Assistant golf coach seeks LPGA career
There is no draft in professional golf, no combine or pro day. The pressure falls solely on the player, who must perform well in tournaments to get a foot in the door.
Central Michigan Assistant Golf Coach Lauren Grogan is trying to make two dreams come true at once by coaching and starting her professional career in the LPGA.
"Golf is a pretty unique thing in the sense of having no draft," Grogan said. "When you apply for a tournament, it's checking boxes and saying you're competing as an amateur or pro."
After finishing her four-year playing career at Michigan where she was a three-time Academic All-Big Ten with three top 10 tournament finishes, Grogan came to CMU to begin her coaching career under her former head coach Cheryl Stacy.
Stacy, who started at CMU in 2014, recruited Grogan to Michigan when she was a high school player at Bishop Watterson High School in Columbus, Ohio. Stacy coached Grogan for two years during her time as Michigan’s head coach, during which Grogan won two Big Ten awards.
Grogan set her mind to playing professional golf during her junior and senior years at Michigan and began to focus on the way she practiced to develop all aspects of her game.
She also decided she wanted to be a coach and saw an opportunity to grow as a player and coach by coming to CMU. After Stacy left Michigan in 2013, the two remained in contact, which led to Grogan joining the coaching staff at CMU.
“I get to learn from Cheryl who has fantastic experience, a great track record and was a great player. I get to ask her questions and pick her brain,” Grogan said. “I had to learn how to talk through shots and teach it to someone, so it tests my knowledge as well.”
Although Stacy has been removed from playing professionally for years — she never caught on as a regular on the LPGA Tour after a highly-ranked amateur career — she is still able to give Grogan advice.
“The good thing about it is that things don’t change a lot from when I played to what she’s doing now, so she is going to go through some of the same ups and downs,” Stacy said. “I can help her when she’s out there and she can ask me what I think about when something happens, especially with the mental grind of all the traveling.”
There are multiple avenues to starting a professional golf career, which includes playing in open state tournaments, mini-tours or going through qualifying school.
In order to obtain an LPGA Tour card, a golfer needs to finish within the top 20 of qualifying school or finishing within the top 10 in money earnings on the Symetra Tour.
Grogan participiates in the Ohio and Michigan Open each summer since playing collegiately and has tried to qualify for the U.S. Open. Last summer, Grogan came within a few strokes of qualifying for the U.S. Open, but was unable to recover from a rough start.
She has also made one attempt to reach the LPGA through qualifying school, but wasn’t able to advance to the second stage. Groan said she dug herself a hole that was too deep to climb out of in the first two days.
“My family and I didn’t want my first go-around at Q-school to be my only," she said. "How I finished the last two rounds was promising."
Grogan's family has played an important role in her career, especially her father, who has been her caddie for most of her professional and collegiate career.
“He knows if I get a little uptight and when to talk through a shot with me," Grogan said. "When we’re on the course, we talk about anything but golf between strokes. One tournament going into my senior year, we talked about everything I would need for my apartment coming up."
They also share a “cool handshake” before every round to stay loose and have fun.
Because of the time commitment Grogan has made to being a coach and graduate student in sports management, she has struggled to find the time or money to practice and compete in professional tournaments.
“Being in school and coaching limits the amount of time I can practice and compete, but I wouldn’t change my decision or trade my experience for anything,” she said.
The team got its first opportunity to see Grogan play during their spring break trip to Arizona, and sophomore Chloe Guschewski said she was impressed with the results.
“She played really well," Guschewski said. "I think she could make it to the LPGA Tour."
