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Lagedrost adjusts to coaching

Kelly Lagedrost, a former LPGA player, is getting used to her job as USF's women's golf coach.

By DAVID MURPHY
Published October 1, 2006

The sky was blue, the grass was green, and a calm breeze was blowing down the fairway as Kelly Lagedrost stood on a golf course in Louisville, Kent. It was mid September, and the former Hernando who is now the University of South Florida's women's golf coach was looking for a sage piece of advice to impart on a golfer of hers who was experiencing some early-season struggles.

She stopped to think, and then she looked around.

"I was like, "Look, there isn't a cloud in the sky. It's beautiful,' " Lagedrost said. " 'Just enjoy playing.' "

The previous week, Lagedrost had shot a 3-over 74 in the second round of the John Q. Hammons Hotel Classic, an LPGA Tour event in Oklahoma. It was the third straight tournament in which she had missed the cut by two strokes, and when she returned home to Brooksville, she did so with an athletic soul that was close to being crushed.

It is not easy being a golfer, particularly not a 27-year-old golfer struggling to find a way to make the game work for her. Lagedrost suddenly found herself with a mind full of questions. In 11 LPGA Tour events, she has made two cuts. In 11 Futures Tour events, she has made eight.

"It got to the point where I was questioning my game, questioning where my career is going," said Lagedrost, who won an individual state title as a junior at Hernando and finished second as a senior in 1997.

But then USF offered Lagedrost an opportunity to take over its women's golf program, and Lagedrost found herself in a situation she had not experienced before: drowning beneath a mountain of paperwork.

And, in a strange way, liking it.

"There's so much more in coaching as far as paperwork and recruiting and rules and regulations," Lagedrost said. "It's basically all been put on my lap. I'm getting the hang of that. The coaching part is the good part. It's the easiest. I know how to teach and relate to people. It's all the other stuff that takes getting used to."

The opportunity, she said, came at the perfect time. It gave her a chance to escape the day-to-day grind of tournament play, to pour herself into something other than, well, herself.

It remains to be seen what impact Lagedrost will have on the Bulls. In her first tournament as coach, USF finished seventh out of 18 teams. In her second, they finished ninth out of 13.

Whatever happens though, one thing remains clear: The Bulls are having a positive impact on her.

"I'm learning so much right now," she said. "It's a really neat experience."

And it's a experience that, in her words, is helping her "reclaim my love for the game."

The itch to play is coming back, she said. Q-School is still three months away, but in her mind, it is just around the corner.

"I honestly don't know. In the next few months I'll have to evaluate where my career is, my game is," she said. "I still have that itch to play. I'm really indecisive right now. I like coaching, I just don't know when I'll do it full time. You never know."

But then Lagedrost talks about her epiphany in Louisville, and she listens to herself say the words again: "Just enjoy playing."

"I guess," she said, laughing, "I need to take my own advice sometimes."

[Last modified September 30, 2006, 21:31:17]