking about the problems of the traditional golf swing, and why golfers don’t improve.
I thought nothing of it. My mom watched the video and said, “Tom, you can’t post that. You’re mad!”
I didn’t care. I had nothing to lose.
That $50 “angry golf lesson” turned out to be the best investment of my life.
A month later, that video went viral and had over 100,000 views.
In April 2020, just one month after that viral video, I launched my online golf school Saguto.Golf.
Since then, I’ve transformed millions of golfers through a simple, powerful golf swing system.
My students learn through a step-by-step video training program that shows them how to strike the ball crispy, hit farther, and control their ball flight.
The program contains everything you need to build your swing and keep it in peak performing shape regardless of skill level.
My online golf school has grown to 5,000 members from countries all over the world – from the USA to Hong Kong, Australia to the UK.
There’s a strong community of SagutoGolfers in almost every country!
It’s an incredible blessing to help so many people enjoy golf through the power of a simple swing system.
The SagutoGolf vision is coming to life, one golfer at a time.
What’s my life like outside of golf?
I'm an avid guitar player.
I used to split time as a touring musician for a country-rock band while teaching golf during the day.
We went as far as recording a studio album and performing at the Carolina Country Music Fest and Cruise.
I'm a big fan of classic rock, southern rock, and blues. If you shout "FREE BIRD" at one of my shows, I will play it!
If you ever come to the Myrtle Beach, SC area, come check out my bands, “The Guys” and “Flat Rock”.
I’ve met a few SagutoGolfers at my shows and it would be nice to meet you there.
A fun fact about me that nobody knows - I’m an aviation geek. I love flying planes. In fact, I turned my PC setup into a flight simulator so that I can practice.
In 2022, I recorded my first takeoff and landing in a real plane.
Someday, I might get that pilot’s license. For now, I’m sticking to the simulator (you don’t have to pay for gas!).
The SagutoGolf story is still being written and I’d love for you to be a part of it.
We only get one shot at life, so don’t waste it playing bad golf.
