Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll, the winningest Golf Association of Michigan (GAM) player, male or female, in 100 years of history, also happens to be the winningest golf coach, male or female, in Michigan State University golf history.
She is preparing to make yet another run at the Michigan Women’s Amateur Championship starting Saturday, July 18, and this time it is being hosted at what is essentially the outdoor portion of her office.
Forest Akers West golf course – on the campus of Michigan State and just outside the window of her office in the 2016-minted golf team headquarters of the Lasch Family Golf Center – is hosting the Michigan Women’s Amateur for the second time in the last eight years.
Slobodnik-Stoll has won the 104-year-old state championship twice, in 1996 at Egypt Valley Country Club in her hometown of Grand Rapids, and in 1998 at Boyne Mountain Resort.
At age 47, and already in the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame, she made a run to the final match a year ago at Spring Lake Country Club, falling to Elayna Bowser of Dearborn, then fresh out of Loyola University-Chicago and now a first-year professional.
The 2019 runner-up, the coach/competitor who has won an unprecedented 19 GAM titles, including 10 GAM Mid-Amateur wins, is preparing her game and watching over the preparation of her 16-year-old daughter Olivia, who will be playing in the championship for the first time.
“I’m more concerned right now with how Olivia plays,” she said of her and husband Jim Stoll’s athletic daughter who surprised her parents when she decided at 14 that she wanted to play competitive golf after previously showing minimal interest.
“I would like to see her get into the match play. That would contribute another step in her golf process.”
As for herself: “I would also like to make a good run at it again.
“It’s the competition and that’s what I love to do,” she said. “No matter what it is, I love to compete. I would love to be playing in the U.S. ( Women’s Mid-Amateur) even though this year there isn’t one. I want to play in the Michigan Amateur, the GAM Championship and the Michigan Open for as long as possible.”
Slobodnik-Stoll has two summers of golf before she turns 50 and the world of senior golf in both USGA and GAM opens to her as well. She plans to keep on recruiting and winning Big Ten Championships at Michigan State – her teams have won seven in 22 years to go along with 20 NCAA Championship appearances – and she plans to keep on playing.
“When I turn 50, I hope to get the opportunity to play in more national tournaments – that’s a goal,” she said. “It will depend on coaching, though, and my family. It always has.”
Role models who handled family, career, and golf, gave Slobodnik-Stoll inspiration, and she is very aware of her impact on her MSU players, Olivia, and younger players who
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By: Greg Johnson
Title: Making another run: Spartan coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll Set for Michigan Women’s Amateur
Sourced From: golfweek.usatoday.com/2020/07/10/michigan-womens-amateur-stacy-slobodnik-stoll-michigan-state/
Published Date: Fri, 10 Jul 2020 13:45:27 +0000
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