35. Erika Larkin – Creighton Farms – Golf Digest

No helicopters have been procured for me.

To go to golf course. Thank you.

I've never said he wasn't a great politician.

I'm just saying he's a golfer.

Listening interview. How'd you play out there today?

Well, I found the conditions challenging mostly because there's no grass on the golf.

Course, but there never has been.

I'm thinking about Swagbig and I had eye hug swag bag.

When you got three crevices on the.

Green, your course is trash.

What's going on, folks? Welcome back. Beltway golfer, episode 35 Alex Dixon here. So 35 episodes in, we've had a handful of PGA teaching pros on the show so far. John Eisman, Mark Russo, John Scott Rattan, Bob Dolan. Today's guest, Erica Larkin, out at the club at Creighton Farms, is not only the first female PGA teaching professional that we've had on the show, but she is ranked number one in the state of Virginia by Golf Digest, voted amongst her or voted by her peers, and has so ever since 2014, she's been the number one teaching pro each time they do the vote since. Incredibly impressive. And what's really cool is she is now on the staff as a teaching professional for Golf Digest. And in fact, when we did this interview on a Monday morning that Saturday, I opened up my mailbox and on the current issue of Golf Digest with Brooks Koepka on the COVID on newsstands right now, open it up right in the middle. You got eight pages of Erica giving you tips and tricks and lessons. And, you know, she says her biggest spread in Golf Digest to date, so super impressive and timely. It was really cool to kind of get to know Erica, her background being from New York, but coming down here for college to Harrisonburg and JMU and kind of migrating up to Northern Virginia, where she's been ever since, working at several clubs as her teaching career has really blossomed. And now she's, you know, kind of everywhere on social media. She's got a huge following on YouTube, on Instagram, I'm sure on Facebook and Twitter. And, you know, she's, she's a big deal. Erica Larkin. So here it is. We'll get to it. Episode 35, Beltway Golfer Podcast. Erica Larkin from the club at Creighton Farms and now Golf Digest.

Enjoy.

Erica Larkin, thank you for joining me. Before we get into introductions, before we get into anything, I want to start off by congratulating you right here. This was what is today? Today's Monday. Gosh, I don't even know the date, September 26th. 27th.

Yeah.

And yesterday I opened up my mailbox. It's the latest issue of Golf Digest with Brooks Koepka on the front, and right inside is like an eight. What is it, eight page spread.

Yeah. It was amazing that they gave me eight pages. I'm definitely thrilled about it. For sure. It's the biggest feature I've ever had and probably any magazine, but let alone Golf Digest is definitely a great, great honor. Great, great kickstart to my relationship with them.

So. So what is that? I mean, what you. So, real quick, the introduction. Erica Larkin. You are. What is your Creighton Farms? What is. What is your title?

I am the director of instruction at Creighton Farms and I also do a lot of golf content on the side. Involved as now a official Golf Digest teaching professional. So I'm actually on the masthead. I have a contract with them for the next few years to provide regular content, be a contributing member of their staff as the teaching professional and on the golf instruction side. So you'll be seeing me more in their digital stuff and then in print. That was one big feature piece. They'll hopefully be another one next year, but in between that, they'll sprinkle me in a little bit here and there. So kind of waiting on my next assignments from them. But there is more in the queue that we did film and I'm in. I have a Golf Digest schools thing that's finally being launched. So you'll definitely see me more affiliated with Golf Digest.

It seems like a big deal.

Great. It's a big deal because if you look at the masthead, I'm next to like, Jim McLean, Butch Harmon, you know, all the big names, which is wild. So that's the. That's the. Actually, the part I'm the most proud about is to be in those. The company of those guys.

That's right. Right there. So they said there's a. Of instructors and teachers, but these are like household names that you're not a part of.

Yeah, yeah, I know, it's wild. So I was on the best young teachers list as long as I could be, and then I turned 40. They kicked me off, but it. That was great. And all the while, they definitely recruited me to do some content here and there. I've had a couple short articles and tips in the magazine over the last 10 years, but this is by far now a more formal relationship and a bigger commitment from both parties to do more together. So I'm definitely super excited to work with the team and discovery Network is Golf Digest now. And so there's a lot more opportunity in the future to collaborate, probably beyond what even Golf Digest will do, which is what's exciting to me. So hopefully, if the next couple years go well, we'll see where things lead, you know, is one of.

Because we're going to get into a bunch of it. But one of the big things that you're well known for, and people probably know your faces, you're all. You're all over social media with these fun videos. You call it golf edutainment. I would imagine somebody at Golf Digest probably had to say, listen, some of these. Some of these really famous old guys we have on staff, they're maybe lagging behind a little bit on the Internet and social media. Let's get, you know, Erica is out there everywhere, and that's. That's gotta be a big, you know, advantage for you.

That. That definitely helped me get their attention a little bit more. You know, I've been consistent on social for the last three years, and over the last year, a lot of opportunities have popped up and people come knocking on my door now, which has been great, you know, kind of flips the switch. I've been always pitching ideas out there in the world and trying to do my own best networking to try and promote myself, but it's finally kind of flipped, and I'm having opportunities find me now, which is great. So all the hard work is starting to pay off. And Golf Digest approaching me is definitely correlated to the growth that I've had on social. I think they definitely wanted somebody that had a presence. Not that I'm super young, but younger female. All the things that are hitting part of the demographics that they probably want to grow.

Do they have other female instructors on their. On their staff?

I think the only other one is Renee Powell.

Okay.

I don't know that she's super active, but she is out in the, I think, Chicago area, and she's a great lady in the game of golf, but she's not super social. Social, you know, active on social media. So I think that they brought on Mark Blackburn as well, who's a young, younger coach. PGA Tour coach, has a bunch of players now that he works with, and he's. He's pretty active on social. So I think, you know, the regime is. Is starting to not change, but you're starting to see that next generation of coaches be a little bit more engaged by some of these outlets because it's inevitable. You know, you're going to have those legends. They're Always going to be there, but Herman eventually, like, is going to retire. And so I love. I love it that I'm in their company for now. And I don't know what their plan is down the road, but I assume that as long as those guys will be willing to contribute, they'll probably keep taking it. But, you know, so I'm happy to be part of that maybe new generation of coaches.

Absolutely. Well, that's very exciting. Congratulations. That was really cool to see that. I was like, wow, I'm having her on the podcast tomorrow.

Thank you.

And then also, do I have this right? You know, I don't follow it so closely that I know every single year, but I know that you are currently ranked number one golf teacher in the entire state of Virginia. Have you been ranked number one since 2014?

Yeah. That is wild.

That's like seven, eight years in a row.

They do that list every other year, but every time they've put it out, I've been able to continue to be at the top of that list. And, you know, that's an interesting list because it actually is peer vote. They send out a ballot. It's not just editorial and really nice to be recognized by my fellow coaches, both in state and out of state. People can nominate you as well. There's different parts of the ballot. They ask you to write in people's names. So even when I fill out my ballot, like, I'm recognizing those coaches within Virginia that I'd like to see be recognized as well. And then we have to rank our names, and then we can also vote out of state, and then they also do the top 50 list. Golf Digest does top 50. So of the coaches that you that are on the top 50 ballot, you have to choose the ones that you want to see on the list and then also rank your top, I think 20 or something. So there actually is a legitimate voting process, and to be on the ballot is huge. But then also to be even given a ballot is a big deal. And so for me, that all started happening. You know, I guess it was about 10 years ago I started in the Being in the ballot process, and within the second or so cycle of that, I was recognized. I sort of couldn't believe it at that point, and now it's just great to have it on repeat. So, yeah, I'm very thankful.

How does that work? So as someone like myself who's, like, just totally unfamiliar with the world of golf instruction, I take a few lessons here, but not nearly as much as I should. But, like, how do, like, so that first year, like 2014, like how do other instructors and teachers, since it's peer voted throughout the state of Virginia, like how do they. Obviously you're huge on social media now. Were you in 2014, like, how does everybody else even know about you to vote you?

Well, I, I was always trying to put my name out there as best I could for whatever the time was. So for example, back in say 2012, I sprinkled a little bit of stuff on YouTube, but I was always active in the section, meaning, you know, I was at all the meetings, I was at all the seminars, I was asked to do some presentations. Like I got in front of my peers and shared my ideas and volunteered at section events and shared what I was doing best practices, you know, so I was in PJ magazine and little, little articles here and there. So I, even though I wasn't heavy on social in those years, my, my colleagues knew that I was working hard and what I was doing and I, they knew I was having success at the ground level because my programs, where I was at the time, which was Stonewall Golf Club in those years were really growing and I was, I had staff that I brought on with me and I was recognized as teacher of the year in the section. And again, all of these things sort of build on each other. And so when you start to get people's attention that you're doing a lot of things and you're doing well and you're growing and having success, that it just builds, you know. So from there I had made the change at one point moved from Stonewall to Creighton. That was 2016 and I made that change. And within that next, over the course of that next year, I completed, I wrote a book. And so that book I self published in 2017. And then my thought was too, to help myself promote this book that I just spent a year and a half of my life putting together. I needed to self promote this, this product. And that's really when I got more into social and active on Instagram and made more YouTube videos to explain the concepts in the book and all the things. So having the book out there, promoting that other coaches reading my book and seeing what it is that I'm about because you know, who has time to go shadow a million coaches? Nobody's coming in necessarily and watching me teach live, although a few people have, but you know, that kind of ability to have access to what you're like as a teacher, what you believe in, how you explain things, I think that brought in some also not Only credibility, but accessibility for other people to get to know me better. So I have no problem sharing everything. I think the more you give, the more you receive. So I don't like hold on to my best stuff. I mean, I'm letting it all out there. There's enough stuff out there. Absolutely. That's great policy and use it or at least, you know, if you like it and it's mine and it's my original stuff, give me credit. But like use it.

Sure.

I want you to help your students too with the information, so.

Absolutely. And the book is called A True Swing. But let's, let's. We're going to, let's get to that. But let's back up a couple steps and how we got to. You mentioned Stonewall making the transition. Stonewall to Creighton Farms and writing the book. Let's back up a little bit. So back to the beginning. So you're. Yeah, you're. You're a New York girl, You're from Queensland.

I am.

Got your start.

We're going to the way back time.

Let's do just a real brief. Let's go from New York to JMU real quick.

Okay. So I grew up in Queens, New York. My parents were not golfers and they decided they wanted to try golf. And we went to pitch and Putt in Flushing Meadow park and tried golf. And two years later we played real golf. And I got involved in junior tournaments in the Met section and eventually found a mentor that told me I should play golf in college and helped me with that process. And I was able to get a partial scholarship to James Madison University. So I went down south and kind of never went home. I stayed in Northern Virginia after graduation. I had an okay college career playing. I sort of, I don't think I ever really reached my potential as a player because I didn't. I was pretty much self taught.

Okay, was, was it jmu? Was JMU golf? I don't know much about JMU golf, but golf in Harrisonburg, were they pretty competitive?

We were, we were Division 1, but in from 98 to 02, which was the years I was in school, we really were not in a competitive conference. We hardly had a CAA girls golf conference. So we would just play. We actually didn't have, we didn't have enough teams in the CAA to really have our own championship, to get a bid to like nationals or anything. So we would go up and play UCA season. We would drive down south and we'd be like play a bunch of nice tournaments but the program was just. It has grown a lot since. I'll say it that way. And our facilities were. Were good, but not great. Our coaching was good, but we also had a coach that was only in his second year teaching women's golf. You're coaching women. There was a lot of transition happening, and it's really. There's no. Nope. I'm not pointing fingers or anything like that, but I think I went down there. The program went through a lot of changes, and I'm happy to say that now they're a legit D1 program and a great conference, and they have had a lot of success the last five years or more, you know, really elevating their. Their women's golf program and making a name for themselves.

So what was your home course?

Lakeview. Well, Stanton the first year, which was a drive down the highway, and it was sort of a interesting commute all the time. And then we finally played more at Lakeview my other three years, and then a little bit of Spotswood once in a while we drive down to Massanutten. So those were our main courses. Lakeview was like 90% of the time, though. Yeah, got it. Okay. So it was a great experience. I love jmu, but I left school knowing that I wasn't going to take golf, playing golf to the next level, but I wanted to be around golf. So the next part of the story is that I got a job in a management company called American Golf, and I was actually in a sales and marketing role for about a year until a colleague of mine said, you should. I need some help teaching these classes that are going on at the course here. Do you want to help me? And I said, sure, I'll teach a beginner class. I know enough to do that and help you out and make some extra bucks. And that was sort of like the pivotal moment for me to recognize that I actually really loved teaching and coaching. I was having fun doing it. I was going sort of above and beyond what was just this little extra money to, like, do more for these students and, like, get, you know, create handouts and, like, get creative. And so anyway, I decided to take my PhD and make a move into a country club setting instead of where I had been working and then go through my entire PGA program. And so I moved to International Country Club around that time, got a job with Tom Meladeo, who's still there as a head pro. And that was a great six years of being an assistant professional and then a first assistant, and then moving 100% into teaching and all the while I, like, ran the junior programs and the ladies programs and all the stuff, all the things teaching there. I really got my hands around program management and marketing myself, certainly within the club setting and then starting to really grow outside the club. And I was bringing in quite a few students that were non members, which was great because I felt like I was really growing. And I got to the point where it was sort of time to move on because I had a lot of interest from outside the club. And so that's around the time that my husband and I moved to Gainesville. We had one son and I have a daughter now too. But we're growing our family and it just made sense for me to make a move out where we were living. And so that's when I went to Stone.

But when you say you had a lot of interest outside the club, meaning you had a lot of people that wanted to take lessons but maybe they couldn't because they weren't members, does that what you mean?

It's just, you know, when you're at a private club, it's always this balance between teaching members and then the amount of guests that you, that you may or may not be able to teach. Some clubs have stricter policies. They necessarily, they didn't necessarily completely limit how many guests I could teach, but the ratio was becoming pretty apparent that I was getting more and more interest from guests. And I wanted to give myself the ability to grow more. And I started freelancing at some other clubs and finally made the transition to where I fully, fully moved away from International Country Club. And then I took, I got a contract at Stonewall to run all the teaching at that facility. So that was perfect geographically, it was right near my house and. And then I spent the next six years there. And that's where I had several people working with me for me. We grew a lot of junior programs and then I got heavily into networking myself in the local communities. All the, you know, BNI groups and the women's leadership groups and the Chamber of Commerce groups and all, all the local things that I could do to just put my name out there in the 25 mile radius around Gainesville and Haymarket. And I had the magnet on the side of my van and I had the signs out on the road and I had all the flyers at Stonewall for, you know, any wedding traffic that was coming through, like golf instruction, golf instruction, kids programs, bringing their classes, all the things. So I did great because, you know, as a public facility goes, they have made a lot of traffic and It's a nice high end, semi private club and it was, it was awesome. It was a perfect fit for me to grow and learn how to manage staff and, and how to handle volume. And you know, we, we were almost outgrowing the facility. We would take over the putting green, the chipping area like every afternoon with all these classes we had going on. So it was great, it was, it was a really great time. And I can say that between all of that and then having a young family at home and just trying to run like the business side of things, I actually sort of got to a point where I was a little bit overwhelmed. And so when it was time to move on from Stonewall, I made a pretty significant switch to go back into private and I decided that it was time for me to cut back on grinding the volume and I wanted to do other things so I could grow more professionally. And so I actually went back to the private setting. Great timing to go into Creighton Farms, which is an amazing facility. This was what amenities are beautiful. This was 2016. Okay, so yeah, I had three main stops, you know, international, then Stonewall and Creighton's been the most recent one and it's already been six years there now, so time flies and they've been great. The nice part about Creighton is that even though it is a really high end private club, when I came on board, the membership is sort of small and because of that it was big enough. They knew they wanted to have somebody dedicated to teaching, but the membership wasn't big enough that they could tell me to be exclusive in terms of only teaching members. So it was perfect in that I was able to get the best of both worlds, be at an amazing private club, but also not really have a limitation on who I could teach and who I could bring in as guests and non members. As long as I upheld the ability to service the membership and provide programming and make sure that I accommodate the members when they, they want a lesson. So I'm still finding that balance because it's busy on both ends and our club has grown a lot. So the more members have joined and the more families have joined and everything is growing. It's been super busy the last year or two as we've grown as a club and then as I've grown outside the club, like it's. I maxed out, I'm sold out.

You got going on your website, like a lot of the different kind of lessons and classes that you offer, a lot of them are kind of group classes, but on their website, your website. So I'd imagine a lot of the people that are signing up for that are not necessarily members.

Right. I offer everything to my membership sort of first and then hope that they, they have the dates in advance. If they want to sign up, they sign up. And then obviously any open spots are open to anybody that wants to join. I do do regular classes for groups, primarily for adults. A lot of our junior stuff is really just in house. You know, junior stuff takes a lot of staff and we have a good, a good core group now of juniors that are involved in our programming. And that's kind of all about what we can handle with our, with our facility and our logistics there. So when it comes to junior golf, I'm primarily delivering private lessons if it is a guest. And in terms of our membership, I'm managing our staff now to run our programs, which I had been doing hands on for the last five years. This is sort of the first year I've. I've given that responsibility more to the other assistants at the club and helping them oversee what's going on. So everything's great at Creighton. We're almost ready to have a learning center open very, very soon. We're like weeks away after several years of planning and construction. So I'm very excited about that as a nice opportunity to be able to teach on site through the winter with technology and also. Yeah.

And does that mean that you'll be doing your fun videos indoors? So, like, everybody's not watching you on the range doing all these? All these?

Yeah, I'll have a set. I'll have a set that I can use anytime. It's gonna be great.

Open up in a few weeks. Congratulations. That's that.

Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. My indoor spot. Before this point in time, I had been renting some space from Steve Wynn Petron at his studio in Chantilly he calls the SW Golf Academy. And he's been a great host to me and allowed me to come in and teach my students there just to have a place to call home in the winter. And so I'm very thankful to him. But hopefully this will be the first year that I, I'll be in my own space and it's going to be great. So I'm very excited about that.

So a little bit kind of on your. Kind of just your methodology. In a lot of. A couple of the other interviews I've listened to you and on your website and certainly a lot in your book A True Swing, you credit Ernest Jones and Swing the Clubhead which is a book I was familiar with, I haven't read, but I think I understand that kind of one of the main kind of premise. But can you talk a little bit about how that book has kind of influenced your teaching philosophy?

Yeah. Ernest Jones, 1937. A guy I never met, but it was a book recommended to me when I was like 13 that I should read by a coach that mentored me as I was growing up. And so that was sort of one of the fundamental books that really resonated with me in terms of feeling the swing and what I should be experiencing. And so that really just stuck with me as a player over the years. And then when it came time for me to become a coach, it was an easy place to start because I just knew that that theme so well. And the more I learned as a young coach and the more technology came into the picture, I feel like, you know, I was very much enamored by all the new stuff that later on, as I digested everything and had a chance to work with new ideas, it's funny how I ended up kind of coming back full circle and revisiting some of the old stuff and trying to connect the dots between old school and new school instruction. And so that's where my brain was in 2015, 2016, is how am I making sense of all these things that I've learned as a coach and that I've tried on the lesson tee? And what am I really teaching people? Is there a consistent way that I can bring all of these ideas together and put it in a way that is easy, easy for people to understand? I almost kind of wanted to try and validate the old school stuff with the new school stuff. Like, that was my, that was my hope that if I could write it out that way, that that's what would happen. And really that's what the book is. It's a. It's. It's simple old school themes. And I try to use the ideas that I've learned about physics and biomechanics to say that. That he was pretty right. It was pretty right. So Ernest Jones Swing the Clubhead is really just this simple concept that when you have a tool and you know what that tool is meant to do, that instinctively your brain maps out a way of moving that tool in space, just like a fork and a knife, a hammer, a screwdriver, etc. So that's an important kind of overwhelming theme, but then also the nature of being in touch with your tool, like feeling the weight of that tool and understanding that when you swing the weight of this object, that you're also doing this kind of instinctual mental math of how to impart energy onto the ball. That is, ultimately, we're trying to move forward. So when you think about short game or putting and the pendulum type stroke that he talks about and getting the club into a swinging motion, that. That takes care of the timing and that if you have a sense of swinging the weight of the club, you're aware of where it is around you at all times, and ultimately you have a sense of how to move that weight to accomplish what you're trying to do. So it's, It's.

I would imagine, I mean, do you still think that that's still, you know, most. I would imagine so many of your. Of your customers and your clients and your students that come see you. You mentioned this, and I've given. I haven't read the whole book yet. I just, I just dove into it last week. But is the first thing they say is how to become or what they want when they come see you or any other teacher is how do I get more consistent? You know, when I talk to my buddies and we're talking about our own terrible golf games, we talk about how do we get more consistent? And yeah, the whole, the whole concept versus hitting the ball versus swinging the ball.

Yeah, I like to teach golf swing. And I think that instinctively, golfers definitely try to hit at the golf ball, and so try to take away the urge to do that is about finding where the manipulation is in their movement that prevents them from actually committing to this idea of swinging. So when the swing becomes a hit, then it's not a swing anymore. So where does that tension creep in or where does that mental control pop in to where we feel like we have to do something? I think a lot of times there's that hidden stink, but then also a lot of times when people are trying to muscle the shot, it ruins the flow of natural motion and efficient motion. And so, you know, again, I have a lot of different ways of describing this in the book, but the idea is that we want to try to be as free of manipulation in our swing as possible and, like, let the club do the work, as cheesy as that sounds, especially through impact. If your body and your engine of what you're doing as you move is balanced and is facilitating a free arm swing, then the body is acting so the arms and the club can react. So there's a lot less that you have to do to make something happen at impact. So I'm a fan of, like, the body kind of swinging the arms. And some people say that's actually not an Ernest Jones theme, but it actually really is. And so if you read Manuel Del Torre, who is a direct disciple of Ernest Jones, he teaches that as well. And so it's funny because as I did more and more research over the years on Earnest and who else teaches kind of more that way, it's funny to see everybody's version of what he wrote. And so this is my version, you know, this is how I interpret it, and this is how I think it works the best and how I can best explain it to people to get them to move in a way that they let the club swing around them.

One of the things that I think is clear as to why you're so popular and have so many followers and fans on social media and different platforms is you clearly have the knowledge and the ability to get super technical if necessary. However, the videos that. Videos that you make, it almost doesn't come off that way because you simplify things in such a great way. That. And almost little short, you know, bites and that are, you know, you know, you know that you can take away and do something with where you don't get kind of lost in your head.

That's my goal. Social is hard because when you have 30 seconds or a minute or less, you know, to describe something or show something, you don't always get to paint the whole picture. But it might be a little nugget that really clicks with the person that needs that. And. And I try to make stuff certainly appear relatable and simple and things that somebody could try at home and not need, like a lot of fancy tech, things like that. So it's good to get the feedback that I'm helping people. That always makes me excited. And I want people to watch it in a way where they're not intimidated to try it because the language is hopefully easy to understand or the visual was resonated with them. And I want to inspire people to try things in their swing and not be afraid of golf instruction. I think it can be overwhelming. It can be really technical, and there is a time and a place for that. Is there.

Is it challenging? Obviously, you're incredibly skilled at conveying the message online on video and these snippets on social media. However, you are employed by Creighton Farms. You're building this teaching center. You have real people in front of you that, that you are teaching. However, it must be. I mean, do you do online lessons? I guess what I'M getting at is, you know, the, the future of this. It must be, there must be a balance of kind of weighing. Do I, do I want to get into kind of teaching people all over the globe, like on videos and that kind of thing versus the people that are my membership. They're standing right in front of me. They're, they're.

Yeah, the, the in person experience is always going to be a part of the equation for me. It's such a place where I get daily inspiration from. I mean, at the end of a day or in the middle of a lesson sometimes like the notes page on my phone is just full of ideas and it's just the way I'll say something in a lesson. I'm like, that was really good. Write it down. That's a video. And I just, I just have this constant flow of, of like stream of consciousness as I teach. And I, I don't know, it's just like as stuff happens or as I do a drill that I hadn't used in a while, I'm like, oh, that, that is a good drill. I can make that into a video, you know, and I don't know, it just comes to me organically. So I think that if I was to. I'm always going to want to teach in person and I think that that's a huge source of where a lot of my content comes from anyway. So, so for what it's worth, like that will always be a big part of the equation. To scale myself is another thing. Like that's why I've done a lot of these different projects is can I have digital products that I can, that I can sell to reach more people. That's why I wanted to write my book and right in writing that and doing some of these things online. And I've now, you know, teamed up with Digest, obviously and I've teamed up with. Golf Fanatics is another platform and I'm making things and products with them. And we're going and doing some traveling golf schools at different destinations around the country as a team. Like I am touching more people in more geographical places, whether it's virtually or in person. And I've been so far able to do it all. You know, we'll see the balance of being able to deliver in person lessons and service the membership and then do all this other stuff. I think the club is excited to see my, my growth and my, my path and they're happy that I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm a part of them, a part of Crane Farms. You know, they're proud of me and they're, they're willing to kind of give me some rope to do these different things and as, as I stay affiliated with them. So I don't know. I don't know exactly. I can't predict, you know, how five years from now what everything looks like. But I can tell you that Creighton's a great home. I'm excited for the learning center to open. That will certainly make things a lot easier for me and better for my student experience as things move forward. And you know, I'm just keep pushing to do all these other projects because I enjoy it and I get excited when something new happens that I can reach new people. That's really what it kind of comes back to.

I would imagine that Gol. It's tough to tell sometimes looking on social media, but that golf instruction and teaching traditionally is a male dominated endeavor. Are there two other, many other women golf teachers that have been dominating their state rankings as much as you have?

You know, not too far from here. You're probably familiar with in Maryland, my friend Trillium Rose, she's a great coach. She's up there. I don't, I don't think she's number one in Maryland. She's got some stiff competition from Bernie Najar and a few others that are really great. I mean there's just are heavily loaded in Maryland with a lot of great coaches and all those nice clubs up in the Bethesda area and Congo and it's pretty competitive. But you know, she's, she's up there too. I would say. She's definitely one of the top female coaches that puts herself out there and is involved in a lot of media stuff and heavily involved in the PGA faculty and kind of growing things within the PGA organization from an education standpoint. So yeah, she's probably the one that comes to mind first. But there's a lot of other great coaches and younger ones up and coming. I just don't know that they, they've gotten as much attention, but not too far from you.

Over at 17:57, Kathy Kim is really, she's really popular on social media and she does a great job.

She is, she's pretty new. She's pretty new to the area. I think if you give Kathy a few more years, she'll climb the ring because same thing, she, you know, she works hard and she's definitely made a name for herself on social. But in our section she's starting to network better and it takes that like I Don't think people understand. It's not just about that. When you, when you. You have to, like, get to know your fellow members and. And that goes a long way with being able to elevate yourself in this industry.

Do you still get. I hope the answer is no here, but do you still get people that maybe come out to, whether it be Creighton Farms or wherever and, like, assume that you only teach women sometimes?

Yeah, I think that it's definitely an assumption that I teach more women and kids. I probably teach 80% men over the age of 40. Yeah, I would say 80% men over the age of forty is like, my client. I have some really great young junior players. I have a handful of kids that are super competitive. I enjoy teaching. I see them on a regular basis for privates. And then, yeah, there's quite a few ladies as well. It's interesting on my Instagram demographics, you can look to see who's following you. I'm 75% men that follow me and 25% women. That's actually the women percentage has grown. It used to be like 10%. So I've grown my female following and I, I contribute to women's golf.com and I certainly try to do things that are relevant to women. But the thing that I always have said is I teach golfers. I don't teach women. I don't teach men. I just teach golfers. Like, it doesn't matter who you are or what age you are or what shape you are, what gender you are. You're like, you're making a swing. This is how you're moving. And like, let's figure it out. And, you know, if you're. If you have a big chest or you have a big belly or you have a big butt, like, I don't care, whatever. Like, how do you move? Let's fix it, you know, or let's make it better. And there's just. It's. It's. I don't. I never want to be pigeonholed as a women's coach. And that's not to say that I am not an advocate for women's golf. I like, I love to see women's golf grow, but I teach. I teach golfers. Right? And so the fact that there's more men that play this game than women than, respectively, all my followings and all my lessons represent that.

So let's, let's talk about a couple of folks that you, that you golf. There's a couple I've noticed that you've talked about recently. Like on Instagram one who is also, I think he's over at Springfield and we have to play the PGA Championship. Larkin Gross, how long you've been working with him?

Yeah, a couple years. So hit Larkin Gross and no relation. Just total coincidence that his name first name is my last. But his girlfriend was our summer Internet. They both went to Methodist and so Paige Church introduced Larkin to me a couple years ago when he moved to the section to start working as an assistant at Springfield. He was looking for a set of eyes after leaving, you know, his college program. He's used to having a coach and he needed somebody in the area. So he came out and within a few weeks he had like won a couple section events. He had a great first summer and he would come out about once a month or so. We'd check in on things and I gave him some stuff to work on and then he went down to the Florida for the winner to play the winter series and he had qualified for the PJ PNC anyway through a section championship and then finished in the team of 20 to go to the, to Kiawah. So like all of that happened over the course of the winter into the early spring. And he came, you know, we, we checked it, we saw each other before Kiawah like did a little bit of work but he was, he had already been playing so well all winner that he was really ready. So he played there. I mean for just, you know, 23 year old guy that jumps from just playing in section events and college events, just throw him into a major like he did. He didn't make the weekend but he, he, it was a great learning experience. He was disappointed in his performance. He thought he really had a good chance to make the cut. And so that goes to show you too that he's got high confidence and he believes in himself and you know, his team, me included and a bunch of people that are helping him, both his college coaches still in the picture and, and even his colleagues and staff at Springfield and so forth. Like we're all in it to help help him get to the next level. So he actually just won the section championship assistance championship. So he's back in the running for the same kind of cycle going into next spring. So we'll see what happens. He's got stage two Korn Ferry Tour qualifying in October. A lot of exciting things. I'm happy to be a part of his journey and keep him, keep his swing in check. That's my role and motivate, you know, him to, to make sure he's not missing any pieces in other parts of his game and. And so forth. So I'm happy to be that resource for him and. And he's become a nice friend and very excited for his success. It's been really fun.

He's definitely one. He seems like he's going to have a brighter and brighter future as he progresses. And then there's another young lady who just qualified for the drive chip and putt.

Yes. I've been working with the Ray Chowdery family for six years, ever since I got to Creighton. They. They are members at Creighton and they had. They started the girls, two young sisters with me then. And so Now Emerson is 12 and a half. She'll be 13 in December and she'll be competing in the 1213 National Drive ship putt Competition in at Augusta in April. And she's somebody that every year plays in the US Kids Pinehurst World Championship. And you know, they've. They've done a lot of competition over the years. I've coached them. And she's been really close to making it to drive chip putt before, but this is the first time she's made it to nationals.

What is the process like from. From getting from. From Creighton all the way to Augusta? Like, there are several kind of stages of competition to get there.

It's for dry chip putt. Yeah. So there was a local qualifier and you have to I think, finish maybe first or first and second, go to the. If they call it the sub regionals. And then from there, I believe just the top finishers go to regionals. So this. She went through three stages of qualifying to then have to win that to go to Augusta. So it's not easy to do. And you have to hit three drives, three chips and three putts. And that's the whole thing. It's a. It's a skills challenge and.

Right. And it's tell of the last couple years. They've started televising it right before the Masters.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. They televise it every year. I've actually had a couple other students participate in it. Yeah. So she's. But hopefully I'll be able to go with her. We'll see how. We'll see how it all plays out here over the next few months. And yeah, it would be amazing to be there in person to watch her compete.

So any other students of yours that you want to either shout out or let the listeners know they should keep an eye out for?

Gosh, there's a couple really young ones I posted a little picture of these two young boys from Creighton the other day. And one little guy, Liam Whiffler, is only about nine and that kid has all the makings to be a tour player. I think one day.

What is the name?

Liam. Liam Whiffler. I'm calling it. I said that to his parents. I'm like, I don't mean to pump it, pump your, pump your tire up too fast too soon. But like he is so smart and his golf IQ is off the charts and you know, he just loves it. You could tell he's dead. He's passionate about golf. And there's another little guy right behind him, a couple of them. There's like this whole little clan of like eight, nine year old boys. And you could just see it, that they have that camaraderie and they all love it so much and their skills are developing and really good. But every now and then you see somebody that you're like, wow, that kid just has it. And so I hope, I hope Liam takes it to that next level because I think he, he could have it. But you know, you don't, you don't know. He. They're so young and they're just getting into competition, but it's just great when you see that raw talent.

Yeah, I, Yeah, that's cool. So the last thing I want to ask you about before I'll, I'll let you go. I did see on what I can't remember what maybe was on one of your YouTube videos because I, we just moved and my family got a nice big yard and my head is going crazy with all the things I want to do. And then I see, I watch a video of you. You built like a pretty expansive putting green in your backyard.

Yeah. So we just live in. Oh my gosh, it's 60 by 25ft. It's like sort of long and narrow, but it's awesome. So the story there is that through Covid, I guess it was. Yeah, through Covid, we had this idea that what else could we do with our backyard? It was sort of a low lying area and we tossed around every idea from putting a small pool there to cleaning it up and doing kind of different things like a bocce court. And then my husband said, why don't we just build a putting green and it would clean the whole area up and you know, you could do your videos out there, we could have it. We could make it a bocce court when we want to. It could be like a multi purpose space for us. As a family dog friendly. So I. I reached out to a couple different vendors, and we went with Synlawn. They were great. We used Chesapeake Bay, Symlawn. If anybody's out there looking for a great vendor, they're local to, obviously our area, and they service Northern Virginia, Maryland, the whole thing. So they were great. They came out, they mapped everything out. We picked the product, and we had it all installed. I did a time lapse on the construction, so if you're interested in seeing that, you can go to YouTube and see what it's like to build putting green.

What about your kids? I mean, your kids, they've lost. They've lost a portion. There's one of your kids there. I can hear him.

That's a puppy dog. Oh, goodness.

Your kids are how old?

My kids are 10 and 13. I have a daughter and a son. And they both play golf. They both play golf. They don't play competitively. I definitely had them involved in, like, PG Junior League, Creighton with the rest of the kiddos that I teach. And we did that for a couple seasons. And they did it. They didn't love it. Not that they didn't love the program, but they just. I think golf's not their passion. So when we play as a family, it's fun, but they. They're not begging to go to the golf course, unfortunately. Maybe that'll change in the future. But they both have their own things that they're into that they'd rather spend their time doing. My daughter's into soccer. My son is. Is really kind of pursuing, like, a wrestling track as he gets closer to his high school days. So he's into, like, mixed martial arts and stuff like that. So it's just fun to see.

Losing half their backyard to a putting green, it's funny.

My daughter uses it for soccer practice, and my son messes around with friends out there sometimes, and he's more interested in playing paintball behind the putting green. And he is playing golf. It's. You know, you don't. It's fine. The last thing I want to do is make them hate golf or turn them off to the sport. I think there'll be a time and a place where they already have the basic skills, and hopefully they come back around and say, mom, like, let's go, let's go play, or, I'm ready, like, helping more with my game. We talked about my son, you know, getting ready to play high school golf, potentially. If he wanted to play that as a sport, he could do it. If he Just applied himself over the next year and got some rounds in. But that's the thing. Like, they have to want to do it. Last thing that I want to do is force them to do something that they don't want to do and then resent me for it. So when they find their love for it, I'm here, I'm ready. But they definitely. I've done my job. They have the skills. They know how to swing the club and hit the ball. So, yeah, they know the etiquette of.

The game because last night was the opening season for the Washington Caps in the NHL. And the hockey season, local hockey. You're married to a hockey player, aren't you?

Yeah, he played in the minors for five years in the Caps organization. Got moved around a little bit. Yeah, is the. Is Mike. Mike Larkin. And so he played Hampton Roads and they traded him around for. For. For five different years, all the way out to California, down to Alabama, Florida. He was all over the place, so that enough was enough. And then he had retired from that around the time where I met him, so I really didn't know him as a hockey player, but that is a big part of his background and he is now really retired.

There definitely does seem to be a hockey players playing golf kind of thing. Is he pretty good?

Yeah, he likes golf and he plays. Probably plays more than I do. He. He's. He can hit it far and he. He does enjoy the game a lot. He's. He's a shot maker. He sees all kinds of, you know, all these hero shots that he wants to hit when he's out on the golf course. That's how he plays the game, which is fine and fun. So we have a good. We have a good match match play is great. Skins, great stroke play. Probably not. Not our. Not our. Our game. So not his game.

I got it. Understood. Well, listen, this has been great. I will. I will let you go. This is. I really appreciate you taking some time joining the podcast. Congratulations on the spread on Golf Digest and everything you're doing, all your success and best of luck going forward.

Oh, thank you, Alex. It's so nice to talk with you. I'll do this again sometime and let me know if you need anything, okay?

Absolutely. Appreciate it.

All right, guys, thanks so much.

I don't have a good golf game, but I don't really care. I'm a. I'm a regular dude living in D.C. and I want to know about D.C. centric golf stuff if you can tell me something that I don't already know. Then that is great for me. I don't want the regular sauce, exciting stuff. I want different stuff. I want stuff I can't hear elsewhere. But I want it to be about these Tea golf.