HOW COACHING WOMEN, AS A WOMAN, CHANGED MY LIFE

I can’t even express how excited I am to be writing this because it means Mirrorball is finally real and I get this platform to share my stories and experiences in the golf industry. The very first story I really wanted to share is everything I got to experience while coaching a women’s college team for the first time, and to share all of the things these ladies taught me. 

Coaching this team is easily the most impactful thing I’ve done in my career to date. I spent several months learning about each of them and learning their style of play without directly coaching them and when I finally got the opportunity to formally work with them I learned very quickly that I needed them more than they needed me. I thought I would come in and be the female coach they have always needed and wanted and I would be able to lead and guide them to more success than they had ever seen. Girl, was I wrong. While I still want to believe they needed my guidance and leadership, NO, I needed theirs. Going into this experience I had only ever been surrounded by men in the industry and people who did not see the significance of being a woman in a male-dominant field. Seeing this group of girls be dominant and lead their way through everything they did opened my eyes completely. There are obstacles in this game and in life that make women’s lives exponentially harder that unfortunately men just would not understand. 

The women on this team worked together, they built the most genuine friendships I have ever seen, and they succeeded together against every possible odd working against them. They taught me resilience, time and time again. They have experienced a huge amount of unfairness in their time on a college team and came out of it as better people. Their games developed and grew in ways we never imagined and their headspace was unbreakable. Coaching this team made me want to be a better golfer, a better person and a better woman every single day. There were days I would sit up and think of ways I could contribute to their lives and ways I could make their golf game better, or their school lives better. I would rack my brain for anything I could do for them. 

One of those nights happened while we were on our first trip as a team with me as their coach. I sat up thinking of something I could give every senior on my team to remind them I was their biggest supporter and that they could rely on me on and off the course. This was the moment I realized these girls changed me and changed my life. I had never been someone who felt needed and felt like I could change other people’s lives, but all of a sudden that was my reality. My whole life became about making sure these girls were good. All of the sudden I had a reason to stay in the golf industry and a reason to love teaching and coaching again. The greatest joy of my career has been having them trust me and rely on me, as a golfer and as a woman and to this day I sit up thinking of ways to thank them for this. 

As a direct result of coaching these girls I have changed as a coach and as a person tremendously. The way I play the game of golf is different, the way I teach the game of golf is not different, and the way I carry myself in the world is entirely different. This experience has both humbled me and empowered me to move through life as a woman who supports others but stands up for herself every single time. I used to be a girl who would sit back and watch people achieve things I dreamed of, and watch people who don’t work as hard get the things I had always wanted. As soon as I met this team everything changed. 

Now we are in our off season so I do not get to see the girls for a while and it is the strangest feeling. I want nothing more at this point than to be back in season with these athletes, coaching them and leading them, and learning from them. 

P.S. if any of them read this. THANK YOU FOR CHANGING MY LIFE!