An Interview with Natalie Gulbis at The CVS
The 11th annual CVS Caremark Charity Classic took place on June 21-23 at the Rhode Island Country Club in Barrington Rhode Island. Among the co-ed teams at this years event were the pairing of Champion’s Tour player Peter Jacobsen and Natalie Gulbis.
Gulbis began playing golf at the age of four and won the California State Amateur championship at the age of 14. During that same year Natalie qualified for her first LPGA tour event.
In additions to her skills on the golf course, Gulbis is the recipient of The William and Mousie Powell Award for demonstrating the values, spirit and ideals of the LPGA Tour.I was fortunate to obtain an exclusive interview with Natalie between rounds.
Natlalie with Fans
New England Golf Monthly: Your father seems like an interesting man. I have met parents of professional athletes and some seem to be a bit extreme when it comes to developing the talent of their child. But your dad seems like somebody who encouraged you, but never forced golf on you. Is that an accurate assessment?
Natalie Gulbis: Yes. My father and I have a great relationship. I am an only child and when my father got me involved in the sport we did it as a team. He never forced me to do it. We both loved golf and we both had the same dream.
NEGM: I remember I spoke with Tiger Woods’ dad Earl once and he told me that he never asked Tiger to go to the golf course. Tiger always asked to go.
NG: Yes I was the same way. I would wake my dad up early and say” Dad get up. Let’s go play.” I was so competitive I wanted to get better.
NEGN: The LPGA is a very diverse tour. When Tiger turned pro many thought that the PGA would finally have more people of color, but that has not happened. Why has the LPGA been more successful in including players from different cultures?
NG: In my opinion the reason the European tour and the Asian tour is so strong is that there are so many places to play. The Japanese tour is also very strong. The players can have a great deal of success on the European and Asian tours and this helps develop great talent for the LPGA tour.
NEGM: What changes do you see in the future for the LPGA tour?
NG: I don’t know what is in store; it’s changed so much since I have been out here. It’s certainly more international now. It used to be that we played about 80% of our tournaments in the U.S.A. and 20 % in other countries. Now it’s almost a 50- 50 split.
NEGM: You do so much international travel. What are some of your favorite destinations?
NG: I love playing in France. I love playing in Japan. They are crazy about golf in Japan.
NEGM: I remember a scene in your show on the Golf Channel where a person was lying in the bleaches and you hit a lob wedge in his direction and actually hit him. Who was that?
NG: That was my producer. He was nursing a hangover so I wanted to wake him up.
NEGM: There are a lot of young girls in the area who are interested in golf. If they have dreams of being a professional what kind of advice would you give them?
NG: Short game, short game, short game. You can’t spend enough time putting and chipping. The other thing is to compete in a lot of tournaments. You learn a lot when every stroke counts. It’s not like playing with your dad or friends just having some laughs. Playing tournaments makes you focus on each shot and forces you to manufacture shots when you find trouble on the course. You learn a lot about your self when you are playing in a tournament. No matter how well you play you will learn a lot about what kind of player you are and what you need to do to improve your game.
