Karen Peek's first golf memory isn't a great shot. It's her mom and aunt on the lesson tee at Rackham, laughing to tears and hitting it terribly.
In this episode of The Bag Drop: Untold Stories in Golf, host Matt Considine and co-host Dr. Kevin Moore (a.k.a. "The Professor") sit down with
Karen Peek (Director of Golf Operations for Golf Detroit and an LPGA teaching professional) to talk about growing up on Detroit's municipal courses, chasing the LPGA Tour through four Q-Schools, and why being genuinely glad to see people is the best business decision a golf course can make.
The conversation dives into:
- Learning the game from Ben Davis at Rackham and Chris Williams at Palmer Park, the only two Black members of the Michigan PGA section at the time
- Four tries at the LPGA Tour, never once feeling comfortable at Q-School, and a putting saga that runs from hypnosis to a new Scotty Cameron ordered two weeks ago
- Why teaching is a skill, not telling people how you do it, and why the boyfriend lesson ends the golf before it ends the relationship
- The 150-yard markers at Chandler Park and why she isn't getting drunk on golf's boom
- "Hey dude, what's up?", the private-club pro shop that never said hello, and why she can charge more because her courses are nicer
- Ben Davis's legacy: humble, fierce, and always moving golfers off the range and onto the course
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Chapters
00:00 Cold open: when your boyfriend is your golf teacher
00:45 Welcome, and a bruised fall for Guardians and Bulldogs fans
03:12 Best fall format: East Lothian rules vs. Steel vs. Rubber
05:05 The team-event climax, plus First Tee Cleveland and Akron
06:20 Meet Karen Peek of Golf Detroit
07:56 The Professor's teaching: 20 minutes outside, less cortisol
09:58 Erin Hills: the glaciers did the heavy lifting
12:10 Karen joins: baseball first, and nothing for State
15:18 A Cleveland-fan dad and a Tigers-fan daughter
19:35 Mom's lessons with Ben Davis: so happy, so awful
22:12 Free Press summer golf school: 400 kids, no golf balls
23:39 Biking to Palmer Park and learning from Chris Williams
25:07 Losing her dad at 14, and the comfort of the individual game
27:51 Par was the standard, practice was the answer
31:37 Four tries at the LPGA Tour, and advice from people who haven't been there
36:43 Q-School: prepared until she got there
38:45 Hypnosis, acupuncture, and a putter over the knee
42:53 Lemons into lemonade: joining the LPGA to teach
44:50 Teaching is a skill, not telling people how you do it
48:16 Six-foot-four students and "please don't apologize"
52:41 What Carol Mann taught her: people need to know you care
56:28 Horrific lessons and the boyfriend at the range
59:35 Delivery over knowledge: listen first
1:03:13 Get them on the course, the sooner the better
1:04:14 Nobody knows what 300 yards looks like (hit one more club)
1:08:49 The 150-yard markers at Chandler Park
1:11:23 Don't get drunk on the boom
1:13:19 Building comfort: staff who look like your golfers
1:17:36 The private-club pro shop that said nothing
1:19:23 "I can charge more because I'm nicer"
1:22:55 Ben Davis: humble, fierce, always smiling
1:26:26 Thanks, and the outro with Erin Hills
What is NewClub?
A golf club without the real estate. One membership, a rotation of great courses, tee times, competitions, trips already on the calendar, and people who love the game the way you do. We play as visitors of the clubs and courses that host us, and those relationships are the heart of what we do.
What is The Bag Drop?
Deeply researched audio documentaries telling the stories behind golf's greatest clubs, plus weekly conversations with the characters and communities shaping golf today. Hosted by NewClub founder Matt Considine and The Professor, Dr. Kevin Moore.
