September 16, 2021 • 40 mins
On this episode our Sport in Focus is golf and joining me to explain the subtleties of the sport is South Asian professional golfer, three time All American and All Region West Player in Div 3, NCAA Maya Reddy. Maya turned pro in 2015 and played consistently on the mini tours plus the LPGA Monday qualifiers, and gained some status to the Symetra tour. Sadly Maya ultimately stopped playing in events because of the mental and emotional toll that the exclusive nature of the sport took on her. Her favorite golf courses are Torrey Pines South Course in California, Talking Rock Golf Course in Prescott Arizona and Golconda Golf Club In Hyderabad, India. Maya is founder of The Gaysian Project and an ambassador for Athlete Ally. She is also an incoming JD candidate at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Maya is passionate about intersectional queer inclusion, especially in sports, and is pursuing a legal education in order to strengthen her work in inclusive policy initiatives.
Host: Chris Stafford
For more information, links and resources plus conversations from the world of women’s sport including articles, blogs, videos and podcasts visit wispsports.com. WiSP Sports is the World’s First and Only Podcast Network for Women’s Sport with more than 60 hosts, 1300+ episodes across 50 shows and over 7 million downloads. WiSP Sports is on all major podcast players. Follow WiSP Sports on social media @WiSPsports. Contact us at info@wispsports.com.
Host: Chris Stafford
For more information, links and resources plus conversations from the world of women’s sport including articles, blogs, videos and podcasts visit wispsports.com. WiSP Sports is the World’s First and Only Podcast Network for Women’s Sport with more than 60 hosts, 1300+ episodes across 50 shows and over 7 million downloads. WiSP Sports is on all major podcast players. Follow WiSP Sports on social media @WiSPsports. Contact us at info@wispsports.com.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
WHISP Sports, the voice of Women'sWord. Hello and thank you for downloading
this episode of Sport in Focus hereon WHISP Sports. This is season two,
Episode two, and I'm Chris Stafford. On this episode, our sport
(00:32):
in focus is golf and joining meto explain the subtleties of the sport is
South Asian professional golfer who is threetime All American and All Region West player
in Division three of the nc DoubleA Maya Ready. Maya turned pro in
two thousand and fifteen and played consistentlyon the Mini Tours plus the LPGA Monday
(00:54):
Qualifiers, and she also gained somestatus to the Simmetra Tour. Suddenly,
Maya ultimately stopped playing in events becauseof the mental and emotional toll that the
exclusive nature of the sport took onher, but she is eager to return
to the sport that she loves.Her favorite golf courses are Tory Pines South
(01:15):
Course in California, near where shelives in San Diego, the Talking Rock
Golf Course in Prescott, Arizona,and the Golconda Golf Club in Hyderabad,
India. Meyer is founder of theGeishen Project and an ambassador for athlete Ally.
She is also an incoming jd candidateat the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
(01:37):
Maya is passionate about the intersectional queerinclusion, especially in sports, and
is pursuing a legal education in orderto strengthen her work in inclusive policy initiatives.
Maya Welcome to the program. Hi, I'm so excited about this.
You're based in South California, whichI would imagine had as a pretty consistent
(02:00):
I'm for golfing, yes, exceptfor today today it's a bit rainy outside,
but yeah, San Diego. Imean you can't beat it in terms
of golf in California. I meanwe have Tory Pines, among many other
golf courses, but we have ToryPines, which is like world renowned golf
(02:22):
course. And the really cool thingabout being a San Diego resident is that,
since Tory Pines is actually a publicgolf course, if you register for
a resident card in San Diego,you can go play Tory Pines for like
eighty dollars versus the general rate,which is two hundred to three hundred dollars
(02:43):
per round. So yeah, Ihonestly cannot complain about being in San Diego
and golfing down here. You mentionedthe cost. There maya and I'm sure
there are listeners thinking that golf looksa fun thing to do, but can
I afford to do it? Sobreak down the cost for us meyer in
terms of you know, subscriptions,equipment, club phase and so on.
(03:07):
Yeah, So golf golf is ait's one of the country club sports,
and I think, um, alongwith that comes the perception, which I
think is a reality that it isa very very expensive sport and one that
(03:29):
is exclusive with regards to uh,those who have money and um, you
know, mostly men, um andthe people who have that money. I
think now there's there has been overthe past no decade, I want to
say, um, a push toincrease accessibility to golf. UM. But
(03:53):
that being said, it's still areally expensive sport and there's still isn't as
much outreach to younger generations in amore diverse way than say a sport like
soccer. And I think that thatis due in two things. One,
unlike soccer, golf you need aton of equipment, So you need your
(04:15):
shoes, and you need fourteen golfclubs and then a bag to put your
clubs in and then you need yourteas, you need your golf balls.
It's just a whole bunch of thingsthat you need to just even go out
and start playing golf, and allof those individual parts are really really expensive.
So trying to create programs that youknow, increase accessibility to the sport
(04:40):
is really difficult because those programs needthe funding to be able to provide equipment
for kids or potential golfers that don'thave that equipment or are unable to,
you know, buy it themselves,so you know, they could possibly go
to this program and be able toplay with the clubs they have there,
(05:00):
and it's really really unfortunate, Likethere is a very clear barrier to entry
to the sport when it comes tomoney, because you know, I mentioned
all of the equipment that you need, then on half of that you have
to factor in the green fees toactually go step out on a golf course
like Tory Pines is one of themore extreme examples in terms of public courses,
(05:27):
primarily because it's so well known andit's such an incredible golf course.
But even then, if you goto kind of your basic public golf course,
it's still like thirty dollars thirty twofifty dollars to go play a round
of golf, and then if youwant to rent, you know, a
cart to drive around, that's youknow, another thirty to forty dollars.
(05:51):
And even if you want to justgo hit some balls at a driving range,
it's ten to fifteen dollars for abucket of balls. It's a really
really extensive sport. And you know, among all of the issues that inclusivity
in golf kind of covers, Ithink the biggest thing is that it is
(06:13):
a very, very expensive sport thatprevents many demographics of people from getting into
the sport because of that expense andnot being able to afford it and kind
of just being like, well,you know, I want to play a
sport. Yeah, I'd love toplay golf, but it's so expensive.
But hey, soccer isn't as expensive. I'm going to go play that.
(06:35):
So yeah, how did you getstarted? Then? How old were you
and how did you get access tothe sport? So I am very fortunate
in that, you know, myfamily, I have a lot of socioeconomic
privilege. So growing up, myparents kind of threw me into a ton
(07:00):
of different sports. And kind ofthat like go play all the sports and
like figure out which one you actuallylike when you're about to go to high
high school. But the reason whyI chose golf and started playing that amongst
everything else was because I would seemy dad go and play with his friends,
and I would always want to justlike go hit balls at the driving
range with him. So that kindof started it. I was about three
(07:25):
years old and I was like,no, I want to go play with
my dad. And then kind offrom there the rest is history. It
was like this really fun activity thatmy dad could be really involved with with
me. And then a couple yearsinto it, he my dad's a doctor,
and he hurt he hurt his wrist. I'm not remembering exactly what the
(07:47):
injury was, but he hurt hiswrist and was unable to play golf after
that for risk of, you know, affecting his career as a doctor,
and kind of I think that thatwas something that made him even more invested
in my career and playing golf becausehe was able to kind of still really
be involved with the sport even thoughhe wasn't able to play. So that
(08:11):
kind of was what allowed me toget into golf. But I'm very aware
that you know that is also byvirtue of the fact that you know,
I'm I'm very, very lucky tohave. You know, my parents were
super, super hard working, andyou know, they they built a life
for themselves and for me to thepoint where we could afford to, you
(08:35):
know, be members at a countryclub and for me to play golf amongst
all these other sports. So whatwas the appeal then, Mile when you
had so many sports to choose fromthen, and obviously you know, an
advantage to access to golf, butthere must have been something that really challenged
you and made you driven and motivatedto to take on golf and and hit
(09:00):
that dead bull. It's not asit's a very silly reason. Actually,
when I was kind of like endingmiddle school so about to go into high
school and at that stage where Ireally needed to choose a sport in order
to you know, like be moreexciting to colleges. Once I started applying,
(09:26):
I was choosing between three sports.It was golf, swimming, and
tennis. And out of those threesports, I was the best at swimming
and tennis. But the reason whyI didn't choose swimming was because I didn't
like my coaches. They were abit too intense for me, and I
(09:46):
was like, just too young todeal with that intensity. So I was
like, nope, I'm done withswimming, and then tennis. I loved
playing tennis, but I hated running, so tennis was out and I show's
golf literally because I didn't want torun. That's an interesting note journey and
(10:07):
a process of elimination, Maya,that's fantastic. So, yeah, you've
obviously found the sport that you enjoyed, But at what point did you decide,
well, I want to be proat this, this is what I
want to do as a career.It was a long and weird journey,
but when I got to college waswhere I really fell in love with the
(10:28):
sport. I was playing, youknow, on all of the junior tours,
the aj GA and all of thatin high school, but it was
a grind and I didn't really Imean like, I had a ton of
fun playing the sport and I wasvery very competitive, but I didn't really
love the sport. And when Igot to college, I had some incredible
(10:54):
teammates and a really, really wonderfulcoach my first two years that really created
this environment where I fell in lovewith the sport, and it was that
it was like when it clicked,that's when my game started getting so much
better, and it kind of incombination with my uber competitiveness. Now I
was seeing my skill get like increasinglybetter every single day. I was like,
(11:18):
wait, I want to see howfar I can take this. And
due to some unfortunate circumstances, mysenior year of college, I wasn't able
to meet the goals that I hadset out for myself and was like really
close to reaching and my final seasonof collegiate golf, and that also really
(11:41):
really lit that fire underneath me thatwas like I don't feel like I'm finished
yet, Like I want to seehow far I can take this for myself,
and I don't want to regret neverchasing this dream. But it never
really was like a lifelong dream ofmine to play sports, you know,
golf competitively. It was more like, wait, like I got really really
(12:03):
good. I really love this sport. I want to see how far I
can go with it. And that'skind of what led me to playing professionally.
What did you find were your actualtalents for the sport and what were
skills that you had to work at. I hit the ball really really far,
which is my one thing. Idon't know what to do when I
(12:28):
get around the green. It ishilarious, Like if you see any of
my stat sheets, it'll be like, all right, HiT's the fairways,
like really great fairway percentage, reallygood green and regulation percentage. But those
holes were like, I don't hitthe green and regulation. It's like a
total mess on scorecard. And Ialways joke with my friends it's like almost
(12:54):
like I have a like an outof body experience where I just get how
to play the game when I getaround the green. Um. So that's
been kind of the biggest thing thatI've always had to work on, is
really dialing in my short game,because when you look at any professional golfer
out there, um that's really winning. UM. Tiger is a really easy
(13:16):
and great example. Where he wonthe Masters was around his finesse on the
green. And if you're able toreally make up for a bad approach shot
that didn't hit the green, oryou know, save yourself from a bunker,
or even something as simple as justmaking consistent puts, you know,
(13:39):
one puts, two puts, noteven getting even close to three puts.
That's where you win like all ofyour tournaments and you hit those low scores.
And for me, um, youknow, the chipping and putting in
all of that short game has alwaysbeen like the hardest for me. So
I've had to had to spend alot of time on all of that.
(14:01):
Explain what the green and regulation partis. So par and golf is the
amount of strokes that you should youknow, finish the hole in. So
if you're a par four, itshould take you four shots in order to
get the ball into the hole.On those holes. You also when players
(14:22):
are keeping stats of how they're playing, will mark fairways and regulation, greens
and regulation and then the number ofpots that it took us to finish out
a hole. So a fairway andregulation means that you hit your hit the
fairway on your drive. It youjust launched a great drive into the middle
of the fairway and you have agreat approach shot to the green. A
(14:46):
green and regulation is when you hitthe green from that approach shot. So
on a par four, your secondshot should hit the green. On a
par five, it would be yourthird shot would hit the green. Then
on a part three, your tshot would hit the green, So it's
basically just like getting it in thatarea right right, So now looking,
(15:11):
I mean obviously very realistic about yourstrengths and weaknesses. If you were to
address somebody who has never played beforeand they really wanted to make a go
of this, what would you saywould be the basic skills that you require.
You might learn to hit the ballharder, for example, might be
and be more accurate the short game, but what would you say the basic
(15:33):
skills for golfing to enjoy it andbe successful at it? Yeah, so
I would say that, you know, the important thing about golf is realizing
that, yes, it is achase of perfection, but you're never going
to hit a perfect shot every singletime. You know, Like the best
(15:54):
thing that you can really try toingreen in yourself is that it doesn't matter
if your drive looks gorgeous, likeis it in the middle of the fairway
and can you play it? Yourdrives aren't going to look perfect every single
time. Your iron shots aren't goingto look perfect every time, and that's
(16:14):
okay. Like you're trying to getit in the hole and however you do
that is great. You know,there's so many different swing types out there
on tour right now that look fromyou know, beautifully gorgeous like a Tiger
Woods or Rory McElroy, to abit strange and a little bit out there,
(16:36):
and yet at the end of theday, they all work. And
kind of along with that, Iwould also say that when you're working on
your swing and when you're really tryingto find you in your game, don't
look for what is the perfect swing, look for what is the perfect swing
for you? Like this took meactually till this year to find a coach
(17:00):
who really wanted to work with theswing that I have versus trying to fit
it on a mold of what supposedlyis a perfect swing, and that has
made the biggest difference. So,for example, for myself, I play
with a close club face and thenI have a very strong grip and I
(17:21):
tend to kind of jump through theball, similar to Lexi Thompson or Justin
Thomas. And I had been toldthroughout my entire career that one I need
to not jump through the ball,so I need to keep my right leg
down longer, I need to squareat my club face, so I need
to not play with one that's soclosed, and I need to weaken my
(17:44):
grip. So these are all threethings that I was always told that I
need to focus on and make surethat I was improving, And in that
it created a really, really tenseswing, Like I was just very tense.
I was thinking about so many thingsat the same time. And it
was when I found, you know, a couple coaches recently that we're like,
(18:07):
no, like, your swing workslike it works for you. This
is your swing, It's like yourfingerprint. How do we kind of get
this swing to be more consistent andeliminate your your bad errors. Let's work
with that instead of trying to makeyour swing like tigers or like rorries.
And I think that that's the mostimportant thing to focus on, to just
(18:30):
be like, Okay, you haveyour swing. How do we improve your
game in the most simple way possiblewithout adding all of these technical elements on
it, and without trying to superimposeyour swing onto somebody else's who may have
different body mechanics and you know,like a whole line of differences that would
(18:53):
you know, prevent you from replicatingtheir swing. I think when you simplify
everything and you work with what youhave, that in itself will translate to
a more fun time on the golfcourse and less than the frustration you'll have.
And then at that point, hopefullythe only things that you'll be frustrated
(19:15):
with is like a really bad crosswind or a bad bounce on the fairway
exactly. Nature will take its owncourse anyway and challenge you right now.
That's interesting, and I think it'sa very valid point, isn't it.
And it applies to so many sportsthat we shouldn't interfere too much with what
you're naturally gifted is or what youknow, what your natural physical capabilities are
(19:40):
as well. So this would leadme to asking you than about physical preparation
and for playing a round of golf, because it can look fairly low energy
golf. I mean, and really, you know, you could be walking
or you could be riding in agolf cut, so not going to take
a lot of I'm not going toburn a lot of cubs here. Yeah,
(20:00):
but you have to have the mentalgame right, you have to have
that stamina right in so many otherways. So let's talk about how you
would physically prepare get fit enough toplay golf consistently. Do you cross train
yes, ideal. And I thinkmy obsession with cross training and staying in
(20:22):
shape came from two sources. Onefrom a tiger because he was kind of
the first golfer that was like,hey, we should be in shape and
to play this game at the bestof our abilities. And then to my
cousins who were kind of like myolder brothers. They were really fit and
work out a lot, and seeingthat, I was like, oh,
(20:44):
I want to be like that,which had this really really great benefit.
And I think that for anyone playinggolf, staying in shape is really really
important, and increasing your cardio outputis also very very important, because even
though playing a round of golf seemsreally low energy, many rounds of golf
(21:04):
are like four to five hours.Four hours is how long a round should
take, but that rarely happens,and so you're kind of out there on
the course for five hours in themiddle of the day it's hot. Not
only do you have to kind ofwalk this I can't remember how long a
(21:25):
golf course is in miles, butlike you're you're walking many miles. So
not only do you have to dothat, but you also have to make
sure that your your mind is incheck. So reducing physical fatigue really really
helps your brain like stay in shapeessentially and stay sharp for the rest of
(21:45):
the round. And and also likethe more in shape you are, the
more you're able to use your bodyto the its fullest abilities and you're able
to you know, hit a longerdrive that is consistent. You know,
you're you're more in tune with yourbody, and you're you're not suffering from
as much fatigue from walking around thecourse, which allows you to just play
(22:10):
a better game of golf. Sothat's what helped me a lot, Like
I M It's funny, like forme, my cross training is like the
complete opposite of like what golf isum where golf is a very like a
slow and a long endurance type ofsport, My cross training usually involves like
a lot of high energy things toreally really check kind of all of that
(22:34):
energy out and ensure that my cardio, you know, like my endurance and
my cardio output is as best asit possibly can be. So during those
really long rounds, I'm not worriedabout getting really physically tired on whole number
eleven and worried about like, oh, how am I going to drag my
feet up this next hole and thenget my mind in check to hit a
(22:59):
good shot. Um, and yeah, so those are things that I like
won't have to worry about. Tellus about coaching, then, may you
talked about the other expenses for takingup golf? Now, what point do
you need, you know, topay a coach regularly? Obviously you need
someone to teach you the game inthe first place, but how often would
(23:22):
you need to be coached? Andof course that would increase once you become
professional. Well, give us anidea of what that looks like. Yeah,
so I think it depends on whatlevel you're at. I mean,
when you're starting out, having likea consistent coach like once a week is
always very helpful to like, youknow, really get your hands on the
(23:44):
game and start figuring out, youknow, what your swing looks like,
what your game looks like, youknow, really getting tuned with like who
what your personality is on the golfcourse. And then I think, like
in junior golf, like when you'replaying competitively in high school, having a
swing coach is important. I'm notsure like how consistent you know, like
(24:10):
what consistency is like the best amount, like whether it be weekly or like
twice a month or something like that. I do think that it's really important
to recognize that for you know,kids that are playing competitively when they're playing
on school teams, not a lotof times those coaches are swing coaches,
(24:30):
and I think that's really really importantto know, so that you're not going
into this space expecting your high schoolgolf coach to be able to help fine
tune, you know, a slicethat you may be having on the first
day of a tournament, and insteadyou're like, Okay, like, this
is my coach for this tournament.But if I'm having issues with my swing,
(24:52):
like I can just text a pictureto my swing coach when So that
that was something that is like reallyimportant to me to know that, Like
I don't, you know, likefigure out my expectations for the different coaches
in my life. I have myswing coach, and I have like my
team coach. But as I've gottenolder, I have I've wanted to have
(25:17):
less coaching, like less consistent coaching, because I have felt, you know,
through my own experiences, the mostmore consistently that I saw a swing
coach, the more technical that Ibecame. And this might just be a
personal preference of mine. But themore technical that I started to get and
(25:37):
the more in my head I became, the more my game suffered because I
was just thinking NonStop. I waslike, wait, like, it's only
like I could change this one partof my swing then everything will be perfect.
And so I would spend like hourson the range just trying to figure
out this one tiny part of myswing. When an actuality like I would
say the most beneficial way to practicegolf is to go out on a golf
(26:00):
course and actually play, and actuallyput yourself in the different positions that you
would be during a normal round ofgolf, Because when you're on a range
just trying to find you in onetiny part of your golf playing, like
you get the same lie every singletime, like nothing's really happening, and
so you're not able to adjust forthe differences in lie whether the ball be
(26:23):
above your feet or below your feet, or like you know, in the
rough or things like that. SoI would say, like finding a balance
for coaching that is good for youis really important instead of basing what is
good coaching off of what everybody elseis doing. Very interesting, Yes,
(26:44):
let's talk about the tournament structure then, you know for amateurs and then professionals,
and how you make that jump frombeing an amateur to a pro what
does that take? So it's actuallyreally simple, right, like going I'm
an amateur to approach just means thatyou entered a tournament and you're going to
be playing for money. Um,So that's kind of like the basic definition
(27:07):
of what a professional athlete in anysphere is. And it's it's pretty simple
like that in golf as well.Um, you know, you're an amateur
as soon as as you are playingjunior golf up through collegiate level golf,
and so once you you finish youryour NC double a kind of stuff.
Obviously this is very much like USspecific. But once you finish your NC
(27:30):
double a career, you know,you have different options as to how to
progress your your golfing career. Manyfolks choose to continue playing as amateurs because
entry fees to different tournaments are cheaperfor amateurs, um. But then you're
you're not if you win that tournament, you're not winning any money. But
(27:53):
then there are other folks like myselfwho is like, you know what,
I'm just going to start playing professionallyand so i'ld start entering tournaments as a
pro, and then I would becompeting for money. I don't think that
there really is any difference there.You know, amateurs are still grinding as
hard as professionals. They're grinding toplay in these tournaments. We're all,
(28:17):
you know. Right now, I'mkind of mostly referring to the mini tours,
which are a bunch of professional andamateur tournaments that happen in the United
States that are kind of like practicegrounds for the big tournaments. So the
men have many tours and the womenhave many tours, and essentially there are
(28:40):
these just really cool events series whereyou're able to go and compete with other
players that you would be competing withat the higher level tours. So it's
really really great practice. But yeah, like I mean, I've played with
a ton of amateurs and there's nodifference, Like our practice regiments are the
same, Like we're all basically doingthe same thing. The difference is is
(29:03):
that they aren't going to be competingfor the money, Like they're not winning
any prize money, whereas I wouldbe winning prize money. I think that
what's really really important is to tryto think about the tournaments just as another
tournament and don't think about them aslike, yes, you are playing for
(29:25):
your livelihood in many senses. Butonce you put that pressure of like,
oh god, I'm I'm playing thistournament and I need to win this money,
then that makes things a lot harder, Like that puts extra pressure on
yourself to play better, and formyself, that was detrimental to my game
(29:47):
instead of being able to be like, Okay, yes I want to win
this money. Let me put thisover here in this box for right now
and just focus on my game foryou know, this next four hours.
But yeah, I don't know ifI answer your question, well, yeah,
no, that's great, and itjust gives us a whole different perspective
now of what it takes to bea professional player. How long have you
(30:08):
actually been a pro? Mm So, I turned pro in twenty fifteen,
and then I took some time offin twenty seventeen, and so I'm not
just to deal with my mental healthand work through that and get to a
(30:30):
point where I would be able toplay at the best of my abilities.
But yeah, so I guess Iam on. I'm a hiatus pro right
now for three years, four yearstwenty nineteen. I don't know what year
it is, yeah, And areyou eager to get back to it or
you're just going to let it takeits course. I want to get back
(30:55):
to it so so badly. Ifeel like I have so much unfinished business,
and like it still is really reallydifficult for me to be like,
yeah, like I'm not really playingright now, or I haven't you know,
gotten my LPGA Tour card yet,and those are things that are just
(31:17):
still really really difficult for me tosay and like recognize. But at the
same time, I also know thatfor me to play at the best of
my abilities, I need to bein the right stage of my life,
like mentally, because it's my mentalgame. And I've known this throughout my
entire career. It's like those dayswhen your mental game isn't there, it
(31:41):
is so hard to play well,Like it is grueling out there on the
golf course, and I don't wantthat to, you know, be something
that is, you know, preventingme from being the best. And so
if I can take some time offand really work on myself and get to
a point where yeah, like Ifeel really good, I feel like I
(32:01):
can go out there and really play, then that's what I want to do.
So just a clarification, Then youcan be a pro player without playing
on the LGP sorry, thank you, on the tour itself now, So
(32:22):
being on the tour is just apersonal choice, or do you have to
qualify in some way? You haveto qualify? So so yes, you
can be a professional golfer without havingyour LPGA Tour card. You know,
if you're playing for money on themini tours or on the Symetra Tour,
which is the developmental tour for theLPGAM. But the end goal of every
(32:45):
professional golfer on the women's circuit isto get their LPGA Tour card. So
what that means is you have qualifiedfor exemptions into every single LPGA Tour event
and in order to get that card, it's a very long process, but
one that is very um egalitarian,I want to say, Like there there
(33:10):
is no so unlike the NFL orUM basketball, Like you don't have to
get drafted into it. You don'thave to have like UM have to have
gone to like a Division one collegeand played there in order to get a
leg up for this qualification process.Literally anyone can sign up for UM.
(33:31):
The LPGA Q school, which isqualifying school and try their hand at competing
to get their their LPGA Tour card. Um, And I think that's something
that's really cool. Of course,they're barriers to that, including the financial
aspect, which we discussed earlier.UM, But I've played with so many
(33:52):
different folks who you know, someof them didn't go to college and they're
out there playing and I'm like,that's awesome. Some of them went to
Division one colleges and are out thereplaying the same course in the same tournament
as I am. I went toa Division three college and I'm still out
there, you know, with thereally awesome athletes from USC or UCLA who
(34:14):
are like incredible, you know,Division one teams, and we still are
all kind of like in the samefield working our butts off to try and
get that LPGA Tour card, whichis really cool. But it is a
very very long process, and it'sa very hard process at that as well.
(34:36):
But yeah, like you just haveto work. You work hard for
it, essentially, but you don'thave to just being a professional golfer doesn't
mean that you were on the LPGATour essentially. Good Thank you for clarifying
that. But the other question Ido have is why are Asian women so
(34:57):
good at golf? So I Ihave not done a lot of research in
um you know, the way inwhich sport is emphasized in countries like Japan
or Thailand or Korea. But fromwhat I know, one of my coaches
(35:17):
in college played on the Korean LPGATour, and from listening to her experiences
and just my brief knowledge of thosecountries is that there are many more resources
for female athletes to play sports inthis way and right now, golf is
(35:37):
a huge industry in Japan and Korea, and so there's more incentive for folks
to you know, play, toprovide those resources and to have more opportunities
for development for younger athletes and youngerfemale athletes, which is something that we
just don't have in the United States. You know, golf isn't Golf is
(36:00):
a big industry, but it's notlike a sexy sport, right Like,
we're not going to be spending alot of money for female golfers and their
development in the United States versus theamount of time that we're spending on soccer,
which again it's not as much,but it is more significant than for
(36:22):
golf, and so I think thatis one of the reasons why the LPGA
Tour right now is really really dominatedfrom foreign born Asians players because there is
just more opportunities for them to playand to improve their game, and there's
more access over there, whereas inthe United States it's still, you know,
(36:45):
golf is still very very much aman's sport. So in that sense,
many people are like, Okay,if it's a man's sport, then
why do we need to spend moneyon women coaching? Of course, is
something we all want. All wantto see more women coaches in so many
sports. What does it look likein golf? I feel like I have
had a lot of female coaches.Both of my coaches in college were women
(37:10):
on our college team. My swingcoaches have largely been men. But right
now I'm working with this incredible womanum at Tory Times, who I'm like,
loved my previous coaches, but lowkey I'm kind of like, Okay,
you are currently blowing everyone out ofthe water in terms of how you're
(37:30):
coaching me. Why didn't I findyou earlier? But I feel like and
even the tournaments that I played incollege, like there there were a decent
amount of female coaches on different collegiateteams. So I'm not sure, um,
you know, kind of in comparisonto other sports, if there is
(37:51):
as much of a dearth in umfemale coaches in the world of golf.
I do know that there's still isstigma about being women in golf, and
just in speaking to my own swingcoach, m she still has to deal
with a lot of people coming upto her and being like, oh,
honey, let me show you howto how to you know, hit the
(38:12):
ball when this woman like played Divisionone college golf, is like an incredible
golfer and could not you know,anyone out of the water single handedly.
I appreciate you taking the time toexplain the sport to us Meyer and we
look for which are you getting backon the golf course and following you down
the fairway so to speak, andthen polishing up your short game. Now
(38:36):
we'll be watching. Now I admittedthat everyone's going everyone who ever listens to
this and never plays with me isgoing to be like, oh, we
see what you mean about your shortgame right now? We know now we
know she down the fairway, Butall right, well, I'm sure it
would be a very welcome return tothe sport. But thanks very much for
taking the time to come on theshow and explaining, thank you, and
(38:59):
were going to do more golf coveragewith you too, aren't we. Yes,
yes, hopefully we have to getthat all figured out, so it's
really awesome. I'm looking forward tothat mile well. Again, thanks for
taking the time to come on theshow. Take care, Thank you,
Chris. Nice conversations from the world. This is sports, So for golfing
(39:28):
fans, stay tuned for news ofmore golf coverage here on WISP Sports.
In the meanwhile, check out allthe other sports that we cover here at
wissports dot com or of course,on any podcast app. Just subscribe free
of charge to with Sports on anypodcast app, and if you follow us
on social media at WIS sports,you can join in the conversations there about
(39:51):
women in sport, whatever your chosensport is. And you can also contact
us here directly by emailing info atWHISP sports dot com. We always love
to hear from you if you haveany comments or questions or suggestions for topics
or sports or guests that you thinkwe should be including in our coverage.
Until the next time, Thanks forlistening and of course supporting women in sport
(40:15):
everywhere. Goodbye for now,
WHISP Sports, the voice of Women'sWord. Hello and thank you for downloading
this episode of Sport in Focus hereon WHISP Sports. This is season two,
Episode two, and I'm Chris Stafford. On this episode, our sport
(00:32):
in focus is golf and joining meto explain the subtleties of the sport is
South Asian professional golfer who is threetime All American and All Region West player
in Division three of the nc DoubleA Maya Ready. Maya turned pro in
two thousand and fifteen and played consistentlyon the Mini Tours plus the LPGA Monday
(00:54):
Qualifiers, and she also gained somestatus to the Simmetra Tour. Suddenly,
Maya ultimately stopped playing in events becauseof the mental and emotional toll that the
exclusive nature of the sport took onher, but she is eager to return
to the sport that she loves.Her favorite golf courses are Tory Pines South
(01:15):
Course in California, near where shelives in San Diego, the Talking Rock
Golf Course in Prescott, Arizona,and the Golconda Golf Club in Hyderabad,
India. Meyer is founder of theGeishen Project and an ambassador for athlete Ally.
She is also an incoming jd candidateat the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
(01:37):
Maya is passionate about the intersectional queerinclusion, especially in sports, and
is pursuing a legal education in orderto strengthen her work in inclusive policy initiatives.
Maya Welcome to the program. Hi, I'm so excited about this.
You're based in South California, whichI would imagine had as a pretty consistent
(02:00):
I'm for golfing, yes, exceptfor today today it's a bit rainy outside,
but yeah, San Diego. Imean you can't beat it in terms
of golf in California. I meanwe have Tory Pines, among many other
golf courses, but we have ToryPines, which is like world renowned golf
(02:22):
course. And the really cool thingabout being a San Diego resident is that,
since Tory Pines is actually a publicgolf course, if you register for
a resident card in San Diego,you can go play Tory Pines for like
eighty dollars versus the general rate,which is two hundred to three hundred dollars
(02:43):
per round. So yeah, Ihonestly cannot complain about being in San Diego
and golfing down here. You mentionedthe cost. There maya and I'm sure
there are listeners thinking that golf looksa fun thing to do, but can
I afford to do it? Sobreak down the cost for us meyer in
terms of you know, subscriptions,equipment, club phase and so on.
(03:07):
Yeah, So golf golf is ait's one of the country club sports,
and I think, um, alongwith that comes the perception, which I
think is a reality that it isa very very expensive sport and one that
(03:29):
is exclusive with regards to uh,those who have money and um, you
know, mostly men, um andthe people who have that money. I
think now there's there has been overthe past no decade, I want to
say, um, a push toincrease accessibility to golf. UM. But
(03:53):
that being said, it's still areally expensive sport and there's still isn't as
much outreach to younger generations in amore diverse way than say a sport like
soccer. And I think that thatis due in two things. One,
unlike soccer, golf you need aton of equipment, So you need your
(04:15):
shoes, and you need fourteen golfclubs and then a bag to put your
clubs in and then you need yourteas, you need your golf balls.
It's just a whole bunch of thingsthat you need to just even go out
and start playing golf, and allof those individual parts are really really expensive.
So trying to create programs that youknow, increase accessibility to the sport
(04:40):
is really difficult because those programs needthe funding to be able to provide equipment
for kids or potential golfers that don'thave that equipment or are unable to,
you know, buy it themselves,so you know, they could possibly go
to this program and be able toplay with the clubs they have there,
(05:00):
and it's really really unfortunate, Likethere is a very clear barrier to entry
to the sport when it comes tomoney, because you know, I mentioned
all of the equipment that you need, then on half of that you have
to factor in the green fees toactually go step out on a golf course
like Tory Pines is one of themore extreme examples in terms of public courses,
(05:27):
primarily because it's so well known andit's such an incredible golf course.
But even then, if you goto kind of your basic public golf course,
it's still like thirty dollars thirty twofifty dollars to go play a round
of golf, and then if youwant to rent, you know, a
cart to drive around, that's youknow, another thirty to forty dollars.
(05:51):
And even if you want to justgo hit some balls at a driving range,
it's ten to fifteen dollars for abucket of balls. It's a really
really extensive sport. And you know, among all of the issues that inclusivity
in golf kind of covers, Ithink the biggest thing is that it is
(06:13):
a very, very expensive sport thatprevents many demographics of people from getting into
the sport because of that expense andnot being able to afford it and kind
of just being like, well,you know, I want to play a
sport. Yeah, I'd love toplay golf, but it's so expensive.
But hey, soccer isn't as expensive. I'm going to go play that.
(06:35):
So yeah, how did you getstarted? Then? How old were you
and how did you get access tothe sport? So I am very fortunate
in that, you know, myfamily, I have a lot of socioeconomic
privilege. So growing up, myparents kind of threw me into a ton
(07:00):
of different sports. And kind ofthat like go play all the sports and
like figure out which one you actuallylike when you're about to go to high
high school. But the reason whyI chose golf and started playing that amongst
everything else was because I would seemy dad go and play with his friends,
and I would always want to justlike go hit balls at the driving
range with him. So that kindof started it. I was about three
(07:25):
years old and I was like,no, I want to go play with
my dad. And then kind offrom there the rest is history. It
was like this really fun activity thatmy dad could be really involved with with
me. And then a couple yearsinto it, he my dad's a doctor,
and he hurt he hurt his wrist. I'm not remembering exactly what the
(07:47):
injury was, but he hurt hiswrist and was unable to play golf after
that for risk of, you know, affecting his career as a doctor,
and kind of I think that thatwas something that made him even more invested
in my career and playing golf becausehe was able to kind of still really
be involved with the sport even thoughhe wasn't able to play. So that
(08:11):
kind of was what allowed me toget into golf. But I'm very aware
that you know that is also byvirtue of the fact that you know,
I'm I'm very, very lucky tohave. You know, my parents were
super, super hard working, andyou know, they they built a life
for themselves and for me to thepoint where we could afford to, you
(08:35):
know, be members at a countryclub and for me to play golf amongst
all these other sports. So whatwas the appeal then, Mile when you
had so many sports to choose fromthen, and obviously you know, an
advantage to access to golf, butthere must have been something that really challenged
you and made you driven and motivatedto to take on golf and and hit
(09:00):
that dead bull. It's not asit's a very silly reason. Actually,
when I was kind of like endingmiddle school so about to go into high
school and at that stage where Ireally needed to choose a sport in order
to you know, like be moreexciting to colleges. Once I started applying,
(09:26):
I was choosing between three sports.It was golf, swimming, and
tennis. And out of those threesports, I was the best at swimming
and tennis. But the reason whyI didn't choose swimming was because I didn't
like my coaches. They were abit too intense for me, and I
(09:46):
was like, just too young todeal with that intensity. So I was
like, nope, I'm done withswimming, and then tennis. I loved
playing tennis, but I hated running, so tennis was out and I show's
golf literally because I didn't want torun. That's an interesting note journey and
(10:07):
a process of elimination, Maya,that's fantastic. So, yeah, you've
obviously found the sport that you enjoyed, But at what point did you decide,
well, I want to be proat this, this is what I
want to do as a career.It was a long and weird journey,
but when I got to college waswhere I really fell in love with the
(10:28):
sport. I was playing, youknow, on all of the junior tours,
the aj GA and all of thatin high school, but it was
a grind and I didn't really Imean like, I had a ton of
fun playing the sport and I wasvery very competitive, but I didn't really
love the sport. And when Igot to college, I had some incredible
(10:54):
teammates and a really, really wonderfulcoach my first two years that really created
this environment where I fell in lovewith the sport, and it was that
it was like when it clicked,that's when my game started getting so much
better, and it kind of incombination with my uber competitiveness. Now I
was seeing my skill get like increasinglybetter every single day. I was like,
(11:18):
wait, I want to see howfar I can take this. And
due to some unfortunate circumstances, mysenior year of college, I wasn't able
to meet the goals that I hadset out for myself and was like really
close to reaching and my final seasonof collegiate golf, and that also really
(11:41):
really lit that fire underneath me thatwas like I don't feel like I'm finished
yet, Like I want to seehow far I can take this for myself,
and I don't want to regret neverchasing this dream. But it never
really was like a lifelong dream ofmine to play sports, you know,
golf competitively. It was more like, wait, like I got really really
(12:03):
good. I really love this sport. I want to see how far I
can go with it. And that'skind of what led me to playing professionally.
What did you find were your actualtalents for the sport and what were
skills that you had to work at. I hit the ball really really far,
which is my one thing. Idon't know what to do when I
(12:28):
get around the green. It ishilarious, Like if you see any of
my stat sheets, it'll be like, all right, HiT's the fairways,
like really great fairway percentage, reallygood green and regulation percentage. But those
holes were like, I don't hitthe green and regulation. It's like a
total mess on scorecard. And Ialways joke with my friends it's like almost
(12:54):
like I have a like an outof body experience where I just get how
to play the game when I getaround the green. Um. So that's
been kind of the biggest thing thatI've always had to work on, is
really dialing in my short game,because when you look at any professional golfer
out there, um that's really winning. UM. Tiger is a really easy
(13:16):
and great example. Where he wonthe Masters was around his finesse on the
green. And if you're able toreally make up for a bad approach shot
that didn't hit the green, oryou know, save yourself from a bunker,
or even something as simple as justmaking consistent puts, you know,
(13:39):
one puts, two puts, noteven getting even close to three puts.
That's where you win like all ofyour tournaments and you hit those low scores.
And for me, um, youknow, the chipping and putting in
all of that short game has alwaysbeen like the hardest for me. So
I've had to had to spend alot of time on all of that.
(14:01):
Explain what the green and regulation partis. So par and golf is the
amount of strokes that you should youknow, finish the hole in. So
if you're a par four, itshould take you four shots in order to
get the ball into the hole.On those holes. You also when players
(14:22):
are keeping stats of how they're playing, will mark fairways and regulation, greens
and regulation and then the number ofpots that it took us to finish out
a hole. So a fairway andregulation means that you hit your hit the
fairway on your drive. It youjust launched a great drive into the middle
of the fairway and you have agreat approach shot to the green. A
(14:46):
green and regulation is when you hitthe green from that approach shot. So
on a par four, your secondshot should hit the green. On a
par five, it would be yourthird shot would hit the green. Then
on a part three, your tshot would hit the green, So it's
basically just like getting it in thatarea right right, So now looking,
(15:11):
I mean obviously very realistic about yourstrengths and weaknesses. If you were to
address somebody who has never played beforeand they really wanted to make a go
of this, what would you saywould be the basic skills that you require.
You might learn to hit the ballharder, for example, might be
and be more accurate the short game, but what would you say the basic
(15:33):
skills for golfing to enjoy it andbe successful at it? Yeah, so
I would say that, you know, the important thing about golf is realizing
that, yes, it is achase of perfection, but you're never going
to hit a perfect shot every singletime. You know, Like the best
(15:54):
thing that you can really try toingreen in yourself is that it doesn't matter
if your drive looks gorgeous, likeis it in the middle of the fairway
and can you play it? Yourdrives aren't going to look perfect every single
time. Your iron shots aren't goingto look perfect every time, and that's
(16:14):
okay. Like you're trying to getit in the hole and however you do
that is great. You know,there's so many different swing types out there
on tour right now that look fromyou know, beautifully gorgeous like a Tiger
Woods or Rory McElroy, to abit strange and a little bit out there,
(16:36):
and yet at the end of theday, they all work. And
kind of along with that, Iwould also say that when you're working on
your swing and when you're really tryingto find you in your game, don't
look for what is the perfect swing, look for what is the perfect swing
for you? Like this took meactually till this year to find a coach
(17:00):
who really wanted to work with theswing that I have versus trying to fit
it on a mold of what supposedlyis a perfect swing, and that has
made the biggest difference. So,for example, for myself, I play
with a close club face and thenI have a very strong grip and I
(17:21):
tend to kind of jump through theball, similar to Lexi Thompson or Justin
Thomas. And I had been toldthroughout my entire career that one I need
to not jump through the ball,so I need to keep my right leg
down longer, I need to squareat my club face, so I need
to not play with one that's soclosed, and I need to weaken my
(17:44):
grip. So these are all threethings that I was always told that I
need to focus on and make surethat I was improving, And in that
it created a really, really tenseswing, Like I was just very tense.
I was thinking about so many thingsat the same time. And it
was when I found, you know, a couple coaches recently that we're like,
(18:07):
no, like, your swing workslike it works for you. This
is your swing, It's like yourfingerprint. How do we kind of get
this swing to be more consistent andeliminate your your bad errors. Let's work
with that instead of trying to makeyour swing like tigers or like rorries.
And I think that that's the mostimportant thing to focus on, to just
(18:30):
be like, Okay, you haveyour swing. How do we improve your
game in the most simple way possiblewithout adding all of these technical elements on
it, and without trying to superimposeyour swing onto somebody else's who may have
different body mechanics and you know,like a whole line of differences that would
(18:53):
you know, prevent you from replicatingtheir swing. I think when you simplify
everything and you work with what youhave, that in itself will translate to
a more fun time on the golfcourse and less than the frustration you'll have.
And then at that point, hopefullythe only things that you'll be frustrated
(19:15):
with is like a really bad crosswind or a bad bounce on the fairway
exactly. Nature will take its owncourse anyway and challenge you right now.
That's interesting, and I think it'sa very valid point, isn't it.
And it applies to so many sportsthat we shouldn't interfere too much with what
you're naturally gifted is or what youknow, what your natural physical capabilities are
(19:40):
as well. So this would leadme to asking you than about physical preparation
and for playing a round of golf, because it can look fairly low energy
golf. I mean, and really, you know, you could be walking
or you could be riding in agolf cut, so not going to take
a lot of I'm not going toburn a lot of cubs here. Yeah,
(20:00):
but you have to have the mentalgame right, you have to have
that stamina right in so many otherways. So let's talk about how you
would physically prepare get fit enough toplay golf consistently. Do you cross train
yes, ideal. And I thinkmy obsession with cross training and staying in
(20:22):
shape came from two sources. Onefrom a tiger because he was kind of
the first golfer that was like,hey, we should be in shape and
to play this game at the bestof our abilities. And then to my
cousins who were kind of like myolder brothers. They were really fit and
work out a lot, and seeingthat, I was like, oh,
(20:44):
I want to be like that,which had this really really great benefit.
And I think that for anyone playinggolf, staying in shape is really really
important, and increasing your cardio outputis also very very important, because even
though playing a round of golf seemsreally low energy, many rounds of golf
(21:04):
are like four to five hours.Four hours is how long a round should
take, but that rarely happens,and so you're kind of out there on
the course for five hours in themiddle of the day it's hot. Not
only do you have to kind ofwalk this I can't remember how long a
(21:25):
golf course is in miles, butlike you're you're walking many miles. So
not only do you have to dothat, but you also have to make
sure that your your mind is incheck. So reducing physical fatigue really really
helps your brain like stay in shapeessentially and stay sharp for the rest of
(21:45):
the round. And and also likethe more in shape you are, the
more you're able to use your bodyto the its fullest abilities and you're able
to you know, hit a longerdrive that is consistent. You know,
you're you're more in tune with yourbody, and you're you're not suffering from
as much fatigue from walking around thecourse, which allows you to just play
(22:10):
a better game of golf. Sothat's what helped me a lot, Like
I M It's funny, like forme, my cross training is like the
complete opposite of like what golf isum where golf is a very like a
slow and a long endurance type ofsport, My cross training usually involves like
a lot of high energy things toreally really check kind of all of that
(22:34):
energy out and ensure that my cardio, you know, like my endurance and
my cardio output is as best asit possibly can be. So during those
really long rounds, I'm not worriedabout getting really physically tired on whole number
eleven and worried about like, oh, how am I going to drag my
feet up this next hole and thenget my mind in check to hit a
(22:59):
good shot. Um, and yeah, so those are things that I like
won't have to worry about. Tellus about coaching, then, may you
talked about the other expenses for takingup golf? Now, what point do
you need, you know, topay a coach regularly? Obviously you need
someone to teach you the game inthe first place, but how often would
(23:22):
you need to be coached? Andof course that would increase once you become
professional. Well, give us anidea of what that looks like. Yeah,
so I think it depends on whatlevel you're at. I mean,
when you're starting out, having likea consistent coach like once a week is
always very helpful to like, youknow, really get your hands on the
(23:44):
game and start figuring out, youknow, what your swing looks like,
what your game looks like, youknow, really getting tuned with like who
what your personality is on the golfcourse. And then I think, like
in junior golf, like when you'replaying competitively in high school, having a
swing coach is important. I'm notsure like how consistent you know, like
(24:10):
what consistency is like the best amount, like whether it be weekly or like
twice a month or something like that. I do think that it's really important
to recognize that for you know,kids that are playing competitively when they're playing
on school teams, not a lotof times those coaches are swing coaches,
(24:30):
and I think that's really really importantto know, so that you're not going
into this space expecting your high schoolgolf coach to be able to help fine
tune, you know, a slicethat you may be having on the first
day of a tournament, and insteadyou're like, Okay, like, this
is my coach for this tournament.But if I'm having issues with my swing,
(24:52):
like I can just text a pictureto my swing coach when So that
that was something that is like reallyimportant to me to know that, Like
I don't, you know, likefigure out my expectations for the different coaches
in my life. I have myswing coach, and I have like my
team coach. But as I've gottenolder, I have I've wanted to have
(25:17):
less coaching, like less consistent coaching, because I have felt, you know,
through my own experiences, the mostmore consistently that I saw a swing
coach, the more technical that Ibecame. And this might just be a
personal preference of mine. But themore technical that I started to get and
(25:37):
the more in my head I became, the more my game suffered because I
was just thinking NonStop. I waslike, wait, like, it's only
like I could change this one partof my swing then everything will be perfect.
And so I would spend like hourson the range just trying to figure
out this one tiny part of myswing. When an actuality like I would
say the most beneficial way to practicegolf is to go out on a golf
(26:00):
course and actually play, and actuallyput yourself in the different positions that you
would be during a normal round ofgolf, Because when you're on a range
just trying to find you in onetiny part of your golf playing, like
you get the same lie every singletime, like nothing's really happening, and
so you're not able to adjust forthe differences in lie whether the ball be
(26:23):
above your feet or below your feet, or like you know, in the
rough or things like that. SoI would say, like finding a balance
for coaching that is good for youis really important instead of basing what is
good coaching off of what everybody elseis doing. Very interesting, Yes,
(26:44):
let's talk about the tournament structure then, you know for amateurs and then professionals,
and how you make that jump frombeing an amateur to a pro what
does that take? So it's actuallyreally simple, right, like going I'm
an amateur to approach just means thatyou entered a tournament and you're going to
be playing for money. Um,So that's kind of like the basic definition
(27:07):
of what a professional athlete in anysphere is. And it's it's pretty simple
like that in golf as well.Um, you know, you're an amateur
as soon as as you are playingjunior golf up through collegiate level golf,
and so once you you finish youryour NC double a kind of stuff.
Obviously this is very much like USspecific. But once you finish your NC
(27:30):
double a career, you know,you have different options as to how to
progress your your golfing career. Manyfolks choose to continue playing as amateurs because
entry fees to different tournaments are cheaperfor amateurs, um. But then you're
you're not if you win that tournament, you're not winning any money. But
(27:53):
then there are other folks like myselfwho is like, you know what,
I'm just going to start playing professionallyand so i'ld start entering tournaments as a
pro, and then I would becompeting for money. I don't think that
there really is any difference there.You know, amateurs are still grinding as
hard as professionals. They're grinding toplay in these tournaments. We're all,
(28:17):
you know. Right now, I'mkind of mostly referring to the mini tours,
which are a bunch of professional andamateur tournaments that happen in the United
States that are kind of like practicegrounds for the big tournaments. So the
men have many tours and the womenhave many tours, and essentially there are
(28:40):
these just really cool events series whereyou're able to go and compete with other
players that you would be competing withat the higher level tours. So it's
really really great practice. But yeah, like I mean, I've played with
a ton of amateurs and there's nodifference, Like our practice regiments are the
same, Like we're all basically doingthe same thing. The difference is is
(29:03):
that they aren't going to be competingfor the money, Like they're not winning
any prize money, whereas I wouldbe winning prize money. I think that
what's really really important is to tryto think about the tournaments just as another
tournament and don't think about them aslike, yes, you are playing for
(29:25):
your livelihood in many senses. Butonce you put that pressure of like,
oh god, I'm I'm playing thistournament and I need to win this money,
then that makes things a lot harder, Like that puts extra pressure on
yourself to play better, and formyself, that was detrimental to my game
(29:47):
instead of being able to be like, Okay, yes I want to win
this money. Let me put thisover here in this box for right now
and just focus on my game foryou know, this next four hours.
But yeah, I don't know ifI answer your question, well, yeah,
no, that's great, and itjust gives us a whole different perspective
now of what it takes to bea professional player. How long have you
(30:08):
actually been a pro? Mm So, I turned pro in twenty fifteen,
and then I took some time offin twenty seventeen, and so I'm not
just to deal with my mental healthand work through that and get to a
(30:30):
point where I would be able toplay at the best of my abilities.
But yeah, so I guess Iam on. I'm a hiatus pro right
now for three years, four yearstwenty nineteen. I don't know what year
it is, yeah, And areyou eager to get back to it or
you're just going to let it takeits course. I want to get back
(30:55):
to it so so badly. Ifeel like I have so much unfinished business,
and like it still is really reallydifficult for me to be like,
yeah, like I'm not really playingright now, or I haven't you know,
gotten my LPGA Tour card yet,and those are things that are just
(31:17):
still really really difficult for me tosay and like recognize. But at the
same time, I also know thatfor me to play at the best of
my abilities, I need to bein the right stage of my life,
like mentally, because it's my mentalgame. And I've known this throughout my
entire career. It's like those dayswhen your mental game isn't there, it
(31:41):
is so hard to play well,Like it is grueling out there on the
golf course, and I don't wantthat to, you know, be something
that is, you know, preventingme from being the best. And so
if I can take some time offand really work on myself and get to
a point where yeah, like Ifeel really good, I feel like I
(32:01):
can go out there and really play, then that's what I want to do.
So just a clarification, Then youcan be a pro player without playing
on the LGP sorry, thank you, on the tour itself now, So
(32:22):
being on the tour is just apersonal choice, or do you have to
qualify in some way? You haveto qualify? So so yes, you
can be a professional golfer without havingyour LPGA Tour card. You know,
if you're playing for money on themini tours or on the Symetra Tour,
which is the developmental tour for theLPGAM. But the end goal of every
(32:45):
professional golfer on the women's circuit isto get their LPGA Tour card. So
what that means is you have qualifiedfor exemptions into every single LPGA Tour event
and in order to get that card, it's a very long process, but
one that is very um egalitarian,I want to say, Like there there
(33:10):
is no so unlike the NFL orUM basketball, Like you don't have to
get drafted into it. You don'thave to have like UM have to have
gone to like a Division one collegeand played there in order to get a
leg up for this qualification process.Literally anyone can sign up for UM.
(33:31):
The LPGA Q school, which isqualifying school and try their hand at competing
to get their their LPGA Tour card. Um, And I think that's something
that's really cool. Of course,they're barriers to that, including the financial
aspect, which we discussed earlier.UM, But I've played with so many
(33:52):
different folks who you know, someof them didn't go to college and they're
out there playing and I'm like,that's awesome. Some of them went to
Division one colleges and are out thereplaying the same course in the same tournament
as I am. I went toa Division three college and I'm still out
there, you know, with thereally awesome athletes from USC or UCLA who
(34:14):
are like incredible, you know,Division one teams, and we still are
all kind of like in the samefield working our butts off to try and
get that LPGA Tour card, whichis really cool. But it is a
very very long process, and it'sa very hard process at that as well.
(34:36):
But yeah, like you just haveto work. You work hard for
it, essentially, but you don'thave to just being a professional golfer doesn't
mean that you were on the LPGATour essentially. Good Thank you for clarifying
that. But the other question Ido have is why are Asian women so
(34:57):
good at golf? So I Ihave not done a lot of research in
um you know, the way inwhich sport is emphasized in countries like Japan
or Thailand or Korea. But fromwhat I know, one of my coaches
(35:17):
in college played on the Korean LPGATour, and from listening to her experiences
and just my brief knowledge of thosecountries is that there are many more resources
for female athletes to play sports inthis way and right now, golf is
(35:37):
a huge industry in Japan and Korea, and so there's more incentive for folks
to you know, play, toprovide those resources and to have more opportunities
for development for younger athletes and youngerfemale athletes, which is something that we
just don't have in the United States. You know, golf isn't Golf is
(36:00):
a big industry, but it's notlike a sexy sport, right Like,
we're not going to be spending alot of money for female golfers and their
development in the United States versus theamount of time that we're spending on soccer,
which again it's not as much,but it is more significant than for
(36:22):
golf, and so I think thatis one of the reasons why the LPGA
Tour right now is really really dominatedfrom foreign born Asians players because there is
just more opportunities for them to playand to improve their game, and there's
more access over there, whereas inthe United States it's still, you know,
(36:45):
golf is still very very much aman's sport. So in that sense,
many people are like, Okay,if it's a man's sport, then
why do we need to spend moneyon women coaching? Of course, is
something we all want. All wantto see more women coaches in so many
sports. What does it look likein golf? I feel like I have
had a lot of female coaches.Both of my coaches in college were women
(37:10):
on our college team. My swingcoaches have largely been men. But right
now I'm working with this incredible womanum at Tory Times, who I'm like,
loved my previous coaches, but lowkey I'm kind of like, Okay,
you are currently blowing everyone out ofthe water in terms of how you're
(37:30):
coaching me. Why didn't I findyou earlier? But I feel like and
even the tournaments that I played incollege, like there there were a decent
amount of female coaches on different collegiateteams. So I'm not sure, um,
you know, kind of in comparisonto other sports, if there is
(37:51):
as much of a dearth in umfemale coaches in the world of golf.
I do know that there's still isstigma about being women in golf, and
just in speaking to my own swingcoach, m she still has to deal
with a lot of people coming upto her and being like, oh,
honey, let me show you howto how to you know, hit the
(38:12):
ball when this woman like played Divisionone college golf, is like an incredible
golfer and could not you know,anyone out of the water single handedly.
I appreciate you taking the time toexplain the sport to us Meyer and we
look for which are you getting backon the golf course and following you down
the fairway so to speak, andthen polishing up your short game. Now
(38:36):
we'll be watching. Now I admittedthat everyone's going everyone who ever listens to
this and never plays with me isgoing to be like, oh, we
see what you mean about your shortgame right now? We know now we
know she down the fairway, Butall right, well, I'm sure it
would be a very welcome return tothe sport. But thanks very much for
taking the time to come on theshow and explaining, thank you, and
(38:59):
were going to do more golf coveragewith you too, aren't we. Yes,
yes, hopefully we have to getthat all figured out, so it's
really awesome. I'm looking forward tothat mile well. Again, thanks for
taking the time to come on theshow. Take care, Thank you,
Chris. Nice conversations from the world. This is sports, So for golfing
(39:28):
fans, stay tuned for news ofmore golf coverage here on WISP Sports.
In the meanwhile, check out allthe other sports that we cover here at
wissports dot com or of course,on any podcast app. Just subscribe free
of charge to with Sports on anypodcast app, and if you follow us
on social media at WIS sports,you can join in the conversations there about
(39:51):
women in sport, whatever your chosensport is. And you can also contact
us here directly by emailing info atWHISP sports dot com. We always love
to hear from you if you haveany comments or questions or suggestions for topics
or sports or guests that you thinkwe should be including in our coverage.
Until the next time, Thanks forlistening and of course supporting women in sport
(40:15):
everywhere. Goodbye for now,
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!