David Inglis, the golfing prince who never
became a king, finds peace of mind with
post at Luke
Donald's old
US college
By COLIN FARQUHARSON It is one of golfing life's great mysteries why the professional careers of some young men - and girls - with stellar amateur CVs never get off the ground.
David Inglis, originally from the Glencorse club near Edinburgh, is a classic example. In 2000 he won the British boys' championship. While a student at the University of Tulsa he was one of the leading US college players of his day - more highly rated than fellow Scot Martin Laird - three times being named to the All-American college team .
He played for the Europe team against the US in the Palmer Cup matches of 2003 and 2004 and was a membr of the winning Great Britain and Ireland team in the 2003 Walker Cup match at Ganton.
David turned professional in 2004 and tried his luck on satellite tours all over the place but, for some unknown reason, his tremendous golfing talent did not transfer to the pro ranks.
Eventually he went back to live in the United States where he had spent four happy and very successful years as a college golfer. Inglis, the man who should have becoming a golfing king, disappeared into relative obscurity.
In October 2005 he got a job in golf, working at Bear Lakes Country Club in West Palm Beach, Florida where he served as a golf instructor, junior golf coach and tournament organiser. He coached and mentored multiple junior golfers with the goal of preparing them for college golf.
Then, just a couple of months or so ago, Inglis' luck changed for the better. He applied for and was accepted as an assistant coach to the men's golf team at Northwestern University, Chicago - the college which Ryder Cup Englishman Luke Donald put on the map during his four years there.
Northwestern head coach Pat Goss says on the college website:
"We are very excited to hire David to be a part of our Northwestern golf program," Goss said.
"His experience and success as a collegiate player and as a professional golfer will be extremely beneficial to our student-athletes. David also has a great understanding of what it takes to be successful at Northwestern, and we are looking forward to the positive impact he will undoubtedly have."
I had been trying to track down David Inglis for many months with a view to putting together a "Where are they now?" type feature article for Scottishgolfview.com. Nobody seemed to have much idea of where he had gone, what he was doing.
The first breakthrough came when Martin Dempster, golf writer of The Scotsman and Edinburgh Evening News, told me that Inglis had a job at Bear Lakes Country Club in Florida.
Then, more recently, during my weekly trawl through the US college golf websites I stumbled across his appointment to the staff at Northwestern University.
From there it was relatively simple to obtain an E-mail address for David and he was delighted to respond with with news of his past, present and future:
David Inglis writes:
We got back late last night from California where the (Northwestern University) team finished third at The Gifford Collegiate at CordeValle. It was our best performance of the fall season and included beating the defending NCAA Champions Augusta State by more than 20 shots.
I started as assistant coach in September and have loved every minute so far. About two years ago i realised my professional career was not working out and I decided to pursue coaching as a career. I felt like it was the perfect fit for me. I was able still to be competitive in golf and make a living doing what I like the most.
I feel like I can pass on to players some of the experiences that made me a good college golfer at Tulsa while at the same time "learning the ropes" in coaching from a great man like Pat Goss.
Pat is very highly regarded as a college coach and a top 100 teacher in the US and definitely gives Northwestern a huge advantage when it comes to player development.
He has worked with Luke Donald ever since he came to Northwestern in the late 90's and is someone i can really learn from.
Luke is still very involved with the program and is one of our biggest supporters. Our outdoor practice facility is named after him and he plays a key role in our fund-raising, both as a donor and supporter of Wildcat Golf Day where he gives a clinic to our alumni and boosters. Luke Donald is a real class act.
The golf courses we have use of in Chicago are fantastic. We play a number of
courses that have staged major USGA and PGA Tour events including Butler National, Conway Farms, North Shore CC, and Skokie CC to name a few. Even in the winter time we are able to still get a lot of work done thanks to our indoor facility at The Gleacher Centre which is located on campus.
Obviously I do miss playing competitively, and I still have plans to regain my
amateur status within the next couple of years, but for now I am happy to be putting all my efforts into making Northwestern successful.
Let me know if you ever need anything on this end as far as questions about
collegiate golf here in the States, I'm happy to help.
Best wishes
David Inglis
PS Let me know if you find any great Scottish players who are looking at going to the States for University......I'm always looking for the next Luke Donald!
Footnote from Colin Farquharson:
David Inglis comes across as a really nice person. No bitterness, no chip on his shoulder about his pro golf career not working out as it should. Great that he has found a job within golf and that he might still make a comeback to amateur golf where all his glory days have been.
David is only 28, so I have a feeling there are still more chapters to come in his golfing life story. You can't keep a good man down!
+David Inglis, ever helpful, sent to Scottishgolfview.com the picture at the top of this article. It shows David (on left) with Northwestern University freshman Jack Perry.
INGLIS TELLS DOUGLAS LOWE WHERE HE WENT WRONG
FROM THE HERALDSCOTLAND.COM WEBSITE
By DOUGLAS LOWE
David Inglis believes his game deteriorated when he tried to change his swing when he turned to the paid ranks in 2004.
He welcomed the news that the Scottish Government are supporting the transition of young players into the men’s and women’s professional tours but believes it would not have made any difference to him had this been in place six years ago.
“I think the funding for top young players is fantastic and will certainly help those chosen,” he said. “It is very expensive to play professional golf and not everyone would be able to do it unless they had some help, funding-wise.
“I think it is probably long overdue in Scotland to have something like this in place but better late than never. I’m not sure if it would have made my chances of success any better. In the end, I just didn’t play well enough.”
Curiously, his amateur Scotland team-mate of yore, Martin Laird, was never as highly rated but has gone on to be Scotland’s standard-bearer, currently ranked world No.47 and in the field for all the major championships next year.
“I think what Martin has been able to achieve is tremendous for Scottish golf. He’s had another great year and I was really pulling for him at The Barclays where he lost in a play-off.
“I remember playing with Martin in foursomes for the Scottish boys’ team in 2000 and later that year being on the winning European boys’ team with him,” said Inglis.
“He was always a great player growing up but the impressive thing he has been able to do has been to get better each year.
+If you want to read Douglas Lowe's article about David Inglis in full on the HeraldScotland.com website,
CLICK HERE
MORE FROM COLIN FARQUHARSON
David Inglis' appointment boosts the number of Scots on coaching staffs at American colleges to FOUR.
The others are:
COLETTE MURRAY, women's head coach at the University of Chattanooga-Tennessee.
ANNE WALKER, women's head coach at the University of California-Davis.
KATHRYN IMRIE, assistant women's coach at the University of Stanford.
I
don't claim that is a complete list. If you know of any other Scots on the staffs of other American colleges, please let me know at Colin@scottishgolfview.com Labels: PRO GOLF
