By Peyton Wood
Staff Writer       

Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Ben Hogan and Michelle Wie are just a few of the golf legends that define the sport today. With a personal best of 71, could senior Jinny Kim be another name to add to the list?

Kim has been golfing for four years and played for the Coppell girls golf team since her freshman year.

“Overall, Jinny has improved in every aspect of the game from off the tee and her short game,” girls golf coach Kirk Richardson said. “She has a tremendous work ethic. She works hard and practices all the time.”

Kim picked up golfing because of her father’s love for the sport. He has been playing for over 30 years in his spare time and strongly encouraged Kim to play. Due to her father’s expertise in the sport, he has been able to guide Kim and help her improve.

“He tries to help me by coming to watch me at practices and he tells me what I’m doing wrong so I can fix it,” Kim said. “He keeps me going and tells me to never give up.”

One of Kim’s favorite parts about golf is that she can share her passion with her dad and that brings them together and strengthens their relationship. Another aspect Kim loves is the feeling you get when you’re playing and hitting the ball well and the adrenaline that instills.  

Kim has put a great deal of time and effort into golf. On average, Kim practices at least 30 hours a week and feels as though Riverchase Golf Club is her second home. Her normal routine consists of two hours of putting, an hour of hitting and finishing up by playing nine holes.  

As if playing a varsity sport wasn’t enough, Kim competes competitively as well.

The American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) is a nonprofit organization which holds tournaments for independent golfers to compete and have the opportunity to be scouted by college coaches. There are more than 5,000 golfers in the AJGA across the country.

Kim has been a member of the AJGA for two years and has competed in seven tournaments already this year, placing in the top five in five of the seven tournaments.

“The AJGA is one of the highest ranked junior tours and is where you get exposed to a lot of good colleges and universities,” Kim said.

Kim’s eighth and final tournament, the AJGA Girls Championship, was Sept. 4-7 in Greenville, S.C. at the Furman University Golf Course. There were 78 girls in the tournament and Kim tied for 59 with a final score of 250.

In order to prepare for the tournament, Kim went about her regular schedule of golfing, but added in some extra workouts. Kim lifted weights and ran with a trainer to get herself prepared for the tough competition by building muscle mass and gaining flexibility and resistance.

Along with training, Kim had strategies that she hoped would get her through the weekend.

“I’m going to try to his as main fairways and green as I can and focus on my game and not my opponents’,” Kim said. “I really need to work on my mental game and being able to recover from a bad shot instead of going down hill from there.”

Golf is a sport requiring mental preparation and stability. CHS graduate Whitney Novack worked closely with Kim while they were teammates on the golf team and knows her strengths.

“Her strong suit is definitely her short game, that girl can get up and down, and save par,“ Novack said. “She’s pretty solid, it just depends if she has a good or bad day. It’s competitive but Jinny always seems to pull through. She doesn’t get scared, she plays her game.”

Although she did not place as high as she was hoping in the tournament, Kim came out better than she went in.

“It felt like a college atmosphere and gave me a preview of how college golf will be next year,” Kim said.

Richardson agrees that Kim should not be discouraged.

“It was a tough course, but Jinny was one of few from the state to go and I know she would have liked to do better and place higher, but it’s an honor to have even been able to compete,” Richardson said.

Kim is planning on attending the University of Arkansas at Little Rock next year to play on the Trojans’ womens golf team. She has been in contact with the coaches about scholarships and even though nothing is set in stone, Kim is looking forward to further pursuing her career as a golfer.

“It’s my passion and it’s been my goal since I started golfing to play in college,” Kim said. “I’m lucky enough to have the chance to be part of such a great program.”

But after college, Kim still isn’t going to stop. She is going to try to make it to the LPGA by the time she is 30. In order to do so, Kim will be independently practicing and entering tournaments to see if she can qualify for the LPGA. This will also help her build up her resume so she will hopefully get the opportunity to coach a college golf team.

What started out as a high school pastime for Kim has turned into a lifelong dream and something that has and will continue to shape her bright future.