The ASGA chatted with Anna Kate Nichols and her dad Joey Nichols on June 30 at Pleasant Valley Golf Club, the family’s home club. The father-daughter duo discussed Anna Kate’s steady improvement on the links, Joey’s experience as a USGA Championship-level amateur player, and their time spent together on the course.
July 10, 2023
By Chris Werner
USGA P.J. Boatwright Jr. Intern
In the midst of Anna Kate Nichols’ impressive summer of play, including wins on the ASGA and Texas Junior Golf Tour (TGJT) circuits, the ASGA talked with the 2021 and 2022 Simmons Bank ASGA Juniors Girls Player of the Year on June 30 at Pleasant Valley Golf Club. A.K., as she is commonly referred to, touched on her recent results, commitment to join the University of Arkansas in 2024, goals for the rest of the summer, and more.
Anna Kate’s father Joey Nichols also discussed his own background as a former UALR golfer and a USGA Championship-level amateur player, his daughter's rise up the junior ranks, and their time spent together on the course.
Arkansas State Golf Association: Anna Kate, how would you reflect on your summer thus far? A couple of ASGA wins as well as the Texas Junior Tour. A Couple of top finishes besides that, as well.
Anna Kate Nichols: This summer’s been really, really good. I’ve been playing some good golf. Having some top finishes, my game’s kind of coming together at the right time I feel like. It's good so far. So hopefully we can keep it up for the rest of the summer.
ASGA: What sorts of things helped your game come together? What have you specifically been working on, how have you seen it improve?
AKN: Well, my ball striking has gotten a lot better this summer, a lot better than last summer. I've kind of been struggling with my putting a little bit but not to the point where it's really hurt me too, too bad, but I definitely need to put a little more emphasis on short game. That would be where I'm kind of losing strokes at the moment.
ASGA: Is that one of your main goals for the rest of the summer? For the summer, do you have any results in mind or tournaments you want to play well at, or is it more just improving the parts of your game?
AKN: I would say more just improving the parts of my game that need to be improved and hopefully the results will follow the hard work. So, you know, just getting better on the greens and picking up some strokes each tournament should help me out quite a bit.
ASGA: Were you always kind of like that where, you know, maybe your ball striking was a little better than the short game, or how has your game evolved over time to where it is now?
AKN: I would say my ball striking has probably always been the strength of my game. My putting and chipping are a lot better than what they used to be, so I mean, now it's to the point where it's good, but it can definitely be improved. You know, even my ball striking, everything can be improved. But yeah, ball striking has always been kind of my main strength.
ASGA: The biggest junior event you’ve played so far this summer was the AJGA Rolex Girls Junior Championship, take me through that event. I know you maybe didn't play how you wanted to for the first three rounds, but your final round 69 was tied for the second-best of any player for that day. Take me through that tournament and maybe what changed the final round?
AKN: That tournament was really fun. Obviously, you know, I didn't play the best golf I could the first three rounds but had good moments in every round, just, you know, had a couple holes that really just messed me up a little bit. But the final round was just, I was hitting the ball pretty well and making some putts and hitting it pretty close to the hole.
ASGA: I know an event of that magnitude has a lot of really good junior players, how is it to test your game against the best in the country? I know you've done it on multiple occasions as well in qualifiers and things alike.
AKN: It's always so, so fun to get to go play in those kinds of tournaments and play with the best competition because not only do they make you better, but you kind of get to see what you need to work on up against these players. Like, I know for me, a lot of these girls, their short games are better than mine, and that's where I can tell where I'm losing shots, so definitely a good learning experience too.
ASGA: With that, do you think you could have rebounded for the second-best round of the day in the fourth round years prior in your career? How is this summer maybe helped you mentally as well as learning what you have to improve on on the course?
AKN: Yeah, this summer, you know, there have been moments that I haven't really played my best golf but you just have to stay patient and just keep working on what you need to work on and hopefully you know, the results will come with that. It’s just sticking to your plan and having faith that it will all work out.
ASGA: Has that been something you've had to work on, like patience and keeping the faith in what you're focusing on?
AKN: Golf is obviously a really easy sport to kind of get down on yourself. So I definitely have been trying to stay more positive during my rounds. And you know, if you have a bad hole, shake it off, it's okay, you’ve got a lot more golf to play. That's helped me a whole lot.
ASGA: Transitioning into your college commitment, you announced you were heading to University of Arkansas in September of last year. Was that something you always wanted to do? I know you grew up in Little Rock. Tell me the story of that, how did you make the decision?
AKN: I've grown up a humongous Razorbacks fan. And honestly, I did gymnastics till I was about 10, so I didn't really even get into golf until, I mean seriously into golf, until about 10. But as soon as I started playing golf, I was like, 'I want to be a Razorback, that's where I want to go.' I love the school, I love the practice facility, the program, everything's great. It was an easy decision, I will say that. When the time came, I was like, ‘Yep, this is where I'm supposed to be.’
ASGA: We’ve already touched on this a little bit but are there any goals you have or tournaments you want to play well in for the rest of the summer, into your final high school season?
AKN: Yeah, we have a couple big ones coming up, playing in the Bubba in Memphis in about two weeks, and then I have a little break, and then Junior match play here at Eagle Hill. So obviously, that'd be cool to win that one again (she beat Maggie Huett in the championship match in 2022. And then we have the PGA Junior Championships at Hot Springs, which is cool because it's in Hot Springs and that's one of the biggest junior tournaments in the country. So obviously, any high finish in all three of those events would be great.
ASGA: And then, a little bit of reversing the roles, I know you caddied for former Razorback Kaylee Benton in the Palmer Cup in 2019. It's been a while but would you say that experience helped you, especially at a time in your life when you were figuring out that you wanted to play golf at the level you are now?
AKN: Oh, obviously. That was so much of a help because you got to see 24 of the best girls and boys in the country compete and get to see what they do well, what they put emphasis on, and what their goals are. So it was honestly so much fun getting to caddy for her. She did so many things so well. It was a really, really fun tournament to get to be a part of.
Anna Kate’s father, Joey Nichols got his turn on the mic so to speak, weighing in on his daughter’s young career from the perspective of someone who has played Division I golf at UALR from 1992-96 and has competed in eight USGA championships.
ASGA: Let’s start with a little bit of background on your playing career. I know the eight USGA championships and an Arkansas State Am title.
Joey Nichols: Yeah, I obviously played junior golf growing up in Arkansas. You know, a Junior Player of the Year way back when, so I won that Junior Player of the Year, and then I played golf at Arkansas Little Rock for four years for Wyn Norwood so that was a really cool thing to be one of the first guys on the team when they first started the golf program back at UALR. I was one of the first recruits. So I played four years for Coach Norwood here and then went to law school.
After law school, I spent a few years where I tried to work a lot and, you know, get good at my job. I didn't spend as much time at golf and so my golf sort of fell off a little bit. But somehow, mid-to-late 30s, I really played my best golf as I got older. The year I won the State Am at Shadow Valley (2011) I also qualified for a US Amateur at Erin Hills. Being in your late 30s and playing in the USA Amateur, I had thought that my chance to ever play in the US Amateur had long since passed me by. I mean, I had played qualifiers for three or four years before that, and I would get close, I was playing really good. I mean to get close in a 36-hole qualifier for a US Am against a bunch of college kids, you know, in your mid-to-late 30s. I mean, I was like, ‘Man, I don't know if I'm gonna quite do this, but I'm playing really well.’ But it just so happened I qualified at Maumelle and got to go to the US Am and that was obviously a really cool experience. But in 2013 they had the Western Am at Alotian and they were kind enough and I had played well enough the year before, I got into the Western Am. And honestly like as far as cool golf experiences for me as an Arkansas guy, playing in a western am in my hometown, and really playing well. I mean, I played well for me, I wasn't in the top 40, I didn't make the cut, but I wasn't really far off against really a lot of the best players in the world. That was kind of my peak. I mean after that, as AK started to play more golf and get more into golf, my golf kind of fell off, which I was perfectly fine with that. But yeah, so that was kind of my golf career to this point.
ASGA: With that pedigree and that career, how did you start Anna Kate in golf and how much pride does it give you that she’s following the footsteps of back-to-back Junior Girls Player of the Year, the same organization, playing all these qualifiers and kind of following a similar path that you did.
JN: When AK started to play a little bit of competitive golf, 10, 11 years old when she started to play tournaments, I could tell that she was starting to really enjoy it and was having some success. You know, every dad, or mom, or parent whose kid you think has a gift or a talent, you want them to succeed. Being a golfer and knowing what it takes to be good, It'd be easy to want to push her to be good as the parent and I really tried to just make golf, as hard as it is, I just wanted golf to be fun for her. She didn't really have a lot of friends that played golf growing up at her school and there weren't a lot of girls that necessarily played out here. And so it's not like a lot of other sports where you've got a team and your friends are all playing, and so I kind of tried to balance like, ‘O.K., I would love for her to keep getting better, but I want golf to be fun.’ So when we came out and play, we usually ride in a cart, we listen to music (mostly country), we have fun. That's the way we have always played golf when she and I play golf together. It's not, ‘Hey, you need to go practice a bunch you got some tournament, why aren't you out there on the range? Why aren't you over there chipping and putting?’ I might think that but I wouldn't say that. And that's worked well.
I mean, every year that's gone by since AK started playing golf from 10 on, I can honestly say she worked harder this year than she worked last year, all the way back. It's weird how it's worked. And it's not me telling her to go practice. But she works harder now than she worked last year, and it’s been that way as we've gone along.
And then, I mean, the pride I have in what she's done, I mean it doesn't get any cooler. I mean being a golfer and having success like I had at my level, all my buddies joke they’re always like, ‘She's already past all your accomplishments.’ And I'm like I'm perfectly fine with that. But yeah, it really didn't get any cooler as a parent and as a golfer like me to have your daughter have the success she’s had,
ASGA: Either of you can answer this, can you think of a specific point where the work ethic increased, where you thought, ‘Oh, now that I can actually be very good at the sport, I should probably work a little harder at it to maximize the potential or get closer to that?’
AKN: I would say probably like 11 or 12. When I was 11, 12, and 13, I had the chance to play PGA Junior League. It's a 10-person team, and my team made it to Nationals at Grayhawk twice and I realized, when you're on a team like that, you need to pull your weight. That means to go practice and to work as hard as everyone else because people are depending on you. So I would say that was kind of a moment where I kind of stepped it up a little bit. I think that was when I really put it in another gear.
JN: I agree with that. And then I think in the last few years, you get to a point when she got a little bit older, I mean, your goal is to play college golf and you're trying to go play all these tournaments and you're trying to play against better competition and you see, ‘O.K., for me to get to that goal, which is one of the goals along the way, I got to put in the work to get there.’ People always ask me, they're like, ‘Did you know that AK was going to be good enough to go play at Arkansas or play collegiately?’ No, I don't know, I mean, I'm the dad. I mean, everybody's parent thinks their kid is, you know, great at a sport, when in reality, maybe it's somewhere in between. But yeah, I could tell as that process became a little bit more in the forefront, that obviously is a little bit of a motivating factor. And I think now, I love it because the Arkansas coaches, they do a great job of, it's almost like AK’s already part of the team now.
AKN: They reach out they call, they text, they keep up with all my tournaments. I call them, tell them how it went. You know, they give me things to work on. So it does feel like you're part of the team without actually being on the team yet.
ASGA: And I know you’re a basketball player as well, for both of you, how does that help? I know specialization in a sport year-round is kind of a controversial issue. How does that maybe help that you're doing something else in the winter and not golf all the time every day?
AKN: I love playing basketball. I've played it since third grade. And I think it's really good to have a team sport in high school because, I mean, high school golf, yes, it's a team sport. But last year, I didn't even have a team so I think it's good to have a team sport and I have my best friend doing it with me, so I do enjoy that. Keeps me in good shape, which is also a positive. And it takes your mind off golf a little bit. Over the winter, in Arkansas, you don't really get to play as much golf anyway. So I mean I tell people it doesn't really conflict with golf much and my coaches are super understanding about me missing practices and stuff like that for golf. They're super nice about all that.
JN: I think it's been great. I mean, I think it's just good for her, especially given the fact that she doesn’t have a group of girls to play golf with here, you know, a lot of times, her golf most of the time golf is with me and all my buddies, and they're all great, they love playing golf with AK and you know, she's always in the group. But having another sport to play where you're on a team, you've got teammates, that interaction, I think it's just good for her socially. It's good to get a break. It’s weird, we go to tournaments and sometimes you talk to some of these other parents and you'll tell them that she plays basketball and they look at you like you're crazy. Like, ‘You let her play basketball? What if she falls and breaks her wrist?’
AKN: Or, ‘Why is she not practicing golf all the time?’ But for me, I think it's good to not be golf, golf, golf all the time. Like you have no social life whatsoever. I think it's a good balance between the two.
JN: I think one of the coolest things, it's been interesting, I have literally watched this for the last like five years, especially in junior girls golf, girls develop faster than boys and there are 13-year-old girls that are playing in the US Women's Open or they're playing in all these great tournaments because they physically are developed enough that they can hit it far enough to play at that level. But with AK, I've watched as every year that's gone by she's getting better every single year. I mean, she isn't going up steadily and there's a lot of girls that they're already plateauing, they might get a little better, but how much better can they get? And she's just I've always looked at it like she doesn't have to be great at 16. But if she's better at 17 and then if she continues to get better at Arkansas when she has that coaching and the teammates to learn from because she's still a little bit inexperienced in a way.
She goes and plays these tournaments like when she went to the Rolex, a lot of these girls have played in this tournament four or five times. It's her first time. So she does things sometimes in a round of golf where you're like, ‘Oh my gosh, I can't believe she just did that.’ She doesn't have the experience, not relative to some. I mean, she's experienced relative to a lot of junior players, but a lot of these girls, they've been playing. But I look up and I go, ‘Well, I remember playing against that girl two years ago and she was so much better than AK.’ I look at it now and I go, ‘I think AK’s better than that girl.’ She's on an upward path, but it's more at her own pace.
ASGA: I have to ask, what are those things that make you shake your head?
JN: It's bad course management.
ASGA: Driver everywhere all the time?
AKN: Honestly, no. I’m a little too aggressive. He thinks that I need to be more aggressive.
JN: I've kind of gotten to a point where it's like, ‘Hit driver unless you can’t.’ Her driver is probably her best weapon. She hits it long and she hits it straight. We’d play a practice round and I used to look where all the trouble was, and I'd say, ‘Oh, maybe don't hit driver here because there's trouble here.’ Then the more I've watched her, I’ve realized the trouble that I'm looking at is not what she’s going to hit it in. And so I usually get frustrated if she doesn't play aggressive.
ASGA: I guess that's better than the other way around.
JN: Yeah, I think a lot of girls, some of them they play not as agressive and she should play aggressive, like, ‘Take advantage of the fact that you hit it far and straight and use your length because if you don't, then you're just making it where the girls that don't hit it far, you're putting it in the same spot they hit it and now you've lost your advantage. That's really the only area a lot of times where I help her a lot, I try to help her with course management stuff, not necessarily golf swing. She's got a golf coach, Patrick Sullivan, and he does a good job of that.
ASGA: For you, Joey, AK talked about the growth in her golf game, but have you seen anything specific where you could see the work paying off in her game or mentally confidence-wise?
JN: Yes, the work that they've put in with her golf swing, I mean, her ball striking is at a point now where it's really good. And I've noticed this year as compared to even last year, that has become, I mean it's always been a strength so to speak, but now, playing in these tournaments recently against elite players, I mean, I walk down the range, I'm there watching people, and I don't see a lot of girls that hit it like she hits it or better. I see a lot of good players and some of them are girls that are still beating her because of other reasons but she's got time to continue to work on that part of the game. Patrick’s done a great job with her golf swing. And she works really hard in the gym. She's been going to a trainer at D 1 Training for 2 ½ years. That's a big thing. I mean, she's a whole lot stronger. So I think that helps in all kinds of ways but it certainly helps hit it further and it helps your confidence and all that so that's the biggest thing I've noticed this year and she's just got to continue to work on the short game and just managing your way around the golf course better.
She's been really close the last couple of months, been having great finishes. The last month has kind of been a little bit frustrating because she's playing so much better golf, but all the results have sort of been like, ‘Man!’ Lost by one in the State Women’s Am, lost in a playoff three days ago for the US Women's Amateur to play in the biggest tournament in the world. You look at those and you go, ‘Man, that was a tough drive home the other day.’ But you think, ‘Well, you were right there, and you'll get better from that.’ Those experiences I think make you work harder. A little bit of failure is not necessarily a bad thing. Not that it's a failure in the sense of she's failed. But she didn't accomplish the goal that she wanted. And yet, she's right on the edge of it, so I'm like, ‘You just keep doing what you're doing and keep working on what your weaknesses are and you're gonna win a whole lot in the future. So don't let it get you down.’
ASGA: For either of you, do you think that relative inexperience has helped with resiliency? Because while you’ve had the wins, you've had some tough losses but seems like you keep an even keel, or try to.
AKN: Yeah, I definitely think that playing in those, obviously, the Rolex was my first time, first Women’s Am qualifier, I just think about it as, ‘I’ll get to play in it again, get it to give it another go.’ I mean, obviously, you want to do well and everything you play in but you know, sometimes that doesn't always happen. So, I think just learning from it and growing and just working on what you need to work on and just keep on going. It’ll happen.
JN: Well, you know, the one we didn't mention, but I'll throw in I mean, the women's four ball this year, we were there six days, two practice rounds, two rounds, of stroke play, two matches. It was really cool because it was her first USGA national championship. And so that's a new experience in and of itself. It was good to get to experience that with her because, you know, I had played in them and she had caddied for me in Colorado 3 years ago, but to get to go there and be her caddie for that tournament was really one of the coolest experiences for me in golf. What made it even greater is she played so well. She started off like the first couple days, the practice rounds, and she was playing good, but I remember telling Melissa (Ak’s mom), ‘I just want to stay here and keep playing. Every day we play, she's playing better.
AKN: The round that we lost (Round of 16), I played a really good round for me. It was a long golf course is tough. It was windy. It was just solid golf all around. My partner played great too, (Avery Weed from Mississippi, headed to Mississippi State in the fall).
ASGA: Lastly, for either of you guys, obviously the golf is the biggest part of it, but what does it mean to be able to share these experiences? It seems like Joey you're out at all the tournaments and a lot of bonding going on during these events.
JN: It's great. I try to soak it up because I know I've got one more year. When she goes off to college, it'll be a little different but I love getting to travel golf tournaments. I do the best job I can to not miss any of them but I have to miss something here or there. And then, I mean, she's my golf partner out here all the time. So, I mean, that's it's great. Golf is a bond. So I love that.
This interview was lightly edited for clarity and length.
