The Return of Summer...
By Dallas Moyer (@ZipsDallas / @ZipsWGolf) June 16, 2014, Women's Golf
For the collegiate golfer, the start of summer is not the end of the season, but the continuation of the season.
For many golfers, June marks the quest for individual competition. With the summer comes U.S. Open qualifying, national amateur championships, chances to play on pro tours and semi-pro tours, and more.
For sophomore Frida Fougberg, June offers the chance to do what few Zips have done before...play in a professional tour event.
Last summer, Fougberg played in the Delsjö Ladies Open hosted by K. Sjödin & L. Wessberg in Göteborg, Sweden, the first pro event of her golfing career. She would go on to make the cut – just one of two amateurs to do so – and finished tied for 20th place.
This year, she enters the event looking to improve on her debut performance. She tees off at 8:33 a.m. local time (2:33 a.m. ET) and fans can follow her round live by clicking here.
Before following her round, check out her blog post from last summer after making her pro tour debut.
"I played in my first professional event over the weekend and it was a good and extremely fun experience. It was beneficial for me to be around one of the best players in Scandinavia and see what the differences there are between their games and mine.
This tournament was on my home course, which I had a lot of support and followers during my rounds. Lots of people were out there cheering for the home players and it was so much fun!
I had one of my best tournaments in a long time considering the course setup with length and pin placements. I played extremely consistent and I didn't make a lot of mistakes, which lead to making the cut. That was my goal with the tournament and I am happy that I could handle the pressure that was on, especially during the second day.
Overall, this was a great event and I am so happy that I got the chance to play all three days. I look forward to play more professional events and to be able to compete against the best players. Now I know that I can do it and that I can give the top players a good matchup."
The Swedish 1-2 Punch...
By Jenny King, Women's Golf Head Coach (@ZipsCoachKing / @ZipsWGolf) Nov. 25, 2013, Women's Golf
I was lucky enough this summer to book my first international recruiting trip. For years, I had been recruiting players from other countries without stepping foot out of the United States. However, recruiting international players via the computer is getting harder and harder. The international players need more face time and the trend for coaches nationwide is to connect with those players1 to 2 times each summer at certain events. I felt it was time for me to make the leap and I chose to take my first international recruiting trip to Sweden.
During my assistant coaching days at the University of Kentucky, I was trained heavily by the head coach to learn the junior golf system in Sweden and ever since then, my main focus has typically been on those golfers. Upon starting the program here at The University of Akron in 2007, one of the first people to sign with our program was a player from Sweden, Hanna Ek. Hanna visited campus, saw everything Akron had to offer and the rest was history. She ended up being one of our program's best players and overall best people in our short existence.
Since then, we have added two other players from Sweden to the roster. They are currently serving as our very own Swedish 1-2 Punch! Sophomore Frida Fougberg came in as a freshman last year and would lead the team in almost every single event. She became our team MVP as a freshman and hasn't missed a beat since she returned for her sophomore season this past fall. Frida is getting some strong support, however, from her other Swedish teammate, freshman Lina Bengtsson. Lina's steady play as a freshman has been a big bonus for our team. She currently is leading the team with the lowest stroke average and after the fall slate she leads all MAC Freshmen with the lowest stroke average.
What makes both of these players special is not just their abilities with their ball striking or their short game, (of course they are very good in those categories or they wouldn't be top players on this team), but they also have something that many players do not: a level of mental toughness and mental maturity that you sometimes only see in your upper classmen. This is what makes them excel so early in their careers. It also can be contributed to the fact that they both are extremely consistent golfers. Consistency, throughout our entire roster, is something that our program is working towards achieving. It is the single most important thing that our program needs to become a factor in our conference championship and a top team in the country. The Swedish 1-2 punch is a great start!
Freshman Lina Bengtsson (left), head coach Jenny King (center) and sophomore Frida Fougberg (right) during Coach King's visit to Sweden last summer.
Sight seeing in Gothenburg, home of Frida and Lina. Picture
of the sailing ship Viking.
A Letter to My Team...
By: Jenny King (@ZipsCoachKing), Women's Golf Head Coach, Sept. 5, 2013, Women's Golf
Each year I write my team a letter and include it in our team handbook. Usually this letter encompasses a common theme that we need to focus on to be successful and to reach our goals individually and as a team.
This year we will do our best to focus on ACCEPTANCE on the golf course. Choosing the positive outlook on each shot, each hole, each round, instead of focusing on results only, will get us closer to where we want to be as a team. Below is this year's letter.
Welcome Back Ladies!
It is good to have everyone back and, as usual, I'm very excited to get started this year!
One of the highlights of summer for me was watching the Solheim Cup. Nothing like great team competition on the golf course to get me ready for our season! Now, if you were keeping up with the competition at all, you know that Team Europe retained the Cup in dominating fashion.
One of the stars for Team Europe that week was Solheim Cup rookie, a 17-year-old Brit, Charley Hull. Hull handled the LPGA veteran Paula Creamer easily, winning her singles match 5 and 4. The young Hull played each of her matches with great ease and she said she rarely felt nervous...
"I'm not going to die if I hit a bad shot. Just hit it, find it and hit it again," Hull said in an interview after her singles match against Creamer.
At 17 years old, Hull overcame one of the biggest obstacles we all face in the game of golf: FEAR. She overcame fear with ACCEPTANCE. Even the professionals do not hit perfect shots.
Consider this scenario: You are on the first tee of a big tournament. There is a gallery and you are nervous. You step up to the tee, go through your routine and top the ball into the rough in front of the tee. How do you respond?
Now think about it this way: You are on the first tee of a big tournament. There is a gallery and you are nervous. You step up to the tee, go through your routine and top the ball into the rough in front of the tee. You go on to shoot a 68 and win the tournament. How do you respond to the bad shot now? (via Fred Shoemaker, Extraordinary Golf)
If you knew that one bad shot would not affect the outcome of your round in a negative way, would that shot bother you? Probably not! Can you choose the correct attitude on the golf course instead of being reactive to results? YES!
Let's hold our heads high and act like champions! LET'S GO ZIPS!
Coach King
I hope you enjoy this inside look at our Women's Golf Program here at The University of Akron! We are looking forward to representing the Zips with positive attitudes and confidence this weekend at the Golfweek Program Challenge in Pawleys Island, S.C.
GO ZIPS!
