Why you ask???

If you would have asked me 5 years ago if I thought I would ever end up being a working mom I would have said no way. It is funny how life rarely turns out how expected. I often get the question "Why are you working still?" There was even one woman who had the nerve to ask me if I felt selfish for working because as a woman of "The Church" it is my calling to stay home. That didn't sit well with me to say the least.


To answer the question "why?" there are many reasons....
-The obvious would be having extra money and a nice cushion to fall on.
-Insurance benefits are nice when you have a self employed husband, especially because the PGA pays for all three of us completely.
-Free golf.
-Free golf clothes.
-The chance to be on a golf course for a good portion of my time.
-The people I surround myself with.
-Feeling like I do more with my life than change diapers and watch Barney.
-The fact that I get a little mommy break a couple days a week which in turn makes me more excited to see Warren when I get home and I really think that makes me a better mother.
-Some of my big tournaments like the Utah Open are a lot of hard work, but so much fun.

When I look at the big picture though, I think about my girls. I started working for the PGA 6 years ago. My biggest goal was to make Girls Golf a separate sport in the High Schools. Last year that dream came true and the sport was officially sanctioned by the Utah High School Activities Association. I have made several posts about it and how excited I am to see it happen. I have been fortunate enough to be on the cover of Fairways Magazine, receive an award from the PGA and had a few articles written about me and the program in the newspaper. That has all been awesome, but nothing has been more rewarding than actually seeing the girls play at the state championships last week.

Six years ago there 8 girls were playing high school golf in Utah. The following year it was 15, then 30 and last year we had 800. Probably 80% of the girls playing now have not played much golf, but would not even be playing any high school sport if it weren't for this program.

How do I walk away from it??? These girls have become my little friends. They have reminded me that golf is fun. I have seen a lot of them grow through the years from little junior high beginning golfers to getting a golf scholarship in college. Many of them call me just to let me know of a great round they had and what they shot. Some call to report a hole in one. My favorite however are the girls who call to tell me they were accepted to the college of their choice and were granted a full ride scholarship. A few of them told me they wouldn't have gone to college if it weren't for girls golf. The truth is though, these girls have done so much more for me than I ever could for them.

I realize some may look at me being a working mother as a selfish act, or me doing something wrong. There have been many long hours spent on this project. We have seen much controversy, a few lawsuits threatened (crazy but true). Hundreds and hundreds of hours working early mornings and late nights. There has been a lot of time, especially over the past 2 weeks that I have been away from my family. To be honest the thought of how many lives have been changed for the better makes it worth it. I am sure when Warren grows up and he realizes that he spent additional time with his grandma's, aunts and friends because his mom was working, he will be proud!

Back in February the PGA gave me an award for starting the program. I thought I would put my speech on my blog so I can look back one day and remember what an exciting ride it was:

"What a humbling experience it is to stand in front of this group and be presented with this award. Everything I know about the golf business I learned from the people in this room tonight. It is an honor to be recognized from the people I respect so much.

My entire life I have been around the game of golf. Every person in my family plays. Many of the fondest memories I have are linked to golf in some way. The greatest people I know I have met because of the game. I played in the UJGA program, I played on the boys team at Alta high school, I played at Weber State University. It was going from playing on a boys team to playing on a woman’s team that I realized something had to be done about the high school golf program. At the time, I just didn’t know how to do it. After college I was lucky enough to land a job at the Utah Section PGA office. How fortunate I am that I was put in a position where I had the resources to play a part in Utah golf history.

I had a dream to grow the game of golf and make girls golf a separate sport in the high schools. It has taken a very large team to make that dream come true but we did it! Many of you hosted an event, taught a clinic, coached a team, volunteered as a rules official or even just sent the Section words of encouragement. If I thanked everyone who was involved we would be here all night and I know you all want to get on with the night but there are a few that need to be recognized.

Doug Vilven who has wanted this for years. He was one of the first people I talked to about it.

Joe Watts & Toni Guest who wrangled in the troops at the UGA

Dave Terry who told me hundreds of times, we can’t give up.

Scott Whittaker who has spent countless hours writing proposals and attending meetings.

The PGA board and officers who provided the support necessary from the PGA end which without that, it would have with no doubt failed.

The media, especially Wesley Ruff who did an incredible job of spreading the word.

My father who helped raise thousands of dollars to help support the pilot program,

My mom who encouraged me to keep going and told me I could do anything.

And, of course my husband who has sat and listened to me cry when I hit some the rough patches with the program, but he wouldn’t let me quit and he was my biggest cheerleader through the entire process.

And last but certainly not least, Dave Wilkey who finally got so sick of me begging to get this off the ground he finally said in the summer of 2007, it’s time and I will never forget that moment at Jason’s deli when I realized it was happening. I think it has been ten times the work that Dave thought it would be, but I am sure if he were here tonight he would say it was worth it.

It has been such a joy for me to visit some of the girls matches and see the excitement on their faces as they are part of a team. Many of the girls were experiencing golf for the first time and seemed to be enjoying every minute of it. At the state event, I saw something I can guarantee you would never see at a boys event. As a group of girls was sitting at the scoring table, they were adding up their scores and one girl said with the biggest smile on her face “guess what?? I just broke 60 for the first time and I did it on the front and back nine!!” her competitor leaned over and gave her a hug congratulating her on a great round. They exchanged phone numbers and made plans to get together and play again. That is what this great game is about. Having fun, making friends and creating memories. I would be willing to bet in 5 years from now you can ask some of the girls that played in the first annual girls’ golf state championship who won and they won’t be able to tell you. But they will be able to tell you about an incredible experience they had and the memories they made.

I am sure many of you have read some of the articles on girls golf in the newspaper and fairways magazine, but I want to share a few of those quickly:
-One coach told me he saw a girl staring a Titlist ProV1 and pondered and pondered before she finally said… what’s a Fitleist?
-At one of the matches I saw a golf coach walk his team like a father duck with his ducklings to the ball dispenser at the driving range and showed them how to place the bucket, then the coin and wait for the balls to dispense.
- We have found that the commonly used word in golf “FAT” needs to be avoided when around these new girl golfers.
- My personal favorite…. At an event at Sunbrook, I saw some girls making the long trek to the first tee on Blackrock, I stopped my cart and asked if I could shuttle them to the tee and they responded “we better not, our coach says we need to toughen up.” It was very difficult for me to hold back the laughter.

It is astounding how many girls caught the bug, but with these stories it is obvious that the work has only just begun."