VSGA‘s Golf in the Commonwealth Podcast

Mark Lynch, PGA - A Veteran‘s Service to Golf

This week we're sharing a conversation focused on our veterans, their service to our country and involvement with golf. That led us to Mark Lynch the PGA professional and Vice President of Golf Operations for the First Tee of Greater Richmond and US Army veteran. Mark shares how he enlisted shortly after the attacks of September 11, 2001 and through his deployments in Africa began to find golf as a great way to support his mental health. We also get into how he came to Richmond and hear updates on Belmont now that it’s been reopened for almost six months. Oh, and shameless plug that Belmont is now a participating Youth on Course Club. Meaning that Youth on Course members can play Belmont or Little Bell, the six-hole short course, for $5 or less during the designated playing window. Visit VSGA.org/YouthOnCourse to see more.

Andrea Miller -An Invitation to Join the Golf Scene

This week we’re talking with Andrea Miller. Andrea qualified for the US Senior Women’s Open this year and in VSGA play won her second consecutive VSGA Senior Women’s Amateur title.

For the next few weeks we’re going to be sharing conversations with the Virginia women who competed in the US Women’s Mid-Am in September. Qualifying for a USGA championship is always a big deal and the diversity of age and work / playing balance the five Virginia women who qualified is fascinating…and they’re all women who are over 25…because that’s what a mid-am is but in the golf industry, that’s the age when many women drift away from the game to focus on families or careers so to see how these five do we thought would be fascinating.

Abby Liebenthal talks about golf Fore the Ladies

This week we’re sharing a conversation Matt had over the summer with Abby Liebenthal. Abby’s full-time job is the Senior Manager of US Open Fan Engagement for the USGA, a position she’s been in for almost the last two years. She’s been in the golf industry her entire career including time at Acushnet and the Tiger Woods Foundation but her side hustle is what we’re really talking about in this conversation and that’s the non-profit she founded almost three years ago, Fore the Ladies. For the Ladies is a female-based community with the intent to introduce more women to the game and bring women together to play, watch and participate in everything golf has to offer. She also has a podcast called Fore the Ladies that you can find wherever you get your podcasts and for our listeners that have been with us a while you’ll appreciate that her fiancée is former VSGA intern Brendan Ahrnsbrak. Okay, here’s our conversation with Abby Liebenthal.

Meet the Hiker - Lance Lemon

We're now a full month after the 100-Hole Hike and sharing our conversation with Lance Lemon. Lance and Matt Pochily have been friends for a few years leading up to the hike and had the chance to playing the first 36 holes or so with each other during the event. While everyone had a different strategy for carrying their bag and making it through the day, Lance alternated from carrying his bag on his should to carrying like a briefcase. In this conversation we talk with Lance about his growth in the game and full-time work as an entrepreneur and actor. Big thanks to our 100-Hole Hike sponsors Adams Performance, Cutter & Buck, Fore Craft Cocktails, GolfDom, Srixon and Turtleson.

Lauren Greenlief - Long-term Goals for a Lifelong Amateur

Just a couple weeks after US Women’s Mid-Am in which five Virginia women competed at Berkley Hall in South Carolina, it seemed appropriate that we finally catch up with the 2015 champion, Virginia’s own Lauren Greenlief. While many listeners have seen or heard of Lauren in some way, this interview offers a different look at her journey to college golf at UVA and why an amateur at her level chooses to stay that way and not pursue playing professionally.

Meet the Hiker - Rachel Collins

This week we’re returning to meet another one of hikers from September’s 100-Hole Hike and will bounce between hiker profiles and other relevant Virginia golf interviews in the coming weeks. This week we’re talking with hiker Rachel Collins who came down from the northern Virginia area to join us at The Hollows. Rachel married into a big golf family and after not too long got into the game herself and during the pandemic dove all in and has ultimately built a business around it with her company called The Events Caddie. Big thanks to our sponsors of the 100-Hole Hike, Adams Performance, Cutter and Back, Fore Craft Cocktails, GolfDom, Srixon and Turtleson for supporting the VSGA and our hikers on the journey that has led us to raise more than $53 thousand dollars to date. Enjoy our conversation with Rachel Collins.

Dottie Pepper - Major Champion, Broadcaster & Golf Ambassador

We’re taking a quick break from the meet the hiker series to celebrate the recent Virginia Golf Hall of Fame ceremony where we inducted seven amazing individuals who have left their mark on golf in Virginia over the course of their careers, a few of which are even still shaping the game, Kandi Comer, Wayne Jackson, David Partridge, Richard Smith and Wynsol Spencer are all members of the 2020 class which was delayed induction due to the pandemic and Moss Beecroft and David King are members of the 2021 class. We’ll have audio from some of those speeches in upcoming episodes. Our sponsors for this year’s induction ceremony are Hourigan Construction, Lansing Building Products, Markel, Marsh McLennan Agency, TSW and Virginia Green. Big thanks to all of them for their support of the Virginia Golf Hall of Fame. For today’s episode though, we had the opportunity to talk with Dottie Pepper who was with us to celebrate the induction of her friend Kandi Comer and also serve as the emcee for the event.

Meet the Hiker - Brian Wright

This is the fifth in our meet the hiker series and an opportunity to meet our hiker Brian Wright…Brian was one of our at-large hikers who voluntarily signed up for this challenge. Brian lives in the Richmond area and recently joined Lakeside Park Club…when we first put out the opportunity to sign up as a hiker to the VSGA membership, Brian was the first onboard and has been super gung-ho throughout the process…stay tuned after the break too because the first part  of the conversation is before the hike and the second part is after the hike and is a great recap.

 

Thanks our amazing sponsors and donors who’ve helped us raise over $50,000 right now to support Youth on Course efforts here in Virginia. Obviously walking 100-holes in a day takes strength and endurance and our friends at Adams Performance have come on as our official fitness, training and recovery sponsor. You may recall me having Dr. Kyle Adams on the podcast earlier in the season. Kyle himself is TPI certified and his team works with a ton of athletes and golfers ranging from guys who play in VSGA Super-Senior events to kids playing high school golf. Learn more about getting your athletic edge at AdamsPerformanceRVA.com. We also have apparel donations from our friends at Cutter & Buck and Turtleson. Both Cutter & Buck and Turtleson will be outfitting our hikers for this challenge and when you make a Cutter & Buck purchase through VSGA.org/store, a portion of the purchase in donated back to the VSGA so please check that out and use promo code VSGA25 for 25% off regular priced items across their site. And lastly our friends at GolfDom in McLean, Virginia. Buddy Christensen, owner of GolfDom, is another former guest on the podcast and GolfDom has a huge selection of equipment, apparel and services for golfers at every stage of the game. We’re grateful for their support and hope you’ll visit GolfDomGolf.com to shop their site or learn more. Big thanks to our friends at Srixon for donating gloves and balls for our hikers and post round the hikers will enjoy the new transfusion canned cocktail from Fore Craft Cocktails. If you’re looking for Fore Craft Cocktails’ canned transfusion you must be 21 and up and please enjoy responsibly.

Meet the Hiker - Glenn Gray

This is the fourth in our meet the hiker series and an opportunity to meet our hiker Glenn Gray…Glenn is the most veteran of our hikers with this being the fourth time he’s participated in the 100-Hole Hike. Before we get to the conversation though, we want to thank our amazing sponsors and donors who’ve helped us raise over 30 thousand dollars right now to support Youth on Course efforts here in Virginia. Obviously walking 100-holes in a day takes strength and endurance and our friends at Adams Performance have come on as our official fitness, training and recovery sponsor. You may recall we had Dr. Kyle Adams on the podcast earlier in the season. Kyle himself is TPI certified and his team works with a ton of athletes and golfers ranging from guys who play in VSGA Super-Senior events to kids playing high school golf. Learn more about getting your athletic edge at Adams Performance RVA dot com. We also have apparel donations from our friends at Cutter & Buck and Turtleson. Both Cutter & Buck and Turtleson will be outfitting our hikers for this challenge and when you make a Cutter & Buck purchase through VSGA.org/store, a portion of the purchase in donated back to the VSGA so please check that out and use promo code VSGA 25 for 25 percent off regular priced items across their site. Thanks to our friends at GolfDom in McLean, Virginia. Buddy Christensen, owner of GolfDom, is another former guest on the podcast and GolfDom has a huge selection of equipment, apparel and services for golfers at every stage of the game. We’re grateful for their support and hope you’ll visit Golf Dom Golf dot com to shop their site or learn more. Big thanks to our friends at Srixon for donating gloves and balls for our hikers and post round the hikers will enjoy the new transfusion canned cocktail from Fore Craft Cocktails. If you’re looking for Fore Craft Cocktails’ canned transfusion you must be 21 and up and please enjoy responsibly. As we mentioned, our guest this week is Glenn Gray, Glenn works in the golf industry for Buffalo Groupe and connects regularly with heavy-hitters across the industry and supports organizations like Youth on Course. He’s also a member of the VSGA Board of Directors and plays a lot of his golf at Lakeside Park Club but as you’ll hear, Schoolhouse Nine is a special place for him…with that, here’s our conversation with Glenn Gray.

Meet the Hiker - Don Bostic

This is the third in our meet the hiker series and an opportunity to meet our hiker Don Bostic. To-date Don is leading the way in our fundraising and if he exceeds $10,000 raised will earn a trip to Pebble Beach with other hikers from across the country who reach the same benchmark. Don actually lives in Florida but is coming to Virginia to hike and support the VSGA which is amazing! He’s the executive director of The Friars Golf Club, a club that hosts events at courses across the country with folks who just love golf. Events range from venues like Bandon Dunes and Pinehurst to closer to home places like The Homestead and an upcoming event at Golden Horseshoe.