Photo by Eric Fleming

Many professional golfers dream of playing on a pro tour from the moment they touch their first club. But this wasn’t the case for Hana Kim. Growing up, Kim thought more about law school than Q-school. Now a member of the LPGA Tour, Kim never imagined her love affair with golf would launch a professional career. It wasn’t until Kim gave in to playing on a semi-devoted golf team to balance her pre-law endeavors that Kim realized she missed thrill of a club house more than the thought of a court house.

Born-and-raised in Los Angeles, Calif., Kim grew up playing golf under some of the nation’s best conditions. Along with her parents and younger sister, Ina, Kim hit the links beneath Southern California’s 73-degree-and-breezy perfection starting at age 6.

“At the time I was swimming, doing a bunch of other stuff,” Kim describes to AAGolf Magazine while in between rounds at this year’s Safeway Classic. “But golf was always the most fun because I got to spend time with my sister and my parents.”

After several years of playing with her family, Kim began participating in tournaments, stepping up the level of her game. By the time she reached high school, golf became slightly more than just a hobby, but she still wasn’t interested in making it her career. Senior year came and went, and Kim soon received a scholarship from Northwestern University, a Big Ten school in Evanston, Ill., known more for its rigorous academic curriculum rather than an outstanding golf program.“When I originally went to Northwestern, I had no intention of turning pro,” she recalls. “I thought, golf is fun, but I really want to be a lawyer. Northwestern is just a great academic school, and has this great program that preps you for law school.”

But after two years at Northwestern, Kim realized she missed the intense competition of golf more than she anticipated. It was at this point that she made a pivotal decision: She decided to pursue golf with the prospects of a professional career.Her first move was to transfer to the University of California, Los Angeles, a school with a top-ranking women’s golf program.

“UCLA was right near my house. They recruited me when I was coming out of high school, so I called the coach, and luckily there was room on the team. She was happy to have me.”
Kim was glad to be back in Southern California, even though it meant leaving her sister who was still playing on the Northwestern golf team (Ina eventually graduated in 2005 from Northwestern but did not pursue a professional career.) “You know, it was tough. Not a lot of my credits transferred,” Kim explains. “I took five classes a quarter, but I was glad to have graduated in four years so I could be out here to pursue what I wanted to do.”

After graduating from UCLA, Kim competed in the LPGA’s Qualifying School in December 2004. Qualifying school, also known as Q-School, is a series of tournaments where participants have the chance to win a professional tour card and a spot on a certain professional tour. Although she earned an exempt tour card in her first try, the experience was anything but a cakewalk.

“Eight days I was there, and in eight days I lost eight pounds,” she recalls. “I was literally in full-stress mode for 10 days because the two days prior I didn’t get any sleep. It was one of those things where I was so exhausted that I would fall asleep at 7:30.

“You feel like you understand the magnitude of what you are doing, or the consequences of these five rounds, but you don’t really. And so it’s just pure adrenaline, I think, that pushes you along. I just had to rely on the fact that I had practiced hard enough.”

Despite winning the battle of Q-School, Kim struggled to stay on tour. She cleared the first hurdle of getting her tour card but didn’t make enough money in the 2005 season to maintain it. Kim had to return to Q-School, and this time she was only able to get a conditional status for the 2006 season. That meant Kim could often only play if not enough exempt players showed up to fill the field. The other way she could get into a tournament was to play in the Monday qualifier where only the top one or two finishers made it into the field.

Though she achieved some good scores in the 2006 season when she was able to play, Kim ended up qualifying for just a handful of LPGA events this year.

“(Many conditional players felt) it was really discouraging to try qualifying for a tournament on Monday, not make it, and have the whole week off,” she says. “But for me, I felt like if I don’t make Monday’s qualifier, I’m going to be practicing anyway. And why wouldn’t I just practice at the country club that is the tour stop that week?”

Many new players who fail to initially win prize money end up dipping into their personal bank accounts to stay on tour. Kim, luckily, has avoided this. Thanks to her endorsement deal with Puma (in which she sports the company’s shoes, clothes and bag), she’s been able to cover her tour expenses. She’s also sponsored by the National Golf Club, an organization of country clubs that allows a member to pay one fee in exchange for playing privileges at all member clubs. Her sponsorships help her more than financially, too. She sometimes uses the National Golf Club to gain access to practice facilities, and the people at Puma help her out with various golfing odds and ends.

“I can just call them up and say, ‘Hey! It’s your golfer, what’s going on?’ They really take care of me.”Also lending a hand is her caddie and coach, Patrick Boyd, who worked as the club pro at Mountain Gate Country Club in Los Angeles when she hired him. With past pro-tour experience, Boyd has been invaluable in helping Kim get her bearings on tour. Kim says meeting him is just another example of how fortunate she’s been.

“I just stumbled upon a lot of great people and companies.”But Kim isn’t taking her luck for granted. She’s put in long hours practicing to be the best—just in case that next stroke of luck is around the corner.

“When I’m at home, I go to yoga Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and I work out Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. I go to the golf course every day. I try to make sure that on different weeks, I work on different things that I feel I need to get better with at that particular point.

“Every few weeks or so, I have to say to myself, ‘Am I a better player now than I was six months ago?’ And I think to myself, ‘Yes, I am!’ And the fact that I can say that without hesitating makes me feel so much more motivated.”Kim says, above all else, it’s important, to stay positive.

“I feel like I’m definitely still learning how to be a professional. So hopefully I’m doing the right things, and sooner or later—sooner hopefully—it’ll all come together for me.”

While professional golfer may not have been her original goal, Kim’s successful second season on tour proves that it’s never too late to change directions...and that a little luck never hurt, either.  

Eric Fleming is the editor of a website dedicated to the Korean women golfers on the LPGA tour, www.seoulsisters.com.