Tag: Girl Meets Golf

Girls Golf eLeader Reflection on the Girls Golf Academy

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by Dani Swaggerty

My experience at the LPGA*USGA Girls Golf Academy was definitely a great one.  Even before the actual academy started, I was welcomed with open arms by all the LPGA staff. The first day was a big day for me, since this was my first trip by myself. The whole LPGA staff made it very easy for me to adjust to the unfamiliar.  As an eLeader, I enjoyed watching all the girls grow over the course of two days, and I loved being exposed to the true power of the game of golf.  The top three things that I took away from this experience were: building new and existing relationships, meeting the next generation of girls in golf, and learning more about myself.

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When Will I Get This?

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by Abbey Algiers

When I’m feeling frustrated with my game, my mind floats back to my first year golfing, when my dad and I would spend hours at the range and around the green. I’d beg him to “really play golf.” meaning I wanted to play nine holes, or at least the practice course. But we didn’t even hit the practice course that first year, as my dad insisted we “start with the basics.” He told me that I needed to lay down the groundwork first. So, we started from scratch. Grip. Stance. Swing. Learn the clubs. Then we put it all together at the range and on the greens. Those range balls didn’t go far, and my chips were pathetic.

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Why Girls Playing Golf at a Young Age are Rockstars

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By Abbey Algiers

When I was in high school and told adults that I was on the golf team, I always got the same reactions.  First, they’d be surprised. Golf? Really?  Then, they’d have one of two responses.  They’d either tell me that they golfed too (and look at me with approval), or they’d say they wished they had learned to play when they were younger (and look a little envious of me).  As a teenager, I never really “got” what the big deal was about golf, or why my being on the team seemed so unusual and heroic.  Yes, I knew golf wasn’t the mainstream choice for a girl’s sport, but I didn’t understand why adults thought it was so great.

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Spend Your Summer at the Golf Course!

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By Abbey Algiers

That moment comes for everyone… the time when, as teenagers, we realize we need to get a job.  As the youngest in my family, I knew early on that I’d have to work as a teenager.  I’d seen my older sisters work at stores, pools, and golf courses. Their summer jobs always looked very fun to me, probably because they were working in the places they had been hanging out their entire lives.  Sure, maybe my sister was stuck inside a store all day—but she was in a fabric store where she could learn more about her passion for design.  My other sister loved to golf, and chose a job at the country club. Yes, she was inside waitressing, but she was in an environment where she felt at home. To this day, she still talks about the people she met and things she learned from golfers, co-workers, and country club managers.

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LPGA*USGA Girls Golf Member Highlight: Dani Swaggerty, Day 5

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What are you looking forward to the most when it comes to your next chapter in life—becoming a college student?

Girls Golf has truly helped unlock my true potential on the golf course and in the community and has morphed me into my new chapter of playing college golf. And to earn a scholarship to pay for college, better yet! To say the least, I’m excited to move to Florida and be able to play golf every day, but I have to learn the bermuda greens, and the Florida wind, and my mom will always remind me to wear sunscreen!

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LPGA*USGA Girls Golf Member Highlight: Dani Swaggerty, Day 4

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Share a little bit about your relationship with your Girls Golf director Louise Ball.

Louise has been my swing coach since the first day I swung a “big girl” club. She has taught me so much and knows girls have to feel good about themselves in order to perform well, whether it’s a golf tournament or a math test or being a true friend and being true to ourselves. She’s been way more than golf to me, to us. I call her Mom #2. I can go to her for anything.

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LPGA*USGA Girls Golf Member Highlight: Dani Swaggerty, Day 3

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What were your experiences like at the Girls Golf Team Championship and the LPGA Leadership Academy?

When Louise suggested we play in the first Girls Golf Team Championship in the summer of 2012 at Kiawah Island Club-Cassique, this would be my first time playing outside of Tennessee, so she was asking me to go out of my comfort zone. And I admit being partnered with Kennedy Noe (my middle school coach’s daughter) stressed me out. I was just a year into playing golf and she was like this prodigy child and six years younger than me, but Louise knew we’d be okay playing with each other’s strengths and we were.

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LPGA*USGA Girls Golf Member Highlight: Dani Swaggerty, Day 2

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On Day 2 of the LPGA*USGA Girls Golf Member Highlight, we return to Dani Swaggerty as she tells us about what golf and the Girls Golf program have done for her. [Read Day 1]

What life lessons have you learned from the game?

Golf has been an awesome classroom for me! Since golf is so mental (duh, right?), I believe the biggest lesson I’ve learned from the game is keeping your emotions steady through the good and the bad and not allow the stress of competition overwhelm you. Have you heard “stay positive?” Yeah, I’ve changed that to “stay cool” because I can feel my anxiety soar when I’m trying to find something positive in some situations—you know when you’ve hit OB and can’t find your ball or you hit into the water for the second time or can’t wait to get to the range to fix your shanks, or you’re so close to breaking 80 or you’re stuck on answering a question on your calculus IB math test.

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LPGA*USGA Girls Golf Member Highlight: Dani Swaggerty, Day 1

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This week, we will feature LPGA*USGA Girls Golf alum Dani Swaggerty who attended the Girls Golf Leadership Academy last year and will soon continue growing the game by playing on Eastern Florida State College’s inaugural women’s golf team.

How old were you when you started playing golf and what made you choose to pick up the game?

My uncle Brian played DI college golf and gave me some plastic clubs when I was about three years old. I remember it was fun, so then he gave me some “real” tiny clubs for Easter the next year. I didn’t do much with them. But my mom exposed me to all kinds of activities throughout my life to see what “would stick.” I ran track, played volleyball, basketball, danced (still do), tried gymnastics, and got a bloody nose playing softball.

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My Day with Tiger Woods . . .

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For most golfers, learning that you’ve won a round of golf with one of the game’s greatest players of all time would be exhilarating…and, likely as the time approached, more than a bit nerve-wracking.

When selected to participate in the inaugural round at the Tiger Woods-designed Bluejack National Golf Course, 11 year-old Girls Golf member and Montgomery, Texas native Ceci Lococo, overcame her nerves, handling herself with style and grace – thanks in large part to Tiger’s affinity for connecting with young people, along with a little encouragement from her older brother.

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