Q & A with Tara Watt, Head Coach of the Women’s Golf Program at St. Anselm College

Interview conducted and edited by Sabrina Xiaorui Wu

Coach Tara Watt holds her trophy after winning the 2022 New Hampshire Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship. (Photo courtesy of Tara Watt)

Unlike many collegiate coaches for women’s golf today who have inherited their program from a predecessor, Coach Tara Watt has built her entire women’s golf program at Saint Anselm College from the ground up. As the first coach in the program’s history, she has already doubled the size of her team since its inception. A graduate of Gardner-Webb University, where she played collegiate golf, Coach Watt's experience as a student-athlete has given her a deep understanding of the game that she now uses to guide her players. Her athletes have also received awards such as Rookie of the Year and All-Conference honors. In addition to coaching, Coach Watt remains active in competition, continuing her career as an accomplished amateur golfer. Just last summer, Coach Watt captured her fourth New Hampshire Women’s Mid-Amateur title, proving that she truly leads by example. I had the privilege of speaking with Coach Watt about her personal journey in golf and her perspective on the experience of women golfers.

WU: I understand that you were a three-sport athlete in high school, so I was wondering, what first got you interested in learning golf? And why did you choose golf as the sport to pursue in college?

WATT: Nobody in my family plays golf. Or ever did. But my mom had a friend who was a golfer, and he saw that I was very athletic, and he was like, Tara should play golf because there’s lots of opportunities for females for golf.

I remember I was in eighth grade, and he took me to the driving range. I was a big softball player, and we got a bucket of balls, and I think I whiffed on half of them. I was so frustrated, and I was like, “I'm not playing this sport”, cause every sport I played, I picked up and was decent at. I was just not good at golf. But the person that I am, I went home and I was stewing over it, and I was like, all right, I got to figure this out. So, I kind of just started playing for fun when I was in eighth grade. My Sophomore year, they started the golf team. So I was like I guess I'll try my hand at golf. I played Sophomore through Senior year, and I was on varsity all three years, and I was kind of okay with it. When I was trying to make my decision on where I wanted to go to college, I had a couple offers to play basketball somewhere, and my mom was like, "You should really consider golf.” And I didn't want to. I was a big basketball person, but, like, you got to listen to your mom. Your mom's always right. I ended up going down to North Carolina and I played four years of golf, and it was the best decision I ever made.

WU: As the first head coach in the history of Saint Anselm College women's golf program, how did you originally think this program was going to work out when you started coaching? And then did the reality align with your expectations?

WATT: Prior to Saint Anselm I coached at Southern New Hampshire University for four years as an assistant, and during COVID, the program kind of shut down. A lot of the girls decided not to come back. They decided to discontinue the women's program, which was very unfortunate, but it just so happened that the same day that I was on a conference call with everybody at SNHU, letting us know that the women's program was done with, I had an interview in person at Saint Anselm for the women's job.

I'm a big believer in things happening for a reason, so I took the job on the spot, and I had no idea what to expect, honestly. I knew it was going to be a challenge because I had a brand-new program. I knew that if I was to get five players year one, that would be a big victory, and I was able to do that. Having your own program, there's pros and cons to it, you know, building it from scratch because it's all me, but I'm not coming in and taking over from someone with stuff that was in the past and having to deal with that. I couldn't have asked for anything better. I have had struggles with trying to get players, but I would say that this year was our springboard year where I had six freshmen in this incoming class and they're all really good players. We're finally making a turn to setting some standards and guidelines for the program. It's super exciting to watch it grow from absolutely nothing to where we are now.

WU: What has your experience been like coaching in a traditionally male-dominated sport?

WATT: There’re not a lot of female head coaches. So, I am very proud. Last year was the first year that there was another female in the Northeast-10*, but the first four years prior, I was the only head female coach. It’s kind of fun to pave the way and be that pioneer and show young girls that you can do this. Golf has always been a male dominant sport, and from when I started playing years ago to watch where it's at now, there's a lot of really good young players and veteran players. It means a lot to me to be that mentor that I once looked up to when I was a kid, to be that person to show girls that this is a female sport, too, so you can do whatever you want as long as you put your mind to it. It's been very rewarding for me, and I am not intimidated by it at all. I love going out there and looking around and being the only female. It's very empowering.

*A NCAA Division II athletic conference founded in 1980 that is based in the northeastern U.S.

WU: I think you have touched on this a little already, but what do you find most rewarding about working with female golfers?

WATT: It's great being a female coach, because I've been on both sides of it where I was an assistant to a male, and I feel like the girls are very close with me. Like, they feel they can tell me anything. I appreciate that so much, because there's a lot that goes on outside of golf. As a player, if you're not in the right mental state, your game is not going to be good. So it's super rewarding that these girls text me on the side to let me know what's going on. They call me if they need anything. I'm more than a coach, and that means more to me than anything. And then just watching them succeed. I'm kind of sad the first class I ever recruited, they’re graduating this year, and it's like, they're my kids and they're leaving in a couple months. It really did fly by and to see who they were freshman year on day one and where they are now, they have all just grown so much, and it's so fun to watch. I can't wait to see what they do. You can learn a lot from the game of golf and the integrity piece just makes you a better person.

WU: What are some common traits you have observed in successful female golfers?

WATT: Confidence. I feel like you gain a lot of confidence on the golf course. As a golfer, you have a shot that's been so difficult, and then one day you hit it, and it's just, you needed that. You're like, okay, I can do this. There’re also things that happen in golf that aren't great and you have to stand up for what's right and do the right thing. It builds the character. I've seen these girls from day one to where they are now and they're completely different and better.

WU: For anyone who may be lacking these traits, how would you recommend they best improve themselves? Are there any mental exercises or is it just getting more experience?

WATT: I always stress positive affirmations. I do this myself. I still compete, and I'm on the golf course, and I could be having a terrible round, but I'm like, you can recover, you have this shot, you are good, you deserve to be here, you got this. So just talk positively to yourself. It's not only your mental mindset, but your body language. If you're tense standing over a shot, your swing is going to be different, so you're going to hit a bad shot. You just have to mentally stay in it and be positive. Sometimes the game may not turn around, but it is what it is, and I always tell the girls, I was like, "We're not professionals. We're not relying on a paycheck after this round. We're out here doing what we love and we're having fun. So don't stress over it”. I always have a five second rule. You're allowed to get angry for five seconds and then after that, we're moving on.

WU: How would you like to be remembered as a golf coach? What lasting impact do you hope to leave on the Saint Anselm College women's golf program?

WATT: I hope these girls can look back and say that they had a fantastic time. I'm a competitor and I want to win, but I also want them to have fun. I've had a couple girls from the previous program at SNHU send me texts and tell me that they appreciate me so much. I know some of my girls that are graduating this year, and I'll stay in touch with them forever, I hope. But I’m more than just a coach. I'm a mentor and I'm somebody that they can reach out to and I just really would love for them to look back and tell people that I was great. Not necessarily a great golfer, but a great person.

WU: What do you think is the motivating factor that is fueling this growth in women’s golf?

WATT: I think we're doing a lot of good things with the LPGA. There’re more golf programs out there, which is great, because there's a lot of colleges when I was looking at schools that didn't have women's golf programs. And then the junior programs are growing. I know for our junior program in New Hampshire, we have the junior tour, and it’s affordable. Back in the day, golf was a male dominant sport and women didn't play. When I was in high school, there were no all-girls teams, and I'm hearing of some schools now that have all-girls teams, which is phenomenal. We also have these great players like Nelly Korda and Lexi Thompson to look up to, so I think the younger generation’s getting into golf, which is great.

WU: Have you observed any prejudices in this sport that place female golfers at a disadvantage? And if so, what are they?

WATT: I personally have. I remember years ago when I joined a club. I went up by myself as a single, and they said I could head out to the first tee and join a group. There were men that were like, “we’re not playing with you”, because I was a female. I can hit the ball really far, and I loved it when I would hit into them and be like, “oh, I'm sorry”. You shouldn't judge a book by its cover. Not all men are like that, but it does happen sometimes. There’re still some country clubs that don't let women play until after 10 a.m. So we definitely have broken some barriers, but there's still a long way to go.

WU: What do you have to say to people who still enforce gendered stereotypes in golf?

WATT: I like to educate people. I'm a big supporter of people playing the tees that best fit their game. We’re not calling them men's tees anymore or women's tees or seniors. I like to look at them like play this color. Especially guys, they're not going to go up and play the red tees because they think they're the “ladies' tees”. We need to get away from that. I think there are also a lot of stereotypes out there about women playing slow and that’s from old school days.

WU: What encouragement would you give to any female golfer who is facing gender discrimination in this sport, either from male opponents, coaches, or from the system in general? 

WATT: You need to stand up for yourself. Say something, write the letter, send the email, and keep doing it until somebody notices you or recognizes you. If there's somebody higher up that you can talk to or if there's a female higher up, go to the female and have a conversation, but definitely be heard. Use your voice. It can be scary, but without saying anything, nothing's going to change.

A couple years ago, the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association (NHIAA) had Boys Golf, and that's what it was called, but there were girls playing on the boys' team. A golfer I had wrote a letter and sent it to the NHIAA, and they ended up changing Boys Golf to Co-ed Golf. I was very proud of her for that.

WU: On a final note, what message do you have for young girls who are considering whether to take up golf?

WATT: Just stick with it. It's very difficult. I'm very athletically gifted. I was very good at every sport I played, and golf was still so hard. But I'm so glad that I stuck with it. It opened so many doors for me and I got to go to so many places just playing in golf tournaments.

I'm in sales, and I've taken clients out on the golf course and closed business deals. It's such a great tool and I really hope that I'm playing until I'm 90 years old, because it's such a great game and I've met so many amazing people.

But you got to have patience. I'm a one handicap, and I still get lessons. I think that's why I love the game so much, because there's always something that you can learn or do better.