WEBVTT - Episode 96: Erika Larkin 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:02.320 The guys from Ping. They've kind of showed me how 0:00:02.400 --> 0:00:05.040 much the equipment matters. I just love that I can 0:00:05.120 --> 0:00:06.560 hit any shot I kind of want. 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:08.440 We're gonna be able to tell some fun stories about 0:00:08.440 --> 0:00:10.600 what goes on here to help golfers play better golf. 0:00:11.360 --> 0:00:13.960 What's up, everybody? Welcome back to the Ping proven Grounds Podcast. 0:00:14.040 --> 0:00:16.960 Shane bag and alongside Marty Jertsen. As always, we got 0:00:17.040 --> 0:00:19.159 Erica Larkin with us today. Erica, thanks so much for 0:00:19.360 --> 0:00:20.680 taking a little bit of your time. I know you've 0:00:20.720 --> 0:00:23.360 had a bit of a busy week on campus. Get 0:00:23.360 --> 0:00:25.920 a chance to do some lessons and some ping learning 0:00:25.960 --> 0:00:26.320 as well. 0:00:26.640 --> 0:00:29.240 Yeah, it's been great. It's always fun to visit paying headquarters. 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:31.280 And I'm on the East Coast, so it's always a 0:00:31.280 --> 0:00:33.199 treat to be out in the desert as well, especially 0:00:33.240 --> 0:00:33.840 this time of year. 0:00:33.920 --> 0:00:35.680 Yeah, what's the acclamation when you travel? 0:00:35.840 --> 0:00:35.920 So? 0:00:36.640 --> 0:00:38.120 I used to roll my I live on the East 0:00:38.120 --> 0:00:39.600 Coast as well. I'd roll my eyes at people that 0:00:39.600 --> 0:00:42.879 would talk about like the time difference and stuff like that. 0:00:42.880 --> 0:00:44.360 I do feel like it affects me. Now does it 0:00:44.400 --> 0:00:45.600 bother you when you travel west? 0:00:46.440 --> 0:00:49.360 I love traveling west the first couple of days because 0:00:49.640 --> 0:00:51.840 I like getting up early. I'm definitely a morning person. 0:00:51.960 --> 0:00:54.360 So I I'm awake at three thirty four o'clock in 0:00:54.400 --> 0:00:56.160 the morning, and I do the mental math of Okay, 0:00:56.200 --> 0:00:58.560 I be normally waking up at six, It's only three. 0:00:58.640 --> 0:00:59.360 This is normal. 0:01:00.400 --> 0:01:02.720 It's like steal this extra time in the morning to 0:01:03.360 --> 0:01:05.440 get to work out and ahead of when the gym 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:07.399 feels like it's going to open or like do work. 0:01:07.480 --> 0:01:10.200 So I just embrace it. Going home is the harder 0:01:10.240 --> 0:01:10.800 park for sure. 0:01:11.240 --> 0:01:13.080 Yeah, sure, Marty, don't have to worry about that. No 0:01:13.160 --> 0:01:14.319 time changes in Arizona. 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:17.000 No, No, Sometimes that makes it tough though, when daylight 0:01:17.040 --> 0:01:19.759 savings time time happens everywhere else. 0:01:19.880 --> 0:01:21.000 You know what I mean, You're like, I don't know 0:01:21.000 --> 0:01:21.560 what's going on. 0:01:21.959 --> 0:01:22.119 Eric. 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:24.440 I wanted to start kind of in your golf journey 0:01:24.480 --> 0:01:26.440 because I'm very interested in the fact that you grew 0:01:26.520 --> 0:01:29.440 up in an area not really like golf centric, and 0:01:29.480 --> 0:01:31.720 you grew up in a family nobody played golf. I mean, 0:01:31.760 --> 0:01:34.120 at what point do you get introduced to the game 0:01:34.120 --> 0:01:35.680 of golf, Like, how did it stick with you? 0:01:36.520 --> 0:01:38.920 Yes, I grew up in Queens, New York, and my 0:01:39.000 --> 0:01:42.400 parents were not golfers, and we were playing tennis a 0:01:42.400 --> 0:01:45.400 bit near the USTA Center in Flush and Mental Park. 0:01:45.640 --> 0:01:47.920 We'd go to Mets games at Shade Stadium and take 0:01:47.960 --> 0:01:50.360 the seven train over to the park just for recreation, 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:52.240 and we always saw this little pitch and put golf 0:01:52.240 --> 0:01:55.800 course right near that area, and my parents got intrigued 0:01:55.840 --> 0:01:57.360 that we could play. 0:01:57.400 --> 0:01:58.080 We could try it. 0:01:58.040 --> 0:02:00.440 One day, and I was only about eight year years old, 0:02:00.560 --> 0:02:02.800 and I was an only child, so if they wanted 0:02:02.800 --> 0:02:05.600 to do something, I was going along for the ride, 0:02:05.880 --> 0:02:08.239 whether I wanted to or not. And we went and 0:02:08.280 --> 0:02:10.760 played pitch and putt, And then two years later we 0:02:10.760 --> 0:02:12.480 were still playing pitch and putt, and we got a 0:02:12.520 --> 0:02:15.480 lot better, and we got our own equipment to play that, 0:02:15.880 --> 0:02:19.600 and started going to golf stores and started to order 0:02:19.639 --> 0:02:22.960 magazines and videotapes, and truly we were self taught for 0:02:23.000 --> 0:02:25.640 the first few years. When we ended up at driving 0:02:25.680 --> 0:02:28.639 rages to learn how to hit more clubs and learn 0:02:28.680 --> 0:02:30.560 where the local golf courses were that we could try 0:02:30.600 --> 0:02:33.359 to play. We found some short courses and I think 0:02:33.440 --> 0:02:36.560 just were really good asking questions to people that we 0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:38.960 thought knew more than us. So it was a very 0:02:39.080 --> 0:02:42.239 organic experience getting into the game. It probably was a 0:02:42.280 --> 0:02:45.760 blessing in disguise because to be a kid getting into 0:02:45.760 --> 0:02:47.919 golf and for your first experience for the first two 0:02:48.000 --> 0:02:50.880 years to only really have a pitching wedgeon a putter, 0:02:52.320 --> 0:02:56.240 that probably was the best fundamental start unintentionally by my 0:02:56.320 --> 0:02:58.200 parents that they could have given me, because it was 0:02:58.200 --> 0:03:01.080 such a confidence boost. We figured out how to make 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:04.799 par we figured out how to manipulate wedges, we figured 0:03:04.800 --> 0:03:08.799 out how to put on not perfect greens, and it 0:03:08.840 --> 0:03:11.000 was casual, it was fun, and there was always ice 0:03:11.040 --> 0:03:12.960 cream at the end of it. So it was the 0:03:12.960 --> 0:03:17.560 best experience to start the game in a very unlikely setting, so. 0:03:17.480 --> 0:03:19.560 That I'm very grateful for. How far were the holes 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:23.080 thirty to eighty yards okay, nice? And they were on 0:03:23.160 --> 0:03:24.320 astra turf teams. 0:03:24.720 --> 0:03:28.560 Yeah, so there was really no severe penalty for hitting 0:03:28.560 --> 0:03:31.240 it super fat or thin. Okay, you'd maybe blade over 0:03:31.280 --> 0:03:34.120 the green, but it was forgiving. I even had rubber 0:03:34.160 --> 0:03:36.880 tees that we I think used in the beginning, which 0:03:36.920 --> 0:03:38.520 is kind of a sin to hit a pitching bludge 0:03:38.560 --> 0:03:39.320 off of a two inch. 0:03:39.240 --> 0:03:40.320 Rubber tee, but they were there. 0:03:40.720 --> 0:03:42.640 But we had our own little way of playing the course, 0:03:42.840 --> 0:03:45.600 and we graduated from that and we learned the game 0:03:45.640 --> 0:03:47.760 from the green backwards. 0:03:47.800 --> 0:03:48.600 I mean, when you think of. 0:03:50.040 --> 0:03:52.160 There's a program out there in the golf space called 0:03:52.200 --> 0:03:54.760 Operation thirty six, it's basically. 0:03:54.480 --> 0:03:55.400 What I did. Think about it. 0:03:55.480 --> 0:03:59.000 I learned how to make par from short distance twenty 0:03:59.040 --> 0:04:02.120 five yards fifty years and work my way backwards. So 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:04.280 the longest hole in the course was about eighty eighty 0:04:04.280 --> 0:04:07.080 five yards, and I always remember being so little and 0:04:07.120 --> 0:04:09.920 having only a pitching wedge. Think about a little kid 0:04:09.920 --> 0:04:11.520 eight years old trying to hit a pitching wedge eighty 0:04:11.520 --> 0:04:12.000 five yards. 0:04:12.360 --> 0:04:14.000 I couldn't make the grint. I had to lay up. 0:04:14.400 --> 0:04:15.880 I had to lay up. It was a par four 0:04:15.920 --> 0:04:16.200 for me. 0:04:16.320 --> 0:04:18.040 But you know I had to get up and down 0:04:18.080 --> 0:04:19.800 to make my par. So I learned a lot of 0:04:19.839 --> 0:04:22.359 lessons out there that held for many years. So the 0:04:22.839 --> 0:04:25.320 par three courses, pitch and put courses have a special 0:04:25.360 --> 0:04:28.560 place in my heart because of my start. So anytime 0:04:28.600 --> 0:04:30.599 I see these new ones popping up, like the Cradle 0:04:30.640 --> 0:04:33.320 at Pinehurst, and you know all the different resorts that 0:04:33.360 --> 0:04:36.600 are adding these special little par three experiences, I am 0:04:36.640 --> 0:04:39.080 so happy, and I always make effort to play them 0:04:39.160 --> 0:04:41.719 when I go to those places, because it just brings 0:04:41.760 --> 0:04:42.160 me back. 0:04:42.200 --> 0:04:42.960 There's so much fun. 0:04:43.040 --> 0:04:45.160 It's like a relief thing too. I mean, you think 0:04:45.160 --> 0:04:46.919 about resort golf all the time, and I'll go on 0:04:46.920 --> 0:04:49.400 these buddies trips with my buddy, with my friends. It 0:04:49.400 --> 0:04:51.960 feels like the one time there's not stress involved in 0:04:51.960 --> 0:04:53.719 the game is when you play those places. You're not 0:04:53.760 --> 0:04:55.479 shooting for a score. You don't care what you post, 0:04:55.520 --> 0:04:57.920 when you're playing Pinehur's Umber two, ur bandon dunes, when 0:04:57.920 --> 0:05:00.719 you play the short course. The relax nature of why 0:05:00.760 --> 0:05:02.599 we love golf to begin with is it feels like 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:03.280 it exists. 0:05:03.040 --> 0:05:05.760 More there and you walk and usually carry your clubs 0:05:05.839 --> 0:05:07.880 or a little mini bag, and so just the idea 0:05:07.880 --> 0:05:10.919 of being responsible for your equipment and you know, walking 0:05:10.920 --> 0:05:12.880 the course is not something that a lot of golfers 0:05:13.480 --> 0:05:15.880 always do in the beginning. When they play, they get 0:05:15.880 --> 0:05:18.000 thrown onto a course. Now they got to manage a 0:05:18.000 --> 0:05:21.039 golf cart. There's another distraction there, and they forget about 0:05:21.040 --> 0:05:22.760 where they put clubs down. I mean, when you're only 0:05:22.800 --> 0:05:24.680 carrying a couple of clubs, you have to be responsible 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:26.480 for them on every single hole. You're not gonna be 0:05:26.480 --> 0:05:28.359 forgetting your pitching wedges. That's the only club you have 0:05:28.440 --> 0:05:31.200 with you. So yeah, just those kind of little lessons 0:05:31.200 --> 0:05:34.240 are so valuable when you're starting, and I think you 0:05:34.279 --> 0:05:36.719 inherently learn them when you play mini golf like that. 0:05:36.720 --> 0:05:39.000 That's where the moon bag came to be. It was 0:05:39.040 --> 0:05:42.080 from the moon Walk, which is the Part three course 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:44.320 right right down the street of Moonvalley. 0:05:44.360 --> 0:05:46.000 I learned something new, very cool. 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:47.800 Second trip, ay night. Now you've got you've got more 0:05:47.800 --> 0:05:49.919 information to take home. I wanted to ask what was 0:05:49.920 --> 0:05:52.080 the experience like when you went to the big course 0:05:52.120 --> 0:05:54.239 for the first time. So, I mean you're hitting wedges 0:05:54.240 --> 0:05:56.560 and putters. Yeah, you go to a big golf course. 0:05:56.600 --> 0:05:57.960 I mean, I can only imagine it's like if you 0:05:58.000 --> 0:05:59.920 grew up in a small town and you go to 0:06:00.120 --> 0:06:02.040 a big city and you're kind of like blown away 0:06:02.120 --> 0:06:03.240 that this even exists. 0:06:04.000 --> 0:06:04.360 True. 0:06:04.400 --> 0:06:06.520 So we spent some time at the range getting comfortable 0:06:06.560 --> 0:06:09.279 hitting longer clubs and drivers and things like that, and 0:06:09.279 --> 0:06:12.320 we were watching golf on TV to understand the flow 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:14.120 of playing on a big course. So we knew the 0:06:14.200 --> 0:06:16.359 game before we went out there for the first time. 0:06:16.839 --> 0:06:19.040 But public golf in New York City is something else. 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:24.680 There's this one place, Clearview Park, and it literally does 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:28.880 two hundred thousand rounds a year, which is huge per 0:06:28.880 --> 0:06:31.520 an eighteen hole facility, So that's six minute tea times 0:06:31.920 --> 0:06:35.000 just packing them in from sun up to sundown and 0:06:35.080 --> 0:06:37.800 no driving range and no putting greens. So they had 0:06:37.800 --> 0:06:40.640 this one little AstroTurf mat before the first tee where 0:06:40.640 --> 0:06:42.919 you could take some practice warm up swings, not even in. 0:06:42.960 --> 0:06:45.360 A ball, and then just go play have at it. 0:06:45.400 --> 0:06:48.000 The only yardage markers on the whole course they had 0:06:48.200 --> 0:06:50.680 a kind of a plastic disc in the fairway at 0:06:50.760 --> 0:06:52.960 one point fifty maybe if you were lucky, and then 0:06:52.960 --> 0:06:57.280 one at one hundred. Nothing else, just play blind, no GPS, 0:06:57.279 --> 0:06:59.919 no laser range finders, so I totally played by feel 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:03.760 the round. The pace of play is six hours, and 0:07:03.880 --> 0:07:06.560 usually we were repaired with people that did not speak English. 0:07:07.160 --> 0:07:09.479 So my mom was very brave when I think about it, 0:07:09.520 --> 0:07:12.720 because one female golfer that took up the game later 0:07:12.760 --> 0:07:16.560 in life with a young daughter. My dad was working 0:07:16.560 --> 0:07:18.600 half the time, so she liked it enough that she 0:07:18.760 --> 0:07:21.280 took it upon herself to go out with me to 0:07:21.320 --> 0:07:23.640 bring me to play sometimes at these public golf courses 0:07:23.640 --> 0:07:25.920 in the city, and we'd get the random pairing they 0:07:25.920 --> 0:07:28.160 don't let you a twosome go out. There's no such thing. 0:07:28.280 --> 0:07:30.120 You have to have a pair. Everybody wants to play, 0:07:30.120 --> 0:07:32.120 so people were playing, so we were always paired up 0:07:32.120 --> 0:07:34.280 with strangers, and I think along the way that actually 0:07:34.400 --> 0:07:37.960 was probably another great learning point of having to deal 0:07:38.000 --> 0:07:43.240 with random pairings and different personalities and then asking questions. 0:07:43.280 --> 0:07:45.840 And of course you can imagine not only as a female, 0:07:45.880 --> 0:07:47.880 but as a young girl, I'd get the eye roll 0:07:48.000 --> 0:07:51.560 of people getting paired with us by the starter, wondering 0:07:51.560 --> 0:07:53.000 what the round of golf was going to be like 0:07:53.040 --> 0:07:55.000 when they got paired with mom and daughter who they 0:07:55.040 --> 0:07:57.480 didn't know. We knew how to play, so as we 0:07:57.520 --> 0:07:59.680 got more proficient, that was always a fun experience to 0:07:59.680 --> 0:08:01.920 show them my skills. After I hit my first tee 0:08:01.920 --> 0:08:04.080 shot and you know, hit it really good, so I 0:08:04.120 --> 0:08:06.280 don't know, we weren't intimidating. We just went out there 0:08:06.280 --> 0:08:08.800 and we felt like we would learn along the way. 0:08:08.880 --> 0:08:10.520 We knew if we just kept a pace of play 0:08:10.560 --> 0:08:12.080 it was okay. But it wasn't hard to keep a 0:08:12.080 --> 0:08:13.800 pace of play because pace of play was six. 0:08:13.680 --> 0:08:17.920 Hours a lot. We're gonna be okay, Yeah, we're gonna 0:08:17.920 --> 0:08:18.320 be okay. 0:08:19.240 --> 0:08:21.480 Then you went on to play in college. 0:08:21.560 --> 0:08:22.120 I did so. 0:08:22.240 --> 0:08:25.080 I we got involved in the Metropolitan PGA section with 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:28.280 all the junior tournaments because we asked questions. They had 0:08:28.280 --> 0:08:30.880 flyers up about junior clinics and little junior tournaments and 0:08:31.840 --> 0:08:34.439 we got involved. So along the way I met a 0:08:34.480 --> 0:08:36.679 couple of mentors in the met section that really helped 0:08:36.679 --> 0:08:39.680 me out navigating not only the tournament scene as a 0:08:39.679 --> 0:08:42.679 teenager to tell me what I should play in and 0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:46.480 to look up certain resources, but the process of hitting 0:08:46.480 --> 0:08:49.720 off to play competitively at the next level. So my mentor, 0:08:49.760 --> 0:08:52.440 Frank Darby, who is an awesome guy, actually has a 0:08:52.520 --> 0:08:57.120 radio show now on Serious on Course with Frank and Brian, 0:08:58.080 --> 0:09:00.920 great guy, so he's still up in thee. He took 0:09:00.920 --> 0:09:04.360 me under his wing and helped me navigate that path 0:09:04.480 --> 0:09:06.680 because nobody in my family had ever played college sports, 0:09:06.760 --> 0:09:08.760 and a lot of my family didn't even go to 0:09:08.920 --> 0:09:12.040 normal to your universities, so we had no experience with 0:09:12.080 --> 0:09:14.320 what that was like, and we leaned on him heavily 0:09:14.440 --> 0:09:17.640 to understand how to reach out to coaches and send 0:09:17.760 --> 0:09:20.000 videos and of all things, I'm just thinking about it. 0:09:20.240 --> 0:09:22.680 He told us to get the ping college golf guye. 0:09:22.720 --> 0:09:22.960 Oh. 0:09:23.080 --> 0:09:26.040 Yes, this was a published book of all the scores 0:09:26.200 --> 0:09:29.360 of all the teams in the country for whatever prior 0:09:29.440 --> 0:09:30.160 year happened. 0:09:30.400 --> 0:09:31.720 So before Golf Week. 0:09:31.559 --> 0:09:33.960 Magazine was even a thing, which we eventually did subscribe to, 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:35.640 and they would list all the college It was a 0:09:35.640 --> 0:09:38.040 way to see what teams were shooting and where you 0:09:38.080 --> 0:09:40.440 thought you'd fit in, and what coaches you should even 0:09:40.480 --> 0:09:42.520 write to to see if you could be a fit 0:09:42.559 --> 0:09:46.120 on their team and introduce yourself. So this is nineteen 0:09:46.200 --> 0:09:49.200 ninety seven, nineteen ninety eight, and we can think about 0:09:49.200 --> 0:09:51.280 it was a little white book with all the scores 0:09:51.280 --> 0:09:53.040 in there, and I studied that thing and tried to 0:09:53.040 --> 0:09:54.800 figure out where we were going to send my resume 0:09:54.880 --> 0:09:57.200 to and as I built a playing resume, and he 0:09:57.200 --> 0:10:01.000 helped us navigate that process, figured it out, and I 0:10:01.000 --> 0:10:02.640 got a few offers to play, and I played at 0:10:02.679 --> 0:10:05.200 James Madison University, and that's what brought me to Virginia, 0:10:05.240 --> 0:10:07.360 which is now where I still live all these years later. 0:10:07.840 --> 0:10:08.720 So that was great. 0:10:08.760 --> 0:10:10.640 The Golf Week thing is so funny. We're all kind 0:10:10.640 --> 0:10:14.600 of similar ages. I remember playing getting into the national 0:10:14.679 --> 0:10:17.440 Junior golf circuit and then playing well enough to get 0:10:17.480 --> 0:10:20.160 into the Golf Week scoring and how cool that felt 0:10:20.160 --> 0:10:22.440 when you flipped to the page and see your name 0:10:22.520 --> 0:10:25.280 at the AJGA, Abileneavin or whatever the case may be. 0:10:25.679 --> 0:10:27.720 It was you know, s I had the faces in 0:10:27.720 --> 0:10:29.360 the crowd thing. This was kind of the golf version 0:10:29.360 --> 0:10:31.040 of that was like I made the Golf Week. 0:10:30.880 --> 0:10:33.960 This week totally, and then you knew what tournaments you 0:10:34.000 --> 0:10:35.960 might want to play in. You even knew the existed, 0:10:36.160 --> 0:10:38.600 because this is really pre a lot of search engines 0:10:38.600 --> 0:10:40.560 on the web that we knew what and how to 0:10:40.600 --> 0:10:43.400 register for stuff. Eeves, Gosh, it's come a long way, 0:10:43.480 --> 0:10:47.319 hasn't it. Junior golf, it's completely different now. No, it's great, 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:49.040 it's hey, it's all. 0:10:48.960 --> 0:10:49.680 Part of the journey. 0:10:50.080 --> 0:10:52.839 Erica, it seems you've been very resourceful in your golf career. 0:10:52.880 --> 0:10:55.200 So now I want to fast forward to now what 0:10:55.280 --> 0:10:58.880 you're doing now coaching, teaching, helping golfers get better. Who 0:10:58.880 --> 0:11:01.160 have been some of your mentors along the way when 0:11:01.240 --> 0:11:02.320 your coaching career. 0:11:02.520 --> 0:11:07.400 Sure, so I started coaching after college. It didn't really 0:11:07.640 --> 0:11:10.480 set out to be a coach. I knew I wanted 0:11:10.480 --> 0:11:13.280 to be in golf, and I got asked to do 0:11:13.360 --> 0:11:15.880 some coaching for some adult clinics that were happening in 0:11:15.920 --> 0:11:18.920 a facility I was working at, just as a side hustle. 0:11:19.640 --> 0:11:22.920 The guy knew I knew enough about basics. 0:11:22.960 --> 0:11:24.840 I'd played college golf. Yeah, you're good enough to teach 0:11:24.880 --> 0:11:26.800 beginners kind of thing, I said. I agreed. 0:11:26.840 --> 0:11:28.880 I'm twenty one, twenty two years old, first job out 0:11:28.880 --> 0:11:31.559 of college, and Steve Loscher was his name. He was 0:11:31.640 --> 0:11:34.480 running a pretty popular and busy Nike Golf learning center 0:11:34.760 --> 0:11:39.200 in western Virginia. And about halfway through that summer and 0:11:39.320 --> 0:11:42.840 my second round of courses that I was teaching, I 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:44.640 looked at him and I said, I really, I really 0:11:44.720 --> 0:11:45.160 like this. 0:11:45.160 --> 0:11:45.800 This is fun. 0:11:45.960 --> 0:11:49.520 I'm finding myself brainstorming on how to be better at 0:11:49.520 --> 0:11:52.360 coaching these classes, and I'm making handouts, and I was 0:11:52.400 --> 0:11:56.000 really spending a lot of mental energy prepping for these 0:11:56.160 --> 0:11:58.720 classes that I was teaching outside of my regular job. 0:11:59.240 --> 0:12:01.640 So he goes, just do your PGA certification, take your 0:12:01.640 --> 0:12:03.360 pat you should. You know, if you're going to be 0:12:03.360 --> 0:12:05.080 in the golf business, which it sounds like you are, 0:12:05.320 --> 0:12:08.319 it wouldn't hurt to get your PGA certification or LPGA certification. 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:11.040 So he encouraged me to take those next steps, and 0:12:11.080 --> 0:12:14.760 truly that's where that pivot point was of Okay, I'm 0:12:14.760 --> 0:12:16.040 going to be in the business, but I'm going to 0:12:16.040 --> 0:12:19.000 be a PGA professional and I want to coach full time, 0:12:19.160 --> 0:12:22.120 and so making that decision put me on that next 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:26.520 journey to working at then a country club and achieving 0:12:26.520 --> 0:12:29.480 my class A status and continuing to work on my 0:12:29.520 --> 0:12:32.960 own game, working on my coaching skills, and in terms 0:12:32.960 --> 0:12:36.440 of other mentors. To be totally honest, I very much 0:12:36.559 --> 0:12:39.240 was self taught. I didn't work under any top one 0:12:39.320 --> 0:12:43.520 hundred or top fifty coach directly, but I read everything 0:12:43.520 --> 0:12:46.880 I could read. I went to every teaching seminar that 0:12:47.160 --> 0:12:50.520 was in my region that the PGA would sponsor every year. 0:12:50.559 --> 0:12:53.760 At the PGA Show, I attended extra seminars and coaching summits. 0:12:54.160 --> 0:12:56.319 I reached out to coaches and I went to shadow them. 0:12:56.400 --> 0:12:58.520 So I just did a lot of my own research 0:12:58.559 --> 0:13:02.880 and went and did certification classes. Not only an ame point, 0:13:02.920 --> 0:13:05.000 but I did TPI the minute that came out, and 0:13:05.440 --> 0:13:07.480 I shadowed Lin Blake for a while, and I learned 0:13:07.520 --> 0:13:10.079 about golf machine and decided I did or didn't like 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:12.560 pieces of that and just tried to find my own 0:13:12.559 --> 0:13:14.880 identity as a coach and what I truly believed in, 0:13:15.360 --> 0:13:17.199 and going back to that first mentor that helped me 0:13:17.240 --> 0:13:19.600 on the junior golf side. He had introduced me to 0:13:19.760 --> 0:13:23.840 Ernest Jones and a lot of old school coaching resources 0:13:23.880 --> 0:13:27.640 and books. The Harvey Penic books and even the bobber 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:30.120 Tella books were popular then at that time, and I 0:13:30.160 --> 0:13:32.120 had them all, and I had started my own golf 0:13:32.160 --> 0:13:34.280 library at the age of thirteen fourteen. I was reading 0:13:34.280 --> 0:13:37.120 all that stuff as I educated myself about golf and 0:13:37.160 --> 0:13:40.600 golf swing, and then come full circle as I was 0:13:40.640 --> 0:13:42.679 becoming a coach. I went back to that library and 0:13:42.720 --> 0:13:45.320 I'm reading and rereading all this stuff that was familiar 0:13:45.360 --> 0:13:47.120 to me and trying to put the pieces together of 0:13:47.160 --> 0:13:49.520 what I really believed, what was working for my students 0:13:49.880 --> 0:13:53.360 anecdotally on the lesson tee and then consistently what I 0:13:53.480 --> 0:13:55.640 kept going back to that I felt worked not only 0:13:55.679 --> 0:13:58.319 for me as a player, but for my students as 0:13:58.360 --> 0:14:00.600 I tried to help them, And it kept coming back 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:02.280 to how can I make it simple? How can I 0:14:02.360 --> 0:14:05.160 keep it simple? And the old school stuff continued to 0:14:05.200 --> 0:14:09.920 resonate all these years later, even after I learned track 0:14:09.960 --> 0:14:11.880 Man and flight scope inside and out. And after I 0:14:11.960 --> 0:14:15.160 learned about three D and all the things, it kept 0:14:15.240 --> 0:14:18.560 validating the simplicity of the most basic stuff I was teaching. 0:14:19.160 --> 0:14:22.520 So I finally organized all my ideas and I wanted 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:24.480 to get them on paper to prove to myself that 0:14:24.520 --> 0:14:27.400 I could really commit to one philosophy and own what 0:14:27.440 --> 0:14:29.760 I was saying to my students. And I put it 0:14:29.800 --> 0:14:33.720 together and published my book in twenty seventeen called A 0:14:33.760 --> 0:14:37.800 True Swing, And that was my kind of definitive moment 0:14:37.880 --> 0:14:40.080 as a younger coach still of saying this is what 0:14:40.120 --> 0:14:42.040 I believe, at least for my students that I was 0:14:42.080 --> 0:14:44.360 coaching at the time, I could give them a copy 0:14:44.400 --> 0:14:45.960 of that and they could read it, or they could 0:14:46.000 --> 0:14:48.200 read it before they showed up and knew what I 0:14:48.320 --> 0:14:52.359 was about. And I think that was a really important 0:14:52.560 --> 0:14:57.800 point in my process because from there it completely put 0:14:57.800 --> 0:15:00.600 me on a path to develop in content all around 0:15:00.680 --> 0:15:03.320 the ideas that I had committed to. So everything that 0:15:03.360 --> 0:15:06.560 I've done since, all the initiatives, all the content, all 0:15:06.600 --> 0:15:10.160 the branding, all the programming, all the goschools, everything comes 0:15:10.240 --> 0:15:11.600 back to my teaching philosophy. 0:15:12.160 --> 0:15:14.600 And as it would be natural. It's evolved a little bit. 0:15:14.640 --> 0:15:17.720 I've added to it, I learned new things. I rethink 0:15:17.920 --> 0:15:19.680 what I've said in the past, and do I still 0:15:19.680 --> 0:15:22.720 believe it? And what I'm happy to say is like yes, 0:15:22.760 --> 0:15:26.440 because I chose simple concepts, it always holds water, and 0:15:26.920 --> 0:15:29.240 it holds so much water that other coaches are now 0:15:29.280 --> 0:15:31.720 asking to be involved in what I'm doing. And to me, 0:15:31.800 --> 0:15:35.120 that's the ultimate validation is when you have your peers 0:15:35.680 --> 0:15:37.720 coming to you saying, I like what you're doing. What 0:15:37.760 --> 0:15:39.840 you're doing is what I teach. That resonates with me. 0:15:39.920 --> 0:15:42.320 It also works for my students. Now I know I'm 0:15:42.360 --> 0:15:43.880 on the right track, and I feel like what I'm 0:15:43.880 --> 0:15:45.920 doing is making a difference not just to my students, 0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:47.400 but for other coaches as well. 0:15:48.000 --> 0:15:50.520 Erica, it's a job. I mean, you can't go to 0:15:50.600 --> 0:15:52.960 school to be an instructor. I mean it's something you're 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:55.720 kind of learning, as you mentioned, as you evolve and 0:15:55.760 --> 0:15:57.800 as you kind of go through the process. Was there 0:15:57.800 --> 0:16:01.400 a moment early in this where you went, I think 0:16:01.440 --> 0:16:04.000 I'm understanding what I'm trying to do here, because again, 0:16:04.040 --> 0:16:06.520 you're learning on your feet, you're reading, you're watching, you're 0:16:06.520 --> 0:16:08.400 trying to hear what everybody else is saying. Was there 0:16:08.400 --> 0:16:10.480 a moment early on your career where you went, I 0:16:10.520 --> 0:16:11.840 think I can kind of do this. 0:16:13.360 --> 0:16:14.520 Yeah. 0:16:15.560 --> 0:16:17.320 I mean I felt like I was always a pretty 0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:19.720 good communicator and I could read people well, and I 0:16:19.760 --> 0:16:21.840 always felt like I was a natural coach in that way. 0:16:21.880 --> 0:16:24.320 I just wanted to never be stumped. I wanted to 0:16:24.920 --> 0:16:26.880 never feel like I couldn't help somebody or didn't have 0:16:26.880 --> 0:16:31.560 any answer as to why what they were doing was happening, 0:16:31.720 --> 0:16:33.920 or somebody asked a question, I could explain it five 0:16:33.960 --> 0:16:37.520 different ways. I always wanted to be that knowledgeable coach 0:16:37.520 --> 0:16:39.960 and resource, so I worked really hard to be prepared 0:16:40.400 --> 0:16:42.480 for my students, and along the way, I think I 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:44.800 just found my own voice in a way of my 0:16:44.960 --> 0:16:47.200 favorite way of saying stuff, my favorite way of showing 0:16:47.240 --> 0:16:48.040 those concepts. 0:16:48.400 --> 0:16:51.160