As one of the best female amateur golfers in Scotland, Jen Saxton has enjoyed much success on the links. These days, however, her triumphs in golf may be even sweeter.
That’s because, as the marketing manager for Shot Scope, she can’t put in the practice time she could when she played on the collegiate level, nor can she play nearly as many events as she once did. Using a combination of playing and practicing smarter through Shot Scope’s performance tracking tools and her own psychology, Saxton, who has been working full-time at the Edinburgh, Scotland-based company for seven years, is still finding new ways to get better at the sport she loves.
Her latest accomplishment was to get picked to play for the Scottish team in the upcoming 2025 World Amateur Team Championships (Espirito Santo Trophy) in Singapore. The 72-hole stroke play bi-annual team event will be played Oct. 1-4 on the Tampines Course at Tanah Merah Country Club.
The 28-year-old Saxton, who played college golf at the University of Stirling, was selected after she played in her fourth consecutive Women’s Home Internationals. Although Scotland didn’t win, Saxton played very well, earning four points, which included two wins in her three singles matches.
“Going into that week, I had been playing OK but not great,” said Saxton, who has now played the event in all four countries that participate – England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales.
“I knew if I played well, I had a chance to get picked for the World Amateur Team Championships, so I wanted to perform well that week,” she continued. “I went out first in the foursomes and singles, playing against girls who are full-time college athletes in the states, Curtis Cup players and have played in the Vagliano Trophy - which is GB&I against Europe - and I beat a couple of them and halved with another one. I was quite happy that I could compete with these full-time golfers when I’m just sitting at my desk, working most of the week.”
Saxton said she had just missed out on the Worlds team a couple of years ago. And she’s not the only Shot Scope employee to play in the event, which is conducted by the International Golf Federations and comprises the national governing bodies of golf from 160 countries. Gavin Dear, the company’s chief commercial officer, was a member of the Scottish team that won the Eisenhower Trophy at the 2008 World Team Championships.
“I can’t imagine there are too many golf companies that have had two employees playing in this event or the equivalent,” Saxton said.
So, the question is, how do you stay on top of your game when you’re working full-time, managing life, and competing against players (especially younger college players) who are essentially focused on golf full-time? Saxton employs several strategies. One, quite naturally, is to track her game stats and tendencies using one of the Shot Scope devices that include a watch, handheld, or a laser rangefinder.
One of the things she’s learned recently is that she’s better off hitting driver, especially after she has worked in the gym to gain up to an additional 6 mph of clubhead speed.
“I think the key thing for me since starting at Shot Scope is that everything points towards distance being key,” said Saxton, who considers driver to be one of the strengths of her game. “I’ve started hitting the ball better- carrying the ball another 15 yards or so, but have also gained accuracy, hitting 10% more fairways too. All the stats show that the closer you are to the green, the closer you’re going to hit it.”
With that said, Shot Scope also indicated that her wedge accuracy could be better. She recently switched to a set of fitted Vokey wedges from Titleist (she also has a new Titleist driver and irons), and has been working on her wedge play. Her stats have also shown that her putting could be better, but that’s related to her wedge play she says. They go hand in hand.
“I do tend to hit a lot of greens, and I two-putt quite a lot.” she said. “I’m just making a lot of pars. I need to sharpen up the wedges to give myself more birdie chances.”
Another big factor as of late has been her attitude. She is easier on herself these days and has an interesting strategy in tournaments. Intentionally, she’s pretty much unaware of what her score is and where she stands.
When she won the 2022 St Rule Trophy, a prestigious 54-hole event at St Andrews, she didn’t know where she stood until she reached the final green. In fact, she made a “spectacular” quadruple bogey on the par-3 11th that she thought might have knocked her out of contention during the final round. But playing one shot at a time after that, she made several 3’s on the card down the stretch, including the 17th (which plays as a par 5 for women).
After she hit her approach to the green on 18 on the Old Course (the previous two rounds were on the New Course), she asked her caddie, who had been monitoring a tournament scoring app on his phone, if he knew where she stood.
“If I need to hole this putt, I’d like to know,” she told him.
“They’ve got you leading by 3. Just enjoy your moment on the green,” Saxton recalled her caddie saying.
“It was a really nice moment,” she said.
Her advice is no matter what happens before, whether it’s a quadruple bogey or eagle, you can’t let it affect the next shot.
“You're just trying to hit the best shot you can, whether you’re leading by five or trailing by five,” she said.
Finally, since she can’t practice like she once did, her expectations are tempered, though obviously she still wants to compete at a high level. She used to be a bit of a perfectionist.
“I used to get quite angry,” she recalled. “One day, I was playing and hit a terrible shot and started to get annoyed. Then I thought, ‘I’ve got no right to get annoyed because I’m not putting in the practice.' So I’m less harsh on myself now.”
She has also learned to manage her game better through Shot Scope tracking. She’s been more consistent lately despite not being able to put in as much work as she once did.
“It’s about putting a score together when you don’t have your ‘A’ game,” said Saxton, who once shot 7-under par in a tournament. “The mid to low 70s is where I’m at. I just need a hot putter.”
A new documentary video, now available on YouTube, was created detailing Jen’s story of golf and working for Shot Scope. https://youtu.be/C9mFkO14VtE