KPMG WOMEN'S PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

June 23, 2021

Stephanie Connelly

Atlanta Athletic Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Describe what it's like to be a working PGA club professional.

STEPHANIE CONNELLY: It's an awesome experience. I'm really enjoying it. I've been doing it for about a year now. I'm teaching full-time at Eagle Harbor Golf Club in Fleming Island, Florida. It's very rewarding. I'm having a lot of fun sharing the game. That's the best part about it.

Q. How much fun do you have coaching people of all abilities?

STEPHANIE CONNELLY: It's a blast. I love the kids. I love working with the ladies. I do a lot of one-on-one programs. I'm having new golfers just absolutely take to the game, something completely new to them. It's a lot of fun. I see them get hooked. I love just having them come out and get out and practice and seeing them after class or in between classes. It makes my heart happy.

Q. Why are you a coach?

STEPHANIE CONNELLY: For those reasons right there. I love seeing people pick up the game, enjoy being outside. I love the game I've been playing since I was about 5. It's been my whole life. So I really enjoy sharing that with people. I tried to play the Tour, loved it, hated it, the ups and downs, it's part of the game. I like having that connection to my students, especially anyone who's playing tournament golf or is playing weekend tournament golf. It's an awesome experience to have that connection.

Q. So describe how you're able to balance your coaching with your playing and your passion to perform well at the highest level.

STEPHANIE CONNELLY: It's very difficult. I've become very busy the last couple months, especially as we came out of winter. There are so many new golfers out there, and a lot of people are wanting to reconnect with the game. It's very difficult to get enough practice time, play time in. I try to sneak it in here and there between lessons if I can, but I've been able to play some of our section and chapter tournaments. So it's been really nice to at least get out and play a little bit.

It's very difficult. I have high expectations. I've played well in the past. You want to come out and do that. You want to represent the PGA well, my club well. So it's there, and you have to have the proper expectations for sure.

Q. Why did you decide to pursue a career as a PGA professional?

STEPHANIE CONNELLY: Actually, as I was growing up, I never thought I would teach, to be honest. Growing up in golf, you think, oh, what am I going to do after golf? Am I going to stay in it? When I stopped playing the Tour, the opportunity came up to be an assistant coach, and I was actually really excited about it. I just felt drawn to it.

I'm really happy where I am. Like I said, I love the game, and I'm excited to be a PGA professional. It's an incredible organization. It's been very welcoming, and it's an honor to be a member.

Q. Are you a member of both?

STEPHANIE CONNELLY: Yeah, I'm a dual member.

Q. I think she said you're one of the only people who is a part of both, and what does that mean to you?

STEPHANIE CONNELLY: I'm one of the few dual members. There's a few more coming out, but it's really cool. You definitely get a different experience from both organizations. The PGA is obviously larger and older. It's well regarded, and the LPGA is coming as well.

I think a lot of us who have come out of playing golf kind of went with the LPGA first. It's just a little bit different of a program, and it's really cool to have that, the LPGA, the association with the Tour, as well as the PGA of America, which is incredibly well-known and respected.

Q. So how much of an honor is it to be a member of PGA America and represent the organization this week?

STEPHANIE CONNELLY: It's an incredible honor to be a member of the PGA and to represent our organization this year. I think it's really cool that teaching and club professionals have the opportunity to get out and play to represent everybody, whichever route you've gone, whether it's teaching or in the golf shop. It's a really cool club to be a member of, and I'm proud to be here to represent.

Q. Describe some of the support you're getting from students and faculty back at home?

STEPHANIE CONNELLY: I've been getting some e-mails, some text messages today, I had a lot of well wishes. We had a junior league match on Saturday before we left, and a couple of kids came over, and they're like, oh, good luck, Coach Stephanie.

It's nice to have that support. Our community in eagle harbor is really wonderful, so a lot of people have reached out.

Q. If you could describe the experience of the major atmosphere, how special it is, how unique it is.

STEPHANIE CONNELLY: Major championships are totally different. You come out, and you have the ropes, you have the biggest names in golf, the strongest fields of the year, so it's definitely a different feel. The golf course is wonderful. It's tough. You get spoiled with everything that's going on, from dining and having a locker room and having your nameplate out there. So it's really an incredible experience.

Q. Describe just the thrill of the competition involved with that too.

STEPHANIE CONNELLY: It's absolutely exciting. It's nerve-racking. You have your ups and downs throughout the round. It's a really cool experience to be on the 1st tee, and they announce you, and the jitters get going. Hopefully, you hit it down the middle and have to deal with that throughout your round. It's something that everybody should be able to experience. It's a very unique experience. It's a lot of fun.

Q. What goals do you have this week?

STEPHANIE CONNELLY: I want to play well, obviously. I'm super competitive. I have high expectations of myself. I have to tame them a little bit, not playing and practicing as much as I would like, to be out here to compete with the No. 1 in the world. I really want to play well. I want to represent our organization, and just for myself, just to enjoy it and have fun playing good golf.

Q. You were talking about the big numbers of people picking up golf, especially the last year, two years, and a lot of them is girls, women. Is that your experience?

STEPHANIE CONNELLY: Yes. I work with a lot of new golfers, I would say, as a whole. Lots and lots of juniors and women especially. Our junior league program had quite a turnover this year, and we have 48 juniors in the program, and we had 23 brand new golfers this year. So that's really exciting to have so many juniors taking up the game.

Then with the women as well, a lot of ladies coming from different sports or their husband is playing or for business. You see a lot more of the ladies who are in corporate environments and need to be able to play for those work tournaments, so it's been a big boom, and it's been a lot of fun. You meet all sorts of different people. I think it's cool having the classes of new golfers and seeing them go away friends and still connect and go out to play together.

Q. Can you give me a couple of examples of gratifying experiences that you had with young girls or with women taking up the game, like things that come that make you come back every day with a smile?

STEPHANIE CONNELLY: Sure, I have a couple ladies who will text me -- we have one new golfer. She constantly texts her practice, like how she did in her practice. She rates her shots and how she did with each club, and it's really -- I just think it's an awesome thing that she just needs to check in with her coach. She writes, Coach, this is what I did today. It makes me smile because she is having so much fun with it.

She struggles, but she's like, all right, I'm going to go do this, Coach. You said go practice this and have fun with it, and I'm going to do that. That really makes me smile getting those texts from her.

Then a lot of our junior girls, it's really -- it's an experience to see them all together and have so many other girls to play with because at home growing up, when we traveled for tournaments, we had a lot of girls, but I didn't have anybody really to play with myself. I think it's neat that they take it up to try something new, but to see them build the friendships, and whether they're competing or they're just out there to go play socially, I think it's awesome.

Q. Going back to the players, you've had the experience of playing professional golf, wanting to be a professional. You played three PGA events. How do you prepare? You know what a competitive tournament is. What would be your secret? What do you do?

STEPHANIE CONNELLY: For me, a lot of it is the visualization of just playing the golf course, not getting a lot of reps in on the range or playing a ton. It's nice to just get out here and play the golf course and get a feel for it and then just play it in my head because that's the best way that I can place myself around, especially with my game. I definitely have to place myself in the fairway and then try to be in the right part of the green or right in front of it.

So for me, a lot of it is the mentally playing the course, and that helps me kind of get those missing reps in.

Q. On the other hand, you have the players that do this 24 hours a day, doing a lot of physical training, hitting the ball longer and longer, situations like that, and you have to be there with them. Do you think it's a challenge?

STEPHANIE CONNELLY: Oh, it's definitely a challenge, absolutely. This is a big golf course for me, and the game is definitely, it keeps getting longer. It gets harder and harder for me to keep up. My short game is very good, and that's what keeps me in, and I try to share that with my students especially.

You can have a pretty swing, but if you can't get up and down, you're not going to score better. That's where I can catch up a little bit, so I try to be prepared as I can and then trust that I still have good feel and my short game's good. Hopefully, I can keep up that way.

Q. How long do you think this course is going to play this week, and what will you do to compensate?

STEPHANIE CONNELLY: The scorecard, I think, says it's a little over 6,700 yards, so really getting up and down. I have to be in the fairway. The rough is not to be messed with, especially if it stays a little bit wet, which I'm usually down the middle, which is good. Good solid golf shots and then get up there and get it on the green.

Getting it in the middle of the green and hopefully being able to manage my putting is going to be the biggest thing for me, especially on the par-4s. They're definitely pretty long for me. Par-3s and par-5s are manageable. That should be okay, but the par-4s, I'm really going to have to make sure that I am paying attention. Taking good lines, not trying to get too aggressive.