VSGA WOMEN’S GOLFER OF THE YEAR
Lauren
Coughlin
HOMETOWN: Charlottesville, Va.
HOME CLUB: Birdwood Golf Course,
Charlottesville, Va.
COLLEGE: Senior at the
University of Virginia
QUICK TIP
One of the strengths of Coughlin’s game
is putting. When she’s not making putts,
she’s always around the hole. Coughlin
has adopted the AimPoint green reading
method to determine the line of putts where
golfers hold up a certain number of fingers
to determine break. Some of the world’s top
players, including Adam Scott and Stacy
Lewis, have adopted the approach.
“Speed is important, for sure, but if you
don’t have the right line, the ball is still not
going to go in,” Coughlin says. “You need
to trust your feel and I use AimPoint as a
base. Your eyes can trick you on occasion.
Sometimes putts may look like they’re uphill,
but you have to trust your feel to determine
speed and line. You need a combination of
both pace and direction to make putts.”
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
IN HER OWN WORDS
Coughlin credits goal-setting and a desire
to get stronger physically for her continued
improvement.
“This whole year, especially during the
summer, I was working toward being the
VSGA player of the year,” Coughlin says.
“The (Women’s) Stroke Play was a nice win.
I sort of went for it over the last couple of
holes. I was behind in the late moments and
it was stressful, but it felt good to come back.”
OFF THE COURSE
Coughlin is completing her coursework to
earn a degree in psychology from U.Va. in the
spring. She plans to attend graduate school and
pursue a master’s degree in higher education
with a concentration in sports administration.
Coughlin says she hopes to coach or work in a
college athletic department once all her degree
requirements are completed.
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Lauren Coughlin
continues to develop
all areas of her game.
2014 ACCOMPLISHMENTS
➤ Paced all points’ leaders in the season-ending VSGA women’s player rankings in the
regular division.
➤ Won the VSGA Virginias Women’s Stroke Play Championship. With the victory,
Coughlin, the VSGA Women’s Amateur champion in 2012 and 2013, became the third
player since 1991 to own the Women’s Amateur and Women’s Stroke Play titles in the
same rotation.
➤ Earned medalist honors at the VSGA Women’s Amateur. She finished as the runnerup to central Virginia’s Lyberty Anderson of Chesterfield (now her U.Va. teammate),
ending a remarkable 13-match unbeaten streak at the championship.
➤ Posted a top-10 finish (tied for ninth) at the Harder Hall Invitational, a prestigious
amateur event conducted annually each January at Harder Hall Country Club in
Sebring, Fla.
➤ She was the Cavaliers’ stroke average leader, the team’s top finisher at the
NCAA East Regional and helped the program reach the NCAA Division I Women’s
Golf Championship.
J ANUARY/F EBRUARY 2015 | V IRGINIA G OLFER
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