Baylee Hodgman '22 Recruiting Profile

I was first introduced to golf by my dad when I was 2 years old and have been in love with it ever since.  But due to my highly competitive nature, soccer became my go-to sport at an early age. I played for about 9 years (6 of which I played competitive club).  I was progressively moving up in my division and my aggressive and tactical play were being rewarded in Captainships and MVP awards.  However, my aggressive tendency did also land me a few bumps and bruises culminating in a few concussions.   So by the end of my sophomore year in high school, I decided to hang up my cleats and strap on my spikes and started devoting 100% of my time to school and golf.

My actual introduction to the world of competitive golf (not recreational) began about 2 months before the start of my freshman year.  I was already fairly familiar with the game having played a few rounds here and there with my dad.  It was quickly noted that I had a pretty good swing and a fair amount of power but lacked control, finesse and general golf course management skills.  We then decided that in order to take my game to where it needed to go, that a swing coach was in order.  I'd gone through 4 swing coaches before we found my current swing coach and everything just clicked.  I learned how important chemistry and communication were to a coach and player and once I had that, I was bought in. Soon after my scores began to tumble down and in less then 3.5 years, I have taken my scores down from the +100 mark to single digit's relative to par.  So my rate of improvement has been well above the average considering how long I've actually been playing.   My new goal now is to actually win a tournament and to learn how to go low.  I've had a few rounds where I'd be 5 or 6 under and realize my score and freak out.  But my coach tells me that learning to go low and stay low are a learned skill as well and I'm optimistic that I'm moving in that right direction as shown in my last 4 or 5 tournaments. My personal goal for my senior year is to bring my scoring average for my last 10 tournaments to under a +5 and graduate in the top 10% of my class.

Golf has always been apart of my life. It is a dream of mine to play college golf and hopefully one day, stand on a winning podium as a student-athlete.  I am very dedicated (sometimes too much), and willing to put in the effort to make myself better.

In the classroom, I always want to be the best at what I do. I work hard in order to keep my GPA good. Academics are just as important to me as sports.  I can get a bit hard on myself in regards to my academics but my family reassures me that isn't the worst thing in the world.