Road to the National Championship
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Road to the National Championship

These past 14 months have been memorable on so many levels. One minute the Keiser University Women’s Golf Team was competing and looking forward to a run at both the Conference and National Championships, and then on March 12, 2020, our season, like so many others’, came to an abrupt halt.

What was to follow were some challenging yet very rewarding times that have strengthened our resolve and made us realize how much we have to be grateful for.

Fast forward to May 28, 2021, when, after two practice rounds and four rounds of competition, we were victorious, claiming the 2021 NAIA Women’s National Golf Championship. While it’s always a great moment for the coaches, no doubt about it, it’s seeing the joy and excitement of your players that makes it an extraordinary moment.

Reflecting back, it’s clear that the adaptations and adjustments required during COVID mirror the game of golf. During a round there’s much outside of a player’s control: weather, course conditions, the lie of the ball. Being able to control our thoughts and emotions and having the ability to focus only on those things within our control takes a tremendous amount of discipline and fortitude. Our players did that to a tee, excuse the pun, postseason.

The development of any championship team, program and culture first stems from a shared mission.

From inception, ours has been “to create the most conducive environment to achieve golf, academic and personal aspirations based in our core values, while being outcome-aware, yet purpose- and process-driven.”

Achieving the mission takes a village. It starts first with the players themselves. Four of our five championship players have been together for three years, and the fifth, a recent transfer, fit in seamlessly.

They are all outstanding individuals, they excel both on and off the course, and they will no doubt go on to do great things.

The coaching staff, led by Head Coach Brandon Miller, are player-focused and work endlessly to develop the players in all aspects of their lives. The fact that this is Brandon’s third national championship in the past six outings is no coincidence. Highly respected national championship runner-up Taylor University Head Coach Cam Andry texted me just after our win, “I have the utmost respect for all that you guys do. Love the courage and class that your teams compete with. Thanks for a fun week of competition.”

And finally, there’s the team’s secret weapon, a phrase coined by one of the players and shared with me on the fourth fairway in the last day of the Championship. And that would be LPGA Hall of Famer and Keiser University Golf Coaching Center Director Donna Horton White. She has worked tirelessly with our team for the past several years in all aspects of the game, showering them with so much love, passion and knowledge. Short game and putting drills, mental game preparation, distance calibration, swing adjustments – there’s no area left unattended, no stone left unturned.

As Miller often says, “She has forgotten more than most will ever know.”

When we look back on this year, what we treasure most are the memories created along the road to the national championship. We thank the women who played their hearts out, and the many individuals who stood side by side with us and helped us realize a dream.

Debbie Dove is the Assistant Women’s Golf Coach at the Keiser University Flagship Campus.

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