Interview with Amanda, Smith, Tennessee Tech Head Women’s Golf Coach
Amanda is from Canton, Ohio and attended Indiana State University. Amanda received her Masters from Indiana State and was a Graduate Assistant Coach at Indiana State. Amanda is in her third year as the Head Women’s Golf Coach at Tennessee Tech and fifth season as Assistant Men’s Golf Coach
Joined by Amanda Smith the Tennessee Tech um edw women’s golf coach how are you doing coach Smith I’m doing great how are you doing good um so your season you know you’re into The Fall season now just how is you know the beginning of your season going for
You oh it’s good it’s good we’ve got um a really good squad this year we’ve had a great freshman that came in just started kind of rolling out and did really well during qualifying has played in the first two tournaments for us so that’s been really good to see a
Freshman come in and and kind of put some heat on the upper classman that’s always fun to see how they react and kind of how they can kind of iron sharpens iron and they can grow from there so we’ve seen a two of our seniors really Elevate their games to that kind
Of level too and then we’ve got a sophomore that’s kind of Taken on the leadership role and she’s seen better golf too this year so we’re really happy about kind of the squad that we’re putting together and and making sure we can kind of come together as a team when it matters
Most um so you’re the uh head women’s golf coach at Tennessee Tech you’re in your third season um just for you um how did you end up at Tennessee Tech and also what is it like um what does it mean for you to be a head coach two
Great questions so I was actually I was playing professionally at the time when I said you know I really want to be a part of a team again it was lonely when you’re out there playing on your own traveling on your own sometimes going from tournament to tournament just
Trying to make it um and it’s it’s takes a toll on you and I think I I sat down with one of my mentors and I was like you know I really I really do want to coach I don’t know when my time would be
To coach and he said you know I think that I think right now is the time so just to apply to different places and so I applied to Tennessee Tech early on and they called me back it was funny I was playing in um the Michigan Women’s Open
And I shot my worst round possible the the the first day and actually that evening was when the head coach had called me and said hey we have this opening for for Tennessee Tech if you want to be the assistant coach and I said all right well I guess it’s it’s
Meant to be and the next day I went out and shot two under so I kind of had this weight off my chest and I went down and and I loved it um and to answer the second question uh it’s it’s definitely been a difference in kind of how you
Have to operate it’s as a head coach you kind of you’re in charge of everything you’re you have a high responsibility and and it’s definitely been something I’ve had to learn some tough lessons um but there’s definitely a lot of upside you you earn a lot of trust a lot of
Relationships with your players and also the people that you surround yourself with within the the university so it’s been awesome I’m interested to know so you um play competitive golf for a little bit um what has the transition been like for you going from playing professionally to
Now you’re ahead um college golf coach it’s it’s different it’s something where um you I think for me it’s personally where I know when I need to work on when I’m playing you know that’s me that’s how I play um but when you’re the coach
Of a team you kind of have to operate and and what brings out the best in each person so what how I performed and what I did necessarily was was good for my game but it might not be how other people see their game so you almost have
To you have to almost experiment and say you know how do you see your shots okay if you don’t even see your shots how do you feel your shots what’s the best way you learn and I think just kind of gaining on that communication and gaining with your players on how what
Best makes them at their best is a lot different than kind of what makes me at my best so kind of being able to kind of balance the two um has definitely been just a difference in how I perform as a coach for myself so that’s pretty much
The the main idea behind it yeah um so you touched on it a little bit but was there any point or any time where you knew you wanted to be a college golf head coach or was being a head coach not really part of your plan or not
Something you really considered I would probably say not this early on you know I became a head coach at I think I was 28 and so that’s fairly young to be head coach and um I gained a lot of trust with my athletic director um you know as
The assistant of a men’s and women’s team at certain times the men’s head coach would have to go with one team and then myself as the assistant would just be by myself with another team either on the road or at home during practice so I had a lot of responsibilities where I
Was focused in as the only coach maybe in that in that time that maybe we were traveling or at practice so I had to learn the responsibilities a little bit faster so what was nice was when our athletic director decid decided to split the programs it almost felt like a sigh
Of relief from the players side of things because they had an actual coach that was able to help them and say hey I’m I’m here for you guys I’m not going to be traveling I’m not going to be making sure I’m with other the other teams I’m gonna make sure I’m here for
You so I think that was was a good sense of relief as when I became a head coach I kind of already had those responsibilities but it kind of was where I said you know I’m here for this particular team I’m here for these ladies
Um so before you were a head coach you got to compete professionally on the cactus tour um can you tell me about your time competing on the cactus tour and also can you just sum up what professional golf was like for you so I was on I was actually living out in
Arizona when I was playing on the cactus tour because a lot of the tournaments are run through a lot of the West Coast you’ll see a lot um either in Texas California Arizona some in Utah a few just a few kind of that span around because they’re getting you almost ready
For H school and it was just there was a lot I had to learn about playing different courses playing Desert Golf that was something I wasn’t familiar with I grew up in Ohio I grew up um playing at Indiana State University so a lot of Northern courses but as a
Professional you learned how to grind you learned how to realize you’re you’re you’re playing for a paycheck now the money that you’re putting in is is you have to earn something from that so I missed a few cuts and I’m like oh my gosh Amanda like we’re we’re not making
Any money here so we have to you have to find a good balance of of staying a flow in that way and and making sure that you know when you’re out there you’re yes every shot makes a difference but you’re kind of playing for to make sure you
Make a paycheck and you’re out there grinding so you got to make sure your every hour that you put into it is worth it and and that kind of was a good switch for me competitive playing Collegiate golf to now professional golf because it’s on me now it’s not on the
University it’s on me now um so I learned a lot when I was on the cactus store in that way and then it got me ready for Q School which was a whole another um that’s a whole another ball game you have girls from all over the
World that are trying to gain those spots into the LPGA and um it can be it can be really tough it was out in um California was 113 degrees three rounds and it’s just go go go and you can’t you really cannot mess up you really have to
Be on your game so you learn a lot about grit you learn a lot about U motivation and and it definitely it can change you as a golfer um so through these interviews yeah I’ve been learning a lot more about qualifying school as you’ve been talking
About um can you just describe you know what it was like you know for you to compete in um call Fang school so it was it was tough we’ll say that um but what was really nice I got to play those courses a few times before I went out
There they’re amazing that’s where the dinosaur is that’s where an LPGA event is um you weren’t able to use a rangefinder so that was a big difference that’s what I help my players with nowadays is you know how do you walk off a yardage what is the yardage to the
Front um kind of just what are those simple things that you could be doing in your round that can make your thinking process a lot faster you can learn more about your game so I think for LPGA Q School it’s it’s something where you have to level up you have to recognize
Like this is yeah this is a tournament to get into the LPGA but are you are you performing to where you can sustain this and if you physically cannot make it through through Q School you probably won’t be able to stay on the on the actual tour and make the money that you
Need to to actually survive so I think Q School on its own just to be able to play in it and to compete in it you’re almost you’re putting yourself in that level and you have to say you know this is where the best of the best have to
Make it and you have to be able to do that so I unfortunately didn’t make it past the first round but uh just just playing in it and just competing in it and just meeting all the girls that wanted the same dream as you it’s you you honest you honestly root for each
Other in the end because you really do want to make it yeah even though um OB you didn’t get through I’m sure it’s a big you know learning experience just getting to compete in it yes um so you playing on the cactus tour were there any um your fellow
Competitors who you’re friends with or were you close with during your time on the tour yeah so um one of my one one of my really good friend she’s actually my teammate um back in college ree fedua she was actually on the cactus tour and
She did a little bit of the um I want to say it was a SM semetra Tor during that time uh Danielle lck I think she just tried doing Q school again she was actually one of our biggest Rivals that we’d go against in when I was in college
So it was cool to kind of get to play practice rounds with her and play against her and play play with her as like a good transition from college into the cactus tour and then uh Savannah vobo she is she’s still on the tour now she’s doing great you know she’s she’s
Really Advanced herself and that’s something that we always support each other in that way so those were probably three of the big ones when I first got there that were on the tour um we were together um so you worked two years um at outside operations at TBC scottd when
You were there in Arizona um can you tell me about uh what it was like to work outside operations so it was well just at that course in general TPC Scottdale we got to work the tournament when waste management came into town you know we were we were right there with
The players we were down in the media locker room um we were we were there for the proam so when Aaron Rogers was there when um a couple really big football players I didn’t know who they were I didn’t know where some of the football players were but obviously my other uh
My other employees kind of knew who they were because they were more football fans but it was just it was awesome to get to see some of the pros that would come out there too Tony fow would come out there and practice all the time Scott Stallings would come out there um
Just to kind of see them come out there and you could watch them in their jobs you can watch them work you can watch them practice and that was that was their setting um overall it was just a great experience I loved if I can move
Back there I would as the weather was amazing um but overall it was it was a good time with some good friends yeah I don’t know if I said yeah I grew up in Arizona some okay yeah in Phoenix Arizona for okay yeah a lot of hiking a lot of cool
A lot of cool stuff there um so you’ve won the Indiana Women’s Open um can you just described what it’s like to win that State open so I know that that um is both amateurs and professionals so it’s always a big when State opens yeah it was awesome my my coach was actually
On the bag um so my coach at Indiana State was one of the big reasons I went there he was my mentor he still is my mentor you know I called him the other day today about um a qualifying situation that we that we had at here at
Tennessee Tech I kind of asked him for his advice hey what what do you think I should do with this you know so he was on the bag um when we won that and I think that was probably it was just a cool moment for both of us you know I
Grinded to to to get a couple birdies down the stretch and so it was cool to kind of have him there with me and seeing all of it um so now I want to get into what early golf was like for you um so how did you get started playing golf
And uh what age did you begin playing I say I was around nine I can’t really I don’t really remember the actual age but I just remember my mom would go out with my I have two older sisters and so they’d always go out and play golf and I
Was like what I don’t care for this sport I used to play basketball I used to play baseball all this stuff and I was like what is this for this doesn’t look very fun then I get jealous I was like all right my mom is going out there
With both my sisters and I’ve got nothing to do so I started playing golf and then my two sisters decided to stop playing golf so just me and my mom always out there playing so she was basically the person that got me started you know she still plays to this day I
Think she plays more than I do she plays in big tournaments she gets to travel every everywhere so being with her and going out and playing almost every evening just kind of when the sun’s setting was until this day actually is one of my greatest memories of starting
When I started Golf yeah uh what was Junior and um High School golf like for you growing up Junior there’s not much I remember about Junior I think it was more of I would just go out in the summer and play you know I did a couple
Events up in Ohio just um at at local courses but it wasn’t as crazy as it is today it’s not I did a couple AGG events Went Down to Georgia um but it wasn’t something like how it is now where they have three or four Junior tours um all
Over the place but in high school um that’s where I had a lot of my friends I still have to this day where we played we got um second at State my senior year I got fourth and so it was definitely um we learned we learned how to have fun
And be competitive at the same time you know some high school teams are just kind of they’re all over the place but I think we knew going into my senior year that we really wanted to to do well and so we were able to do that we got second
Place and we were really happy um so then you competed collegially at Indiana State University U what Drew you to attending Indiana State University and were there um any other schools you were looking at attending or were you pretty so in Indiana State so actually um kind of
What I said earlier my coach was probably the biggest uh the biggest reason he had been um he had played in the the senior the senior level excuse me had played out in Europe he had coached a lot of pros at the time he originally was down in Orlando where he
Helped helped with a lot of professionals and he came up to Indiana State and he’s like you know what let’s try this out you know it was almost like we were his guinea pigs we were his first ever uh recruits we there’s five of us five of us freshmen and he said
You know if you really want to be good then then come with me stick with me and I can help you and he’s to this day he he pushed me challenged me um and just being at Indian estate we kind of all five of us we were a part of that guinea
Pig thing where we’re like coach maybe we shouldn’t be doing this or maybe we maybe we should be doing something else and and just kind of the fun stuff that we got to do you know that was something that Drew me to Indiana State and then
Um what was um I’m sorry what was the second question oh uh were there any schools other schools other than Indiana State you were looking at attending or were you pretty set attending Indiana State so I was actually up in Ohio Kent State’s a really good program I’ve been
Talking with them for a little bit they were top 25 at the moment um you know just kind of just talking with them about uh what they had and and I felt as though it was close to home but I kind of I wanted to be uh a big fish in a
Small pond um and make sure I I I got to play at Kent State it would have been tough to play they have a really good squad really good coaching program and I knew I wasn’t to that level just yet but I wanted to make sure at at Indiana
State I knew I could play I knew I just wanted I just wanted to go out and play and that’s I think that’s what what I’ve learned as a coach for recruiting wise there’s a lot of girls that um you know they see the big bright lights they see
Going to these big Power five universities and and they might not play you know this might be one of those scenarios where they might not get to play but you go to a mid- major and and you go in as one of the best players
You’re G to play so that was what was huge with draw what drew me to Indiana State as well yeah um can you tell me a little bit more about Indiana Stakes uh not completely familiar with with Indiana State So like um what division do they compete in um maybe
What tournaments and what schools you compete against so they’re in the Missouri Valley Conference so they’re um in the kind of in the middle of the state more near Illinois so they’re in ter they’re in terot um and so they they play against um Bradley was in the
Missouri Valley at the time Northern Iowa was in the witcho state was in it when I was playing that was a big rivalry of of ours um we played against Evans so just kind of in that local area of more Missouri Valley Conference and it was a division one and it was probably
Roughly when I was there we had the highest class actually when I was there I think there was about 13,000 students there when I was there okay yeah you mentioned I’m not familiar you mentioned uh Bradley I interviewed the Bradley coach yeah um so what were some of your
Highlights and best memories from college golf and can you just you know some up your college golf experience you know what did you like what did you not like about college golf um proba a good experience was I actually I actually got second place at conference my junior year and uh one of
The biggest things for me was you know one of my oldest older teammates she was the the leader at the time she was a senior she had gone out and shot under par the first round and you I said you know what I I want to try to I want to
Catch up with her I want to try to beat her because we had that level you know we always wanted to compete against each other and and in a friendly way it was something where we kind of talked a little little crap to each other every
Now and then so it was good to see see her play well that first round I was like you know what I’m try to I’m try to level up and kind of go against her so that year my junior year was a lot of fun kind of seeing how she progressed
And then I was able to kind of come up with her and and we did so we we ended up getting second place that year too as a team so I think how much we worked that year and knowing that we had a chance you know we had a chance that we
Just pushed each other and probably just in general probably my favorite memories is just us traveling you know being on the bus just doing stupid stuff you know goof like goofing around but also when we got to the tournament you know we had that belief in ourselves that that year
Was going to be was going to be successful for us yeah often times uh with college golf you more remember you know hanging out with teammates you know and your coaches rather than you know what place you finished at a tournament yeah it’s a great thing about college
Golf um then after your college golf career um you started your coaching career where you remained at Indiana State as an assistant coach so I’m I’m curious to know you know what is it like to be you know a college golf assistant coach and for you um personally what did
You learn from um getting to be an assistant coach yeah um as a graduate I would probably say I was so young you know I I what was and kind of going back to how my coach was so my coach was also my swing instructor so he was a swing
Instructor to a lot of our my current uh my my teammates at the time and then who who I was coaching and so I think what I had to learn early on is I was almost trying to be like him I was almost trying to like help them with their
Swings and instruct them with their swings and I was like Amanda like that’s that’s not you yet like obviously you’re going to learn more about that but you know you have to be you have to be the person that develops a relationship with them and you have to because when I got
There when I was there for my masters and when I was the assistant grad assistant he had brought in five new freshmen because the five freshmen had had left so I had seen what it was like to be a freshman in college and not know anything and you’re you’re just put out
There you’re just put in this world is it’s it’s tough It’s Crazy you’re away from home and I said you know Amanda let him do the swing stuff like that is his his role Your Role is to make these girls feel trusted make these girls feel safe make these girls be confident you
Know in themselves and learn from their freshman year and so that’s kind of the the role that I took on and I had to I had to develop that for myself and I I try to this day to do that for my players and just allow them to be
Themselves and and be their confident selves yes I’m always curious to know um for you what was it like being an assistant coach while getting your master’s degree so in terms of like how was it for you you know balancing you know um your coursework you know going
To classes and also your coaching duties it was tough it was something where you kind of have to be uh diligent about what you do what you determine that you do the sacrifices that you make you know I was still away from home you know there was definitely weekends that we
Were traveling and I didn’t get to see my family for um for months you know that’s something that a sacrifice advice that you have to make and so um and I kind of knew that early on you know that was something I was trying to play professionally doing my masters and
Coaching um so a lot of sacrifices they have to make a lot of social stuff that that is definitely a difference at that point too you know you’re getting older and you can’t go out and do the college stuff that you maybe did in your undergrad you have to be more
Responsible so I think just balancing out what to say no to you know what what exactly matters is getting your work done actually getting you’re paying money for your master you’re you’re really you need this to do better with getting a job um so I think what for me
Was the balance of saying you know if I want to be serious I have to make sacrifices and know what I need to say no to um so you are currently um pursuing your LPGA teaching certification can you tell me more what the about what the LPGA teaching certification is and um
You have to do to get your certification so you have to take so many classes through throughout the the time that you’ve signed up for it um and the classes consist of you have maybe two or three professors that are very very knowledgeable within the swing very knowledgeable within coaching very
Knowledgeable within kind of course management side of things and just how you go about giving a lesson and how to how to help with maybe finding certain tweaks and maybe drills that you could possibly do so um I had done my first one as it’s um it’s a apprenticeship so
Then you can kind of go on from there and get to your level one level two level three so it’s just over a course of probably say like three years in which you’re getting these different levels and taking these classes to be able to actually get your certification
To officially either be a a head pro at a golf course or just be able to give lessons to to a span of people throughout your career so for you uh what’s the goal in uh pursuing your um lpj teaching certification or you don’t have or you don’t have one specific goal
With pursuing a certification it probably be a mixture of things you know I want to be better for my players I want to be where I’m knowledgeable and I’m testing myself and and um it probably would stay within the realm of coaching you know I probably wouldn’t go
To be a head pro at a golf course um that could be years later down the road when I’m old and and just kind of want to hang out at a golf course all day but um just in general to have that knowledge and to have it to be where I
Know exactly what what I how to communicate better with my players and actually use this it’s a it’s a resource it’s a great resource for women to get a hold of each other too you know there’s definitely there’s different um networks that you can go through when you meet
Somebody that hey hey so and so is in my class she works out at Pinehurst okay hey we’d love to come out there and practice out at Pinehurst I’d love to pick your brain about what’s what’s best what works best for some of the players
That you have out there so it’s just a network in which that you can really formulate some good knowledge and and be able to expand on it um so if I ask you what is um the most rewarding and meaningful thing about being a head coach uh what would be your
Response probably just almost the joy that the players get from achieving something that they maybe didn’t think was possible you know when you’re either even just in a small lesson you know you’re like saying hey do this little tweak here and they’re just they they
Hit the ball solid and oh my gosh like that’s what I’ve been wanting that’s what I’ve been needing for the last few weeks you know or just when they have a really good round and they come afterwards and you’re almost like I knew you had that AG you know there was just
There was just little things you had to do to get yourself there um I think that encouragement and seeing that and just seeing the difference you know one of our seniors this year it’s been amazing to watch just the transitions that she made every single year like she can’t
See that for herself but as her coach you can definitely see okay you’re you’re not the same person that you were your freshman year and this is what you did to do that and so just seeing that over the course of the four years has
Been now that I think about it it’s just it’s rewarding on its own to know that that they’re doing that for themselves too uh my final question for you is what do you enjoy most about being at Tennessee Tech as the head woman’s golf coach and what makes um Tennessee Tech
Such a special place to be at I’d probably say you know a lot of programs they say they’re like a family but um what I realized here we’re a smaller school we we know it’s difficult we know um that just it it it takes a lot of
Work it takes a lot of work to be to be where we’re at um we don’t have as many resources yeah but we we understand that we can still do well without those and we have each other’s backs you know that’s that’s something that I tell the
Recruits too is that I’ll go to basketball games our assistant basketball coaches will come and watch our practices sometimes like we’re all all of us employees all of us coaches we all hang out together and we all pick each other’s brains we like hey we’ll go support like I’ll go support the Women’s
Basketball team and watch one of their practices and when they get off the court I’m there to cheer them on maybe when they’re leaving class I’m saying hey good game the other day you know it’s very even though it’s small it’s something where we’ve developed a family
Mentality and we root for each other in every sport that we get to see so I probably said that’s probably one of my favorite things about Tennessee Tech and it’s probably the best thing about Tennessee Tech on its own
