FIVE years ago, Nambucca Heads Island Golf Club’s top amateur Darcy Habgood left Australia for America to study and play college golf at Washington State University with a desire to eventually take the giant leap into playing professional golf.
The 25-year-old gave it a red-hot go in a sport where only the very best players make a successful living playing the game, but now she is back home to plan her next career move while working at the golf club.
Armed with a degree in public relations and marketing as well as a minor in sports management, Darcy, the daughter of Nambucca’s popular club professional Paul Habgood, is the club’s bar manager and manages the club’s social media.
Effectively, she is home to recharge her batteries ahead of a return to the US to take on a role as an assistant coach at one of the leading colleges.
“I can’t tell you yet which college has offered me a position until it’s official and I sign the contract,” said Darcy, who is engaged to an American (Ethen Thompson).
As a top amateur, Darcy honed his skills under the guidance of her dad Paul when he was the club pro at Queensland’s Middle Ridge GC (Toowoomba) from 2002 to 2017.
“I had a good college career and played well in my senior year,” Darcy said.
“After I graduated, I decided to pursue a career in professional golf and went to the LPGA Q-School and got through stage 1.”
SWEET SPOT: Darcy Habgood in action.
Unfortunately, Darcy just missed out on getting through stage 2 and ended up playing a number of events on the Epson Tour – America’s secondary tour.
“I didn’t play great and came home and played a number of ALPG Tour events like the Bonville Classic and the NSW Open, which was a lot of fun and about learning what it means to be a pro.
“But in the end golf became stressful and I wasn’t enjoying it as much as I did before I became a pro.
“I just needed a decent break and I haven’t touched a club in three or four months and I’m not really missing it. I loved golf growing up as a kid and couldn’t get enough of it.
“But playing professionally I put too much pressure on myself and when prizemoney becomes your lifeline it’s less enjoyable and I lost the drive to practice and play. It was stressful and, for me, golf was never like that.
“Dealing with that side of the game was a new experience.
“It’s very expensive and I don’t think I realised that until I was putting up the money for Q-School and events,” she said. “It’s so hard to be in that one per cent of ability. I think I had it, but my brain got in the way.
“I worked very hard on the mental side of the game. We had a great mental coach who brought a lot of light to the importance of having a strong mental capacity when you’re playing.
“It’s about not being focussed on outcomes, but how important processes are.
“I made a lot of improvements and my dad always said to me ‘it’s just golf – it’s the same thing but now you are just playing for money’. You can’t think about playing for money, it’s about just playing golf – keeping it simple.
“I struggled with that transition of having so much more on the line.”
Darcy says she does not regret her decision to pursue a professional playing career.
Darcy hasn’t given up hope about playing golf again, but she doesn’t have the urge to play professionally.
“I want to play again, but I don’t have the itch right now,” she said. “I’m just waiting for it to come back so I can go out and have fun again.
“When I go into coaching at college, I want to play again so I can put myself in a player’s situation. So, I will start slowly by practising for an hour to get back into the groove.”
Still, Darcy is enjoying the change of pace in her role at Nambucca Heads Island Golf Glub where she has plenty of interaction with the staff and members.
“Working at the club has been fun and interacting with the members is something I really enjoy,” she said. “And being home with family is great … especially after being away for nearly five years.”
Darcy told Inside Golf she was planning to return to America mid-year.
Chief writer David Newbery has been living, breathing and writing and editing golf for more than 30 years. His extensive knowledge of the game comes from covering golf around the world. Hired by Inside Golf in 2009, David previously worked as the editor of The Golfer for 25 years and before that worked for numerous daily newspapers in Australia and overseas. The Brisbane-based journalist describes his golf game as “a work in progress”, but has had the privilege of playing golf with some of the game’s best players including nine-time major winner Gary Player. David enjoys travelling, reading, music, photography and spending time with family and friends – on and off the golf course. 
