Episode 8 - Mallory Kane

It just feels really special to get, to be a part of it. And obviously a big Jay as I call her has had a fantastic year and just kind of went through the gauntlet to get here. It's so tough to make the national championship in golf and she's, she's jumped every hurdle, so to speak, to get here and. Hopefully we can really enjoy the next four days and she can put on another great performance.

You've got to keep it in play. You've got to really keep your your head about you. Cause it tempts you, it tempts you to want to kind of go for it. Every hole has a little go for it and it, and you've just got to stay super disciplined. Keep the ball in front of you and yeah, just be patient shot by shot all that boring golf stuff.

This and that, but just loved going out and playing with my dad. And he was very helpful with, you know, getting me the right equipment providing me with great instruction and just great opportunity you know, to play in tournaments and get, you know, the necessary, I guess, exposure and experience that you need to progress in the game. I would say he was probably a little ahead of his time as far as, you know, being a parent of a very successful, you know, kid in sports.

You know, he really limited me actually in as much as I could play and practice, he always wanted me to be excited to go to the golf course. He wanted it to be something that I truly enjoyed and wanted to do. Maybe a little different than nowadays when parents can be a little too overbearing and too involved. He was the perfect mix for what I needed and No. Once I was in high school, I played, I played on the boys' high school team at Somerville high school.

We didn't have a girls team at that time. And that was a great experience. I absolutely loved it. Really challenged me in a lot of different ways. Cause I was playing in the, you know, in the back tees with the, with the guys made me a lot tougher. It made me a lot stronger and then started doing a lot of junior tournaments around the country. And you know, received offers from gosh, a ton of division one schools around the country.

I was very lucky I could have picked, you know, just about anywhere to go to school. Very fortunate and you know, it was probably then that, that I realized that, you know, I can take this with a scholarship to the university of Georgia and, and possibly turn it into some type of, you know, lucrative career.

And we had, you know, great those a great time football at Georgia when I was there as Matt Stafford and no Sean Moreno and Todd Gurley. And so, sorry, sorry, not Todd Thomas Brown. I mean just a great group of guys that were on the football team and a good time to be a fan.

So with that being said, you know, six years there was, I think enough time. It it is a very rural place to live with very, very limited resources for the golf teams. So for me I really couldn't pack my things fast enough to, to get over to Norfolk and Virginia Beach. Like you said, I'm from Somerville and from Charleston, I love being near the water. I'm not a mountains girl.

I guess they're nice for the, for the occasional weekend trip or something, but like I said, I've so appreciate my time there and, and we'll forever be in debt to them, but ODU just offered so much more in terms of the golf program, the resources of facilities where you live. It was just a no-brainer I couldn't couldn't get there fast enough.

But what I encourage people is, you know, to think about is, you know, kind of think outside the box a little bit more, be a little bit more open-minded golf is played globally. And so the globe is our recruiting map and the United States is the only place in the world where you can combine high level amateur sport and higher education while getting a scholarship to pay for it. You know, that is what this great country offers.

You know, whether you like college sports or not, it is a wonderful opportunity. And people around the globe know that and they appreciate it. And so I look at recruiting, other countries, just like I look at recruiting another state if you're a good person with good grades and you're a good enough golfer. We want you, and we don't care where you're from or what your mom and dad do, or you know, what your religion is or your color is.

We look at the character of the person and the quality of the student athlete. It's just that simple. Now like you asked how, you know, how do we get there? Like everything in life. It's just so much to be found on the internet, right? As far as research of scores and swing videos and rankings, a ton of word of mouth we get a good player. We ask her, Hey, who's the next youngster coming up behind you? And we've had great success with that. We get a lot of players very last minute.

We've been recruiting off the portal a lot. We are not going to get players that were, that commit to us a year or two ahead of time. That's just not going to happen for us. And we don't even try to We get a lot of late bloomers. And like I said, situations that are very last minute. So our recruiting strategy would probably scare some coaches to death. The way that we do it, but it's been working for us, you know, we will continue to do that.

And like I said, we don't care where the player is from. It is truly about, you know, who they are as a person and can they get it done in the classroom and on the golf course?

I mean, I know I, and I'm sure you guys would say the same thing. I can only imagine at 18 going across the world to another country to go to college, it was all I could do to go to the next state. So they, they're very internationally traveled. They're very mature. And they're very sure of themselves as they make this step. Is there the homesickness? Absolutely. Some culture differences. Yes. Usually the biggest thing is just food. You know, food is different.

The Europeans always say, when they get here in August that we are pumping the air, the air conditioning, like no other, and they're not used to that.

We're not here to replace back home. We want to be your, your second home and know that you've got a second family and us. So So far so good on that. You know, we've had great retention rates and people are happy and they're doing well and graduating. So whatever Rachel and I are cooking up is working.

So you talked a little bit about what you look for with regards to being a good student and being a good person, but obviously you're recruiting folks to come and play golf. So what golf attributes are you looking at that are going to give you the confidence in extending a scholarship?

So that's probably the first thing we look at is just their overall athleticism, just solid fundamentals. If somebody has got kind of a, an odd something odd in their fundamental fundamentals, that can be really difficult to coach when it starts to go bad. If you have pretty basic simple fundamentals with how you set up to the golf ball, it's easy to get you back to that.

When things kind of go a little bit sideways, I like to look for a lot of tournament experience, someone that has played a ton of I really liked that because it is through tournament experience that you get better. And then probably the other, the last thing would be just PR making progress. I love to see scores from years prior, you know, they'll send me three or four years worth of scores and you can see, Hey, this particular player, you know, she's a shot better here.

She's two shots better here. You can see that she's trending in the right direction. So, you know, in terms of their, their skills, that sort of what we're looking at obviously you love somebody with a great short game. If she doesn't have a great short game, you know, you love to see somebody with a long hitter or that is a long hitter. But yeah, that, that would be what we would look for. You know, like you said, from a, from a physical attribute.

Obviously we have wonderful supportive people around our program and that is probably our number one sell. If you will. Rachel May our, our team, you know, we are going to do everything we can to meet you where we are. We're very much about the individual. I want people to be themselves to the fullest. We do not try to put anybody into a box. You're just as individual as your golf swing.

And we try to coach as such, we try to coach, or we tried to adapt to our players needs rather than the other way around. We don't have many rules. We don't have many team policies. We really just try to meet everybody where they are, because I have found that when you can get these players to be happy and comfortable and really trusting in you, they will be their best. And that's in everything. That's in the classroom. That's on the golf course. That's just in life.

So for us, it's all about creating that environment. People are like, Hey, I'm valued. You know, who I am as an individual is valued. They're meeting me where I am. You know, I can, I can, you know, speak up and contribute to the conversation. And my coaches take me seriously. My teammates respect me. And I know that all that combined will lead to success.

You know, that's where our locker room is. Our team lounge, our co coaches offices. That is our, our little home. It's where we meet every day. And the facility itself, you know, like I said, we sell it as something that's convenient. For our players to get out and practice an actual, you know, day to day, you know, practically, what are we doing? We're going off campus. We're going off campus to play in practice four or five days a week.

It is not somewhere where we have been getting in our absolute best work. You know, I would save that for princess Anne for Bayville, for riverfront Cedar point and of course, Elizabeth manner with their recent renovation. So I think more than anything, it's it's we want our players to have a home. You know, the basketball team has a nice home.

The soccer team has a nice home golf needs to have a nice home and the, the players need to have their, their facility that they can go to, to you know, put their work in. But to also feel like, you know, they have something there on campus that belongs to them.

Like what if I'm going to recruit, which obviously I'm not because my golf swing stinks, but if I were, and I lived across the Atlantic ocean, tell me what kind of, what, what I would expect.

You know, again, just back to the internet and the phones and everything that, that you can do there. But just really, you know, reassuring them that this is a wonderful place to get an education and that the people here are really, what's gonna make the difference for you as a recruit. Everybody has a gym. Everybody has a squat rack.

Everybody has a classroom with a desk and a smart board, and everybody has a study hall, but at the end of the day, what's going to ultimately make the biggest difference in your experience. As a student athlete in college is the people you surround yourself with.

Obviously some places maybe just have budgets and facilities that are just out of this world, and maybe that will make a little bit of a difference, but leadership is still the most important and the support around your players is the most important. So we do what we can to show them. Yeah, like you said, the FaceTime and stuff like that, and videos try to get the, you know, a good, good feel for what they're getting.

But mainly it's just about getting them in touch with as many people as possible so that they can feel well.

The coaches would speak a couple of the players would speak and just a great time for everyone to just mingle and get to know each other, a really great event. And that has grown over the years. But what we got to thinking was, you know, we see these people in November and we ask them for some money and then we just sorta like, all right, see you next time November.

So the idea was, let's do something, you know, in the spring time where we get these, the same group of people in some others as well to come out, you know, to our place and to see our players rather than all dress up and had a fancy dinner, let's see them in their environment and get people kind of mingling together as we did on the range, the chipping green, the putting green, just get the conversation, flowing that way. So it was very much just kind of.

Brainstorming idea that we had, that we just kind of put together in a couple of weeks, if I'm being honest, it wasn't meant to be anything really fancy. You know, we had some food and some you know, some drinks for folks, but really it was just about getting our supporters face to face with our student athletes in their environment. And I think that it really exceeded everybody's expectations. You know, we were already brainstorming for next year.

Just some other things that we can do to make it bigger and better. But I was so impressed with our supporters and the student athletes, how they really just went for it. You know, people were hitting balls, people were chipping in putting, they were getting tips. You know, everybody was just having a blast and that is ultimately what it was all about. And I love that about golf that you can do that together. Right.

It's just difficult with other sports, you know, how do you do that in a football or a, or a baseball, something like that. But with. You know, you can just be right there together, you know, sharing in it. And yeah, I was so impressed with everybody that night. It was really a blast and we definitely will be doing it more. I could even see it as doing it maybe twice a year, once in the fall, once in the spring. Maybe something in conjunction with the football weekend.

I don't know the, the kind of the sky's the limit on that thing. So thank you guys for being there and supporting, and I believe Aaron, do you want our putting contests? If I'm not mistaken?

And as we have seen, the more successful our fundraising has been, the more successful our golf team has been. It allows us to do the things that we need to do first and foremost is our schedule. Our strength of schedule has gotten so much better in the last six years. And that is because we now have, you know, the money to fly to the better tournaments and our team has gotten better. So we're getting invitations to bigger events. Everything in golf is invitation, a lonely.

So you know, now I don't have to say no, I, you know, I can't afford it. I'll just raise the money and we will fly to Las Vegas, or we will fly to Texas, whatever it may be to play the best tournament. And then up goes the national ranking. The next part of it is you gotta have money to bring recruits over on official visits. We talked about that we're flying people in from all over the world, so we've gotta be able to afford those plane tickets to get them over here.

So The budget that we start with at the beginning of the year is not nearly enough for what it is that we want to do. If we just spend that we would not be nearly as successful. And quite frankly, our student athletes would not be having the, the, the, the best experience they could have. So yeah, we do work our tails off to fundraise, and we have wonderful supporters, wonderful supporters.

These are people that just, not only do they give of their, of their money, but they give their time always sending supportive messages, calls, just so thoughtful in their support of our team. And you know, again, it goes back to kind of that second family feeling. I know that my players, you know, they, they know that and they feel that, and it ha it helps them in doing better. They really want to do better for those that support us.

She loved seeing, you know, these top division one women athletes on her course, you know, playing so well and enjoying themselves that had just sort of inspired her, I guess, to be a little more interested in us and interested in our, in our team and our needs. You know, Evie is, is such a huge supporter of women's sports in general, but especially golf and especially golf in our area. She was sort of a pre-Title non women's athlete.

If you will, you know, she didn't quite get the benefit that, you know, people of my era certainly certainly have had. And so for her, it's really about, you know, giving to giving to women so that they can have the experience that she didn't quite have. So the, the donation that, that her and her husband Hugh did for us, it benefits a number of things first and foremost is the tournament that we have at princess Anne. We have now actually changed the name to the invitational in her honor.

We felt like she was making such an, you know, an unbelievable impact. We wanted to at least extend. Offered to her. And she, you know, definitely humbly accepted and we think it's you know, that that piece of the donation directly supports the tournament. So what is that? It's the dinners, it's the breakfast, it's the tea gifts. It's the coaches gifts, signage, just everything to kind of give wow factor to the event.

I mean, as far as the regular season event goes, you'll be hard pressed to find a better one around the country. It is just very, very first-class. We have so many volunteers that come out, we have live scoring every hall, which is something that you really only see at the NCAA tournaments. It's just a classy event and, and her donation has really just upped everything that we were already doing.

She's got some other, other parts of that donation go, you know, directly to supporting this, the team's budget which gives me, it's not, you know, directed anything which gives me ultimately. Just as much say as possible and where that goes. And she understands how helpful that is to not have my hands tied with it. So what they're doing is, is extremely helpful. And I think that again, the donations go up, the program gets better.

And you know, I think it's really cool that the largest donation, you know, to a women's sport came from a woman and came to women's golf. I think that I hope that others recognize that. I think I hope others see that and they are inspired and encouraged to try to do more of the same.

So, you know, we were playing all the different courses and I just happened to, to make a form of very special relationship with Matt Leibler and the staff at princess. And they have been so phenomenal to our program. So phenomenal to me personally just great friends, great friends, and they, they certainly put together a, a first-class event. And what they do to run our event really helps. How do we get the teams?

Like I said, everything in golf is invitational only and we send these invitations out like 12 to 14 months in advance. And we're trying to get the very best teams. And in hopes that, you know, if I invite such and such great team, that coach will then invite me back to their great tournament, sort of as a reciprocal. So I'm very strategic, you know, with who you invite. And we've got teams literally from all over the country. That want to come and play.

So 15 teams is what we have and that's an average standard size college, regular season event field. So first, full weekend in October is when we do it. And it's just a great experience. I know we we've already talked about doing something with the tournament, you know, when the time comes, but yeah, it's such a fun, such a fun weekend. Our players get really into it. We have great support and people that do get to come out and watch a little bit. They, they love it.

They, you know, a lot of people would never been to a college golf tournament and they don't realize you just get right out there and walk alongside and you're kind of in the action and yeah, it is a lot of fun. And we're looking forward to doing it again this October.

So, you know, when the time comes, we will definitely do as much as we can to promote that through our website or whatever we feel like is the best possible means of getting that out there so that people have the information if they want to volunteer, or if they just want to come out and watch.

And so we're playing and my partner makes like a 20 footer for par, like the fourth hole. And I'm standing over on the side of the green and I clap for, and I say, Hey, way to go partner. And one of the young ones standing right next to me and she looks over at me. She goes, well, aren't you the competitive. I said, damn, I can't believe this girl having nervous say that to me.

So anyway, we're, we're going along and all day I'd been the longer hitter in our foursome and this girls up ahead of me were walking down. I think it was like 15 or 16 and we're walking down there to the drives. And she's already down by our golf balls and she's standing by our golf balls are right next to each other. She's standing right over top and she's looking at him and she's looking back at me and looking at the balls and looking back at me.

So I get down, you know, get to the where she is. And she goes, well, it looks like I got you on this one. And I'm looking at this whole thing. And I said, well, I said, you know what? I said, it looks like you did. But I said, my, you know, what's are bigger than yours. And I'm sure. The caddies were just, the caddies were about fell on the ground. didn't know what to say. I finally shut her up for the day.

But it was yeah, it was it was a good little one-liner that I shared, but it it kind of extends a little further. She ended up playing at the university of Oregon. And my first year at ODU, we were down at ECU playing in a tournament and Oregon was there and we get on the elevator with Oregon and she looks over at me and I'm kind of looking at her and she said, big is that you? And I said little, is that you. Sure enough actually a great gal. We've we've, we've kept in touch a great gal.

But that, that same, that same week right after that, they we, we miss the cut and these kids, they killed us. I will say they were phenomenal golfers and they've smoked us. We missed the cut. And one of the things that you got to do while you were out there was play the other golf courses for free while you were, there were like $500 round value. So I Peck. Yeah, I was going. And so I go out to Bandon trails to play. It's just, I'm by myself, just carry my bag by myself, nobody at this resort.

And I come up on these, these two guys and I just said, Hey, you guys, I'm a single, you know, can I join you? And I said, sure. You know, come on. Turns out it was this guy, Josh Lesnik, who was the general manager of Kemper sports.

Which manages a ton of phenomenal golfers around the country and then Mike Davis with which, if anybody is a true, true golfer, Mike Davis was just went out the president of the USDA, tiny guy with the bald head and the glasses that sets the pins at the U S open that everybody always yells at for the terrible greens, this guy. So I recognize Mike, oh my gosh, I cannot believe this. I'm like, I'm playing with these guys.

So I'm like, okay, you know, I better, you know, button up, you know, you know, be on your best behavior. So we're playing and we get around to like the fourth or fifth hole hits a little comfort station. So they go in to get something I'm thinking, you know, these guys, were they going to get like an ice tea or like a Gatorade or something, you know, lame. Double tequila, splash of lemonade.

And then Mike Davis, I shouldn't even be saying his name, but the guy from the USDA will say gets a, gets a double, what did he get? Double some kind of bourbon, double bourbon, neat. I'm going, what a drink order on the golf course. So I Mallory, you know, what do you want? I'm going, ah, you know, just something with a whole montage or something. So they order my drink to an hour drinking implying, and we'd come back around to it again. And like five or six holes. Get her another double.

Well, now I'm a little loose lipped and we're playing and I'm a little too just, you know, feeling good. And I decide that I'm going to tell those guys this story. So here I am telling Mike Davis, the USDA, the most like button-up man in all of golf, this ridiculous story about my, you know, what's and yeah, so I told, I told him the story, he died, laughing. He thought it was hilarious, but to this day I'm so embarrassed. And I said that in front of him. But yeah, Bandon dunes, great place.

Good, good golf stories.

But just to see her teammates play as well as they did that last day to when it was a lot of fun and it's memorable because you know, you're seeing it through their eyes, you know what it means to them. It sounds cheesy or corny, but I mean, that really is what it's all about. Like you want to see them just truly. And join.

And I remember I just kinda stood back and just watch them celebrate because it was, to me, it was that, that was the memory that I wanted to have was rather than being in the middle of it. Just get to kind of stand back and see them. Gosh, we've had some good ones. So, you know, the we were 2019, we're out in Cleo and Washington at the, the regional out there, you know, the regional, they qualifies you for nationals. And we were leading about halfway through the first day.

We just started on a tear. I think we were like 6, 7, 8 under, through nine holes. And we were beating Southern Cal and duke and South Carolina and all these teams. And they had the not the electronic, not the digital scoreboards, but the, you know, the why they have the masters that kind of where they do it themselves. Sole dominion on top of all those schools. And I was like, man, I wish we could just end the tournament right now and go home. It was incredible. Yeah. You know, three

But you know, the best memory is it's just seeing it through the players, you know, graduation days, you know, their individual victories or personal best rounds. You know, that, that is really what I just love so much as a coach then obviously when it happens in golf, it's extra special because golf is more about dealing with dealing with your failures than dealing with, with wins. Right? So any little success that we get to share with our team I just try to soak it all up.

So. Every day is a little different, you know, depending on just where we are, what the course is, what the conditions are. It's just kind of an ongoing conversation of where I need to be, where Rachel needs to be, which player needs, what some players we call it handholding. They lacked a lot of help. They like a lot of attention and others are, you know, just, just leave me alone. I'm fine.

So yeah, it's always, it's always evolving when it comes to that, but we try to help where we feel like where we feel like we can sometimes in golf, you just gotta let them go. Like you said, we do a lot of work back home with the swings and short game. We do a lot of work in the practice round, coming up with a strategy. If you've got great players, let them go play. Sometimes that can be hard in golf. You see a lot of over coaching out there.

I just try to let them be independent and believe in themselves and if they want us, we'll be there.

So we had today, you get an opportunity to get out and play the golf course. You can hit some extra shots, putts and chips, get a feel for the speed of the greens. But if you're, you know, you want to get your game in as best shape before that, just so you can make the most of your practice.

So a lot of conversation, a lot of note taking in the yardage book, the yardage books nowadays are incredibly incredibly detailed with yardages and slopes and just everything you could ever imagine. So the practice rounds take a long time because you are hitting those extra shots and taking lots of notes, but it's your opportunity to study and come up with a game plan.

And last year we did our second annual toys for tots drive. So we're really passionate about trying to do things and raise money for the school and out in the community. It's, it's something that we're really proud of. What's your favorite charity until Monarch nation? A little bit about it.

In the first Gulf war, a lot of people a very high number, I should say of people who served in the first Gulf war, early nineties were ultimately diagnosed and had passed away with ALS. So they do believe that there was something connected. There, they just don't know exactly what, but he was considered a hundred percent service connected. So I'm not necessarily a big fan of the ALS association. I'm not a big fan of kind of how they have how they handle things.

But there are some smaller organizations that specifically help military families that, you know, are dealing with veterans with neuromuscular issues, which is what my dad had. I will say we have phenomenal support for our veterans that, you know, are now without a limb. I think we do a great job with those. I think where we, where we lack is the neuromuscular and certainly those with any kind of mental health. So support for those families is so important.

They need advocates, they need information, they need financial help. Our family was just very fortunate because, you know, the finances were not an issue, but that's not everybody's case. And my dad had wonderful advocates as well. So he always, you know, for as bad as it was, he always said that there were other families out there certainly within the military family that needed help.

So anything, you know, that's helping support the families of our veterans I think is, is really just a great cause. Obviously we live in this great country despite your, your political affiliations. And Lord knows our leadership or the divisiveness that we have is, is one thing in our country. But our military is something to be very proud of and the people that volunteer. Their lives, their health, and ultimately the, their family's lives really, and how their family's lives are impacted.

I think anything, any, any group I like smaller groups personally, cause I like to really know that whether it's my money or my time or whatever it is that I'm, that I'm giving is, is I know that the direct impact that it is having. So one cool thing actually that we're doing this week that NCAA golf does in conjunction with folds of honor. Mike, you may be familiar with that. It's a organization that was started by major Dan. They do big, big events.

I can't remember they do it on Memorial day or labor day. I think it's labor day actually, did they do it around the country and they raise money, but we have a salute to service day on, on Monday. Even though we won't be playing to the afternoon, we will be in attendance first thing in the morning just to see the different things that they're going to do with that.

And then each player on Monday will be given a pin and a kind of a little story for depending on their golf bag about a fallen service member that they will play an honor of that day. And we'll have the some of the flags will be American flag. So it's a great, great thing that they do. Several players have bags with the name of a fallen service member on them that they honor throughout the year. So, great thing that NCAA golf does a folds of honor.

But obviously the folds of honor is huge and they have tons of great support. That's why I always try to encourage people to try to find something smaller, maybe within your area a specific family that you know, that you can really know that your, your money and your time is going to actually help them.

But that's why I think some of these, some of these nonprofits, you know, that are trying to really get the money, get the resources, you know, to the families are so great.

It's a really pretty part of campus and it's usually very quiet you know, on that front side of the web, but yeah, we have a sneaky, sneaky, beautiful campus. I know all of our recruits say that when they come in and there's just lots of little kind of areas that you can find that are just especially this time of the year you know, spring and then into fall that are just very pretty and quiet.

And you just feel like, you know, you are somewhere special, but if I've got 45 minutes, I'm going into zero subs for the Philly cheese steak.

Then he actually was better then than he is now that he's, you know, Nashville country. But he was a great live show, you know, back before he was famous, but yeah, probably Luke Combs are Morgan. But yeah, Jason Aldeen was a great show. George Strait does an incredible show. Gosh, I'm sorry. Garth Brooks has an incredible show. George Trey does a very boring show.

But yeah, I'm, I'm I'm country, but like good country, not some of this new, some of this new stuff is, is not great, but I do love live music. And I'm always down for for a concert outside.