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This fall, approximately eight female students will have the opportunity to make Georgia Southern history by playing on the Eagle\u2019s first-ever Women\u2019s Golf Team. Leading the way is Indianapolis native Emily Kuhfeld. After an international search for the best female golfers in the world, Kuhfeld is gearing up for a \u2018season of firsts\u2019 and we caught up with her between recruits. At age 12, she knew golfing was her calling.<\/p>\n
You are Georgia Southern University\u2019s first woman golf coach. What does that mean to you?<\/strong> How do you think being female will help you lead the team?<\/strong> What would you say the biggest difference is in the way guys and girls play the game?<\/strong> What are you looking for in players as you recruit the first Women\u2019s Eagle Golf Team?<\/strong> You have an impressive background in the golf world both as a player and a coach. What drives your passion for the sport?<\/strong> What are your goals for the 2015-16 season?<\/strong> What do you enjoy most about coaching?<\/strong> Were you interested in golf as a child? What turned you on to the game?<\/strong> Who are your golf heroes?<\/strong> What\u2019s the most famous golf tournament you\u2019ve attended or played in?<\/strong> What do you think of Statesboro and the Georgia Southern family so far?<\/strong> Head Coach Emily Kuhfeld Driving New Women\u2019s Golf Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5351,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[46],"class_list":["post-2369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletics","tag-fall-2014"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nWhen I got the call and they offered me the job, I felt like it was the opportunity of a lifetime. I\u2019ve always wanted that challenge to be the very first somewhere and to able to create my vision from scratch. Georgia Southern has everything in place for this program to take off. So, it was just the right fit on so many levels. The opportunity to be the first women\u2019s golf coach made it stand out from other job offers I\u2019d had. Not many coaches in their career have the opportunity to say they were the first somewhere. I really like that about this opportunity.<\/p>\n
\nAll my coaching experiences have been with females. I\u2019ve never had that other side. My college coach was a female and I worked for a female in my last job. It might be a little easier for the players to relate to me on a personal level. I know there are great male coaches at this level, too, but I definitely look at it as an advantage when recruiting. Maybe initially the players will feel a little bit more comfortable with me and my smaller stature. I hope they feel more comfortable with me off the bat. At five-foot-two, I was usually the shortest one on the team.<\/p>\n
\nBoth can learn a lot from each other. Typically, men are way more creative around the green than women\u2014from 100 yards and in. They have more shots. I think when guys practice, they\u2019re more open to trying new shots, whereas girls sometimes just want to learn that one shot and know that it\u2019s going to work. Obviously, our men\u2019s team is really strong here. I want my girls to learn from them.<\/p>\n
\nI\u2019m definitely looking for some specific qualities. I want the best talent that I can possibly get, girls who are excited to come here and be a part of the first women\u2019s program, excited to attend Georgia Southern, those who are ready to put that hat on from day one. I\u2019m looking for some good junior golf experience, but also just as people, I want solid students\u2014girls who will take care of business in the classroom, girls who take this seriously, that want to be part of something special\u2014a competitive, great program. That challenge isn\u2019t for everybody, but that\u2019s okay. I want the girls who want to be pushed, who push themselves and each other with a competitive, fun spirit.<\/p>\n
\nI always wanted to be a professional golfer growing up. It\u2019s very competitive and a lot of work. I let go of the dream for a while and that was tough, but then I got into teaching and coaching. I knew that I\u2019d found something I really loved. I had such a great college experience myself, and it\u2019s really fun to try my best to give back to student-athletes.<\/p>\n
\nI want the best team I can possibly get. I want to start a great program here. I think every coach would say, \u2018We want to go to conference, we want to go to Nationals, etc.\u2019 but my greatest goal is to start something really special here that new recruits want to be a part of, to start a successful program and establish the building blocks for that. Then, I want to help my players get better every single day. If I can do those two things, everything else will definitely follow.<\/p>\n
\nThe relationships are great. The competition is a lot of fun for me. I enjoy watching the players grow and get better. Not just when they have a great round, but as people, it\u2019s really fun to watch them grow and mature over the four years. I have really great relationships with my players that I\u2019ve coached in the past. It\u2019s very rewarding.<\/p>\n
\nI was an athletic kid. I wanted to play every sport. My dad was actually a tennis pro. For me, golf and tennis were neck and neck for a while and my dad told me I needed to pick one. I really loved golf. The solitary aspect of it, being out in nature. Once I picked golf that night as a twelve-year-old, it was about working toward that goal.<\/p>\n
\nDefinitely Jack Nicklaus. I met him once at Ohio State. That was awesome. Bobby Jones is definitely from a different era, but I really admire his career. His golf swing was really beautiful. On the women\u2019s side, Juli Inkster. She\u2019s raised a family of three kids and has a successful marriage, and is still on tour competing. How she\u2019s done that and still been able to play for 20 odd years, that\u2019s pretty impressive.<\/p>\n
\nI played in the U.S. Girls Junior Championship in Maryland when I was 17. I\u2019ve also been to the U.S. Open at Pinehurst in North Carolina, and I\u2019ve attended the Masters Golf Tournament in Augusta, Georgia before.<\/p>\n
\nI really like it here already. When I\u2019m recruiting out in California somewhere, I find myself thinking, \u2018I\u2019m ready to get back there!\u2019 I\u2019m looking forward to getting a team together. Once that happens, I can slow down a little bit and really enjoy the area. – Rebekah Faulk (\u201805)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"