Chris Haack
WHAT ARE THE BASIC QUESTIONS NEEDED TO PLAY AT A DIVISION ONE COLLEGE?
MARIA GEFFERS
Tell us about your background. Was there a moment when you knew coaching golf was your life calling?
CHRIS HAACK
I spent 16 years with the American Junior Golf Association, which was putting on golf tournaments for juniors all over the country. There were guys who went on to play the PGA Tour, including some of the best players in golf. We had Tiger Woods. Phil Mickelson was our player of the year three times in a row. I did that for 16 years. In 1990, we created an event called the Cannon Cup, which pitted the 10 best boys and girls from the East against the 10 best boys and girls from the West. I captained the West team.
Stephen Hamblin, who was the executive director at the time, captained the East team. It turned out to be a fun thing. I had Tiger on four of my national junior teams because he was from California.
Being in a team atmosphere piqued my interest, so when Dick Copas, the long-time coach from Georgia, retired, a few players who played in the AJGA were interested to see if I would be interested in coaching. That Cannon Cup experience made me realize I was interested. I was very fortunate. I came in 1995 and interviewed with the great Vince Dooley. He took a chance on me and hired me as coach. Here I am, 26 years later, and they haven't gotten rid of me yet.
TOM GEFFERS
What are your main responsibilities as head coach?
CHRIS HAACK
I'm in charge of budgeting, recruiting, and everything that has to do with the golf team, including the golf facilities and the golf clubhouse. I go out on the road and do the recruiting. The only thing I don’t have to do is deal with the admissions process. When we recruit a young man to come into the program, the admissions side is handed off to somebody else in our athletic department. Once they’re accepted, they’re my full responsibility. My staff includes a weight and conditioning coach, and a nutrition coach. We also have a sports psychologist. The golf on the golf course and the coaching falls on me along with my assistant coach, Jim Douglas.
TOM GEFFERS
How many kids are on the team?
CHRIS HAACK
We try to carry 10, which is many times due to Title IX. Occasionally there will be a situation where a kid red- shirted, who you weren’t expecting. We must recruit three or four years out, so we might end up with an 11th or 12th person. COVID really threw that into whack because all those guys got an extra year. We had 14 players on a roster, which is a lot because it’s difficult to find tee times and a practice schedule that works for everyone. Dealing with 14 players is a lot harder than dealing with 10.
TOM GEFFERS
What is the official season for golf?
CHRIS HAACK
Spring is considered the official season, but everybody plays golf year-round. The NCAA breaks golf down into two seasons, fall and spring, not to exceed 144 days. We try to play 70 to 72 games in the fall and 70 to 72 games in the spring.
TOM GEFFERS
How do you identify the best golfers around the country?
CHRIS HAACK
We watch a lot of the junior rankings. We primarily try to focus in on the best kids in Georgia first, then search in the region, and then nationally if we need to. Occasionally, we'll sprinkle in an international kid. Because we have a good reputation, we’re fortunate to get to stay in the Southeast for the most part.
When you start comparing golf to football or basketball, you must remember the NCAA is broken into two different categories. The head-count sports are offered a full ride scholarship. Tuition, fees, books, and living are all paid for. An equivalency sport, which is what golf is, gets four and a half scholarships to break up among 10 players however we want. In essence we kind of have a salary cap. I need to know who's leaving and what scholarship they're on and how that affects the guys coming in. It's an ebb and flow of watching what kind of kid you're getting. When it comes to recruiting, if we can get an in-state kid who qualifies for academic assistance, the academic scholarship he gets in state doesn't count against my four and a half scholarships.
If a high school graduate in Georgia has an overall 3.0 in high school, the HOPE scholarship pays for 90% of his in- state tuition. If you're a Zell Miller, which is a 3.75 graduating senior, you get all your tuition paid. A person like that jumps up on our list if they’re good because they bring a lot more to the table in terms of helping us free up some other scholarship for a kid who doesn't have the wherewithal and is from out of state.
TOM GEFFERS
Golf is such an individual sport. How do you keep the team heading in the right direction together?
CHRIS HAACK
I recognize that I have 10 individuals who need to do individualistic things, but need to be a team. I focus on the team atmosphere in the clubhouse. When we're in the clubhouse, when we're in the locker room, when we're together, we're very close-knit as a team. Once a week, we will do a short-game practice, where everybody must work on their short-game techniques. Other than that, we let them work on whatever they want to work on. If someone’s wedge game needs work, or someone wants to try a new driver, we let them. The last thing I want to hear is that a kid has been playing badly because I made him do something. They aren’t going to blame me because I only care about what you’re doing on the golf course.
We compete a lot. We play a lot. Because of that, we give these guys a lot of free rein to work on their games and prepare not only for themselves in college, but also what works to bring them to the next level. They will have to figure that out on their own. The more they can figure that out now, the better off they’ll be.
TOM GEFFERS
The Masters is in your backyard. Do any of your players go there to play as an amateur?
CHRIS HAACK
We take the team over there once a year. We have some alums who are over there, and we'll take our students over. Everybody gets a chance to go and play it once a year. Bubba Watson played here, and he's won it twice. I think we’ve had as many as six people who played in the Masters in one year. I have eleven guys out on the PGA Tour and one of them won a couple weeks ago in Palm Springs. That put all the guys who have played for me at over $200 million in tour earnings.
TOM GEFFERS
That’s a huge number. When do you speak to kids? Is there a certain time during their high school years that you speak to them?
CHRIS HAACK
It's different for everybody. A lot of it depends on your need. I have two kids I’m signing who are coming in next year, and I'm only losing two. I'm not recruiting the next year at this point because I don't know what I'm going to need. I don't want to constantly call a kid until I know I can offer him a chance to be on this team. The scholarship is great, but when you’re dealing with 10 spots and have four scholarships, the scholarship becomes very valuable. With the transfer portal, you have no idea what's going to happen. I'm starting to realize we have to be a little bit more guarded and not take a chance with a guy who could potentially develop. We need more guys who are ready to go at the drop of a hat. We're close to that right now.
TOM GEFFERS
Say I'm a junior in Pennsylvania and I'm on the golf team, and I'm doing well. I'm a par or one over par consistently. Am I good enough? Or is that average across the country? Is it realistic for a junior or a senior in the North to go down South and play if they’re a good player?
CHRIS HAACK
I get emailed at least 10 resumes a day from kids from all over the world. Inevitably, one is a one handicap, one’s a scratch, one’s a two, and you don't really know what that means. You don't know if he’s in competition or out playing with his friends. Those things are a little bit of a guideline, but I want to see tournament results. I want to see if they’ve played in the state junior or state amateur, if they’ve played on a junior tour, or if they qualified for the U.S. Junior. Then I can see their scope of talent. That’s when we head out and watch a kid play. We might see on paper that the kid looks good, and then when we watch him play, we can see how good.
We check out his fundamentals and his demeanor on the golf course. We check out how big he is. One of the things I look for when I’m recruiting are the bags that span legs when set down. I’m not interested in the guys who have the legs with the big dents because they got angry. I don’t want someone with a bad attitude. Every kid we watch is pretty good, so I must look at their intangible qualities and what kind of attitude they have. I look at how they treat other people. I want to see how a kid reacts when he doesn’t play well because that shows his true character. If he has a bad game and comes off the course and yells at his parents, I wonder what he’ll do to me. I pay attention to how they interact with other kids. We don’t want to bring someone in who won’t fit it and who alienates everyone else.
MARIA GEFFERS
Time management can be a problem for new students. Do you offer time management support on the golf team?
CHRIS HAACK
Time management is actually the biggest issue we deal with when they come in as freshmen, because it’s the first time they're away from home. I don't let them join a fraternity in their first year, but I tell them if at the end of the year their game is good, their grades are excellent, and they have some free time, we can discuss joining a fraternity. I’ve never had a student tell me they have too much time on their hands. These are Division 1 athletes. They practice, work out, study, meet with tutors, and meet with mentors. They’re very busy.
Time management is one of the most important things we teach them early on. They can get overwhelmed in athletics, so we assign every freshman a mentor outside of the golf program. My players have to learn that if they want to make golf their living, they have to manage their time and schoolwork wisely.
MARIA GEFFERS
It’s important for parents to know their kids have support when they send them to college. Sometimes students in bigger institutions get lost. Being anchored to a coach and a team can balance them, and they tend to navigate their first year better.
CHRIS HAACK
Most of the big schools are fortunate to have this. I have one guy in the athletic department under academics who helps them with their schedule and helps them meet up with tutors. Anything that comes to academics, I send my players right to him. He's on top of them. I might get a weekly report about what they have coming up or their study-hall schedule. We stay on them hard because we know how important it is they stay on top of their grades.
MARIA GEFFERS
What are you looking for in the ideal student-athlete?
CHRIS HAACK
I'm looking for a 4.0 student who shoots 65 every time. If I could find that guy, he’d be perfect. In all seriousness, I'm looking for somebody whose academics I don’t have to worry about. I don't need them to be a 4.0 student. I just need them to be a 3.0 student. I just need them to be a B student. I get a lot of guys who are 3.8, 4.0 students who take a lot of pride in their academics. I want a guy who gets along with everybody and who's not a problem. I want a guy who doesn't run home to Mom and Dad every time something comes up. I tell my players that their parents sent them to college, and they want them to figure it out. Then I tell them I can help them figure it out. There will always be problems that come up, and you just handle them.
I want golf junkies. The NCAA regulates in season that they can only practice for 20 hours a week, which includes playing. If we go out and play four rounds of golf to qualify, we must average four hours a round. That’s 16 hours. We work out three days a week for an hour, so now we’re at 19 hours. Then we may have one hour of short-game practice. That’s all I can schedule for them. To be really good, a guy must be willing to come out here and do that on his own. If I don’t schedule anything, he comes out to the range and the putting green to hit balls or play. I like getting guys who love golf so much it’s all they want to do.
MARIA GEFFERS
What is your biggest challenge as a coach?
CHRIS HAACK
The worst part of my job is picking a lineup to go to a tournament. We play for our spots. As we get near the end of the year, I take all the stats and information. I know who my best five guys are at that time, and I must make that decision. When you don't pick that sixth or seventh or eighth guy, it becomes hard. It's heartbreaking sometimes. I hate that part of the job. In golf, when we leave for a tournament, the five guys are in the van, and the other five are on the range watching us leave.
TOM GEFFERS
Is the goal of your students to go pro? What are some of the other careers they move into?
CHRIS HAACK
They all come here with aspirations that this will be the road that that leads them to becoming a professional golf player. We have had more people play pro in my time of coaching than anybody else has, but it’s still a very low percentage of the overall group of players. They go off into all kinds of things. One of the guys off my national championship team works with doctors. He sells joints, hips, and bones. He's in operating rooms with them when they're doing those types of surgeries.
I have another past player who runs a huge resort IMI business, where they have high-end properties all over the world. Many of them have become bankers or start their own business. Some of them become executives at large corporations. I’ve worked with an impressive group of young men. I’m just as proud of those who don’t play golf as their career as I am of those who do. Golf can be a lonely existence on the PGA Tour. It’s not for everybody. Some of my better players no longer play professionally because it wasn’t what they were cut out for. That’s why you go to college, to figure out what you like to do.
TOM GEFFERS
Is there anything we haven’t touched on you would like to talk about?
CHRIS HAACK
A lot of kids make the wrong decisions on where to go because of the scholarship offer. I’ve seen way too many kids go where they have more scholarship money and end up transferring. I’ve had at least five or six kids transfer here for no or very little scholarship money after getting a big scholarship somewhere else. If it was a full ride for everybody it would be an easy decision, but when you start mixing in money and the cost of education that continues to rise, it becomes a business decision for the parents.
A lot of these colleges and programs do summer camps, where the coaches work the camps. I’ve had two players who played on the PGA Tour who came to camp as 10 and 11-year-olds, and I’ve had seven or eight guys who came to camp end up playing for me. So, that is a great place for students who want to be on my team to start. It’s a good way to spend your summer. You’ll get to see the facilities, understand how we operate, how we play, and where we practice.
TOM GEFFERS
Thank you for giving us an inside look at college athletics.
