In the Spotlight: Jan Dowling
9/10/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
Sept. 10, 2014
Entering her second season as head coach of the women's golf program, Jan Dowling is ready and eager to guide the Wolverines into the 2014-15 season. She has put together a challenging slate for her team this year, and it includes hosting the first home event since Dowling took over in Ann Arbor, when U-M plays host for the East and West Match Play Challenge at Radrick Farms, Sept. 20-22. Dowling sat down with MGoBlue.com to discuss this year's team, the challenging schedule ahead, how she and her players spent their summers and more.
On her reflections of her first season as head coach ... "Year one was an awesome experience in general. My team worked their tails off for Michigan and for themselves. They really adapted well to a new coaching philosophy and style and bought into what Coach Mattson and I were doing from the beginning. As a new coach going through a transition that's all you can ask for. They competed hard and some of them were at a crossroads in their life, trying to graduate and figure out what the next step was and that's pretty important. Hopefully we were able to help them as much as possible but also help develop the players that were going to be remaining for the next two or three years. Overall it was a great year. I can look back at my first year at Michigan and be very proud of what we accomplished and the culture we're building and the direction that this program is moving."
On her analysis of this year's roster ... "It's a pretty exciting time for Michigan golf. We have three returning players that are 100 percent bought into what we're doing and that's a very nice thing to have. They also love Michigan, and do a lot of really good things that I know our freshmen and sophomore transfer will be able to watch and see what they're doing on a daily basis to be successful. The next thing is just the new faces of our program. With three freshmen coming from all over North America and our transfer, Julia who has some great experience under her belt already. I know that all of them are going to impact our program in a positive way, both on the course and off, so it's very exciting."
On this season's challenging schedule ... "The key word for us is balance. We have some tournaments where I know we are going to come in and compete and hopefully come home with the trophy and other events we can still do that, but there are some teams that are historically ranked higher than us that are going to be provide great opportunities to measure ourselves and our team and program and the direction we're going. Hopefully that gap has gotten smaller and I know that they are going to be able to take those experiences and use them as fuel for getting better. You can't get better unless you compete against the best. We have some of that in our schedule this year and I'm excited to see how we measure up and how we respond."
On hosting the match play event this fall and its unique format ... "Hosting a home tournament is quite an honor. Here at Michigan we do things right. We want to provide a wow factor for our student-athletes and the people who come visit our campus. The other part of it is the competition. The NCAA format is changing to match play and I want our team to know what that feels like. It's true head-to-head competition; you know exactly what you need to do on the golf course. It really gets you into a shot-to-shot mindset and it's great training ground for stroke play, actually, because you learn what it is like to truly focus on the shot in front of you. In addition to that, there are some great teams coming that will provide great competition. We have four Big Ten teams in the event and some other teams that are highly ranked. It's going to be a great test for us and I know there will be a lot of pride for Michigan for those watching and cheering us on out there."
On Grace Choi's experience at the LPGA Meijer Classic last summer ... "I cannot say enough great things about Meijer and their perspective to grant those sponsor exemptions to collegiate players. I know that for both Grace and the Michigan State player, Lindsey (McPherson), it was a time they will be able to reflect on for their entire lives. It's a pretty special experience and you learn so much when you're in a whole new element at the highest level of women's golf. To be able to watch those players practice and compete and see that they are not that far off as far as ball-striking goes is great; their short games are sharper, their decision-making is sharper and their scoring ability is pretty impressive. It's something I know Grace will be able to refer back to for an entire golf career."
On how she spent her summer ... "The fun for me is golf. I'm passionate about this game and to get my amateur status was great. I competed in four events this summer, either qualifiers or tournaments. I enjoy competing and it's great for me as a coach to remember what it feels like to have to hit a shot when your gut it twisted a little bit, or feeling out some short-game shots; maybe even coming up with some new ideas for our team and our program. It's good to stay sharp. It's important for me to do that as a coach. Other than that I visited my family and spent some time in Ontario on the water, which was great."
Contact: Tom Wywrot (734) 763-4423
