UK Women?s Golf Freshman Erica Still Discusses Her Game, Family Holiday Traditions and Mud-bogging By Jeremy Strachan
LEXINGTON, Ky. –?I guess don?t judge a book by its cover; it?s pretty unique down there,? University of Kentucky women?s golf freshman Erica Still said about her rural hometown of Waycross in southern Georgia. The same statement could be said about Still herself.
On first impression one might never guess that this upbeat, social young lady who tends to laugh and smile throughout a conversation is a rising star on the UK golf team. When Still politely uses phrases like, ?yes sir,? ?thank you ma?am,? and calls her father, former coach and mentor, ?daddy? she becomes the definition of southern hospitality.
Still is proud of her southern upbringing, ?Most people in my dorm are like ?Oh you?re southern.? My nickname is ?Georgia.? They all call me that, but everyone thinks Georgia people are all from Atlanta, so when I say I?m from southern Georgia they have no idea what I am talking about.?
Ware County is nestled in the far southeastern corner of Georgia between Savannah and Jacksonville, Fla.
?I live around Okefenokee Swamp, but nobody knows where that is,? Still said. ?Most of my family lives around the Waycross area. It?s a small town, everybody pretty much knows everybody, it is pretty much country.?
Still started playing golf in the seventh grade, but it was at Ware County High School where she made the most of her young golf career. Her team finished state runners-up twice in both her junior and senior seasons. Individually, she placed in the top 10 each year in high school, finishing seventh her freshman year, second as a sophomore, third as a junior and finally claiming the individual medalist honor her senior year.
?It was pretty nice to end as the medalist there,? she recalled.
Still also competed in many junior golf tournaments across the Southeast.
?There is the SJGT (Southeastern Junior Golf Tour) where you just sign up and give them your information,? explained Still. ?Then you have the Georgia PGA (Professional Golfers? Association of America). Then there is the AJGA (American Junior Golf Association), the top dog, the national one. Once you finally do well in the AJGA, you don?t have to go to their qualifiers, you just get bids to the tournaments.?
It was at one of the amateur tournaments that Kentucky Women?s Golf Head Coach Stephanie Barker got her first chance to observe Still?s skills in-person.
?When (Coach Barker) saw me, I had sent some information before I had got into the national tournaments,? described Still. ?About a year later, the summer before my senior year, I went to Mississippi to play. (Coach Barker) was there on the first or second day I think, and when I got home, I had an e-mail waiting for me saying ?I wish you?d take an unofficial visit (to UK).?
It was pretty much between Kentucky and Ole Miss because my best friend played golf there (at Ole Miss). But when I made my visit up here, it just felt right. When I committed here, people back home were like, ?Where?s Kentucky?? I know it?s hard to believe, but where I am from if it?s not in Georgia, in Florida or the local area, people don?t have a clue what you?re talking about.?
Kentucky?s coaches knew they had something special in Still from the time they first met her. Assistant Coach Jenny Throgmorton commented on Still?s impact, ?We had a pretty good idea that Erica would come in and make an immediate impact. Her athleticism and fundamentals are excellent and her imagination and creativity around the greens gives her a big advantage in scoring low.?
Still?s impact was more immediate for the Blue and White than either coach anticipated. At the Cougar Classic in Charleston, S.C. this past September, Still fired an opening round even-par (72) which would end up being the lowest round of any UK golfer over the course of the tournament. It was her first collegiate round. She concluded the tournament as the team?s leading scorer, and would achieve the feat a second time during the fall season.
?It felt really good, especially since my parents were there,? Still said of her first collegiate tournament. ?In Charleston everybody was complaining because it was Bermuda grass, but I grew up on Bermuda grass. When I went there it just felt more like home, so it was just easier.?
The transition to college golf as a freshman has been pretty smooth for Still. She doesn?t believe it is much different than the national tournaments she played in during high school.
?It?s not really different because you play girls that you played with in junior golf,? she commented. ?In high school, you knew who you could beat, but here everybody is the best from their home state. You are always competing against the best, that?s the part I like about it a lot.?
Kentucky?s golf team has welcomed their only freshman with open arms this season. Throgmorton says, ?Erica brings a lot of school spirit to our team. She is very enthusiastic and her good attitude brings the girls together as a team. Erica is also a great player and she brings consistency to our lineup.?
Still doesn?t mind being the newcomer on the team, ?It really isn?t any different to me because my teammates don?t treat me like a freshman; they treat me like one of their own.?
Still cites an incident in the Wildcats? home tournament this fall that inspired her and made her feel closer to the team.
?At our home tournament on the 36-hole day, I saw Marissa (Muir) and her back was killing her on the last three holes,? described Still. ?I was behind her and just was watching her cry because she had back problems and it was hurting so bad. I mean right there that just makes you want to keep on fighting. When you have a team player like that, it?s great.?
?(Coach Barker) is a hard worker,? Still said of her new coach. ?I have been around hard work all of my life, so I don?t have a problem with having to work hard just to get where you are. I love the team, they?re my family away from home.?
Still?s hard work started back home in Ware County at age twelve. She approached her father, Greg, about playing.
?I grew up playing basketball, softball, tennis and everything. One day I ran up to my daddy and said ?I want to play golf? and he just kind of laughed at me. Then we went in the back yard to play and it kind of just went from there. He was the middle school boys? golf coach. I just wanted to be around my dad a lot, so that?s pretty much why I picked up the game. Now he is kind of my short game and middle game coach,? she said.
A fellow Southeastern Conference golfer was one of the first to inspire Kentucky?s rookie, ?When I first started playing, I shot way high, it was like 100 and something in my first 18-hole tournament. I played with Ashley (Medders a junior at Arkansas) and she won a tournament that year. She was from Alma which was really close to us and I just thought ?wow? and ever since then I have been working, working and working.?
Still laughs as she recalls the first time she beat her father on the course, ?It was probably the summer before going into the ninth grade. My dad is a better teacher than he is a player.?
It was her father, she says, that made her realize she could do something with golf beyond high school.
?Probably my summer before going into 11th grade, my daddy made me believe it,? remembered Still. ?I always wanted to do a lot of stuff for my dad. My daddy has always worked hard and he is really into sports. We were best friends growing up. I pretty much wanted to do it for my daddy.?
Still is very family-oriented and says she and her older sister, Allison (?five years and five days apart?), could always count on her mother, Terri, to get them together each night.
?You could always count on my momma,? Still said. ?When we came home from golf practice, she would always have supper cooked for us. She?d come home after a long day at work and always have supper ready for us. We always ate supper together.?
In early November, Still?s family visited her in Lexington during the UK football home game against Georgia.
?My sister came up with my parents so it was really good to see them,? she described. ?My sister had never been up here before. Two of my momma?s sisters came, so my aunts and uncles were up here too. It was pretty nice. We went out to eat and we just spent a lot of time together.?
Over winter break Still is looking forward to spending the holidays at home with her family, ?It has always been just the four of us. My grandmother would sometimes come too.
On our streets we have these white bags with sand in them and on Christmas Eve we put little candles in them and we light up the whole neighborhood. We always go to the candlelight service at church on Christmas Eve. On Christmas day, we wake up in the morning, daddy will have breakfast and a little fire going and we?ll open presents.?
On Dec. 6, the Lexington area provided one wintertime staple the southerner had yet to experience.
?I?ve never seen snow,? she described in late November.
Perhaps another Christmas tradition for Still started last year, ?I killed my first deer last Christmas,? she said with a smile. ?We have a lot of fun (at home). We go mud bogging, hunting and fishing, I always fish with my daddy.?
With her hunting and fishing experience, it may not be surprising that Still is a big fan of hunting attire, ?my bed sheets are camouflage.?
When thinking about a typical women?s golfer in college, mud-bogging does not usually come to mind, but Still explained the fun times she had with her friends back home.
?Mud-bogging is starting a truck in the mud to see how far you can get,? she explained. ?My ex-boyfriend had an ?89 Dodge truck we?d take to the mud-bog, which is like 200 feet long near the swamp. Each truck will do two different runs to see who will win.?
When asked if she was just a passenger Still replied with a giggle, ?Well, I drove through it like twice.?
Another intriguing insight about this a-typical golfer finds that she was the mascot for her high school athletic teams. In what sounds like a Big Blue fan?s nightmare, she?d dress up in a gator suit for the Ware County Gators, playing with a Georgia Bulldog-style ?G? on their football helmets.
What might not be surprising is that Still is very serious about her golf game and has set certain goals for herself like the woman she tries to model her game after, Annika Sorenstam of the LPGA.
?I remember reading her book,? Still said. ?She started at the same age I did. She has the same mindset I do. She has different goals she sets and works towards. In her book she talks a lot about the mental game and that?s what I have learned from my dad. She?s the one I look up to for different ideas and different ways of looking at the game. Personally, I don?t think I have as strong a mental game as I should.?
Throgmorton might disagree, ?Erica is a very coach-able athlete. She is eager to learn and listens well. She is a model student-athlete in that she takes care of business on and off the course and is focused.?
When asked what she?d like to accomplish during her four years at UK Still talks about the team and then herself, ?Team-wise I would hope we?d have a lot of wins under our belt,? she began. ?I?d like to have some wins under my belt as well. It?d be nice to do well SEC-wise and possibly be the player of the month, player of the week or player of the year.?
Throgmorton sums up Still?s future this way, ?Erica?s future is unlimited here. She could walk away in four years as the best women?s golfer in UK history. But if not, she will still make a positive impact on our program because of her drive to be the best.?
