Quiet, Please… Girls’ Have a New Head Golf Coach

“The measure of my success will be the memories of their time on the team. I love winning, of course.  But, it is the process that dictates the outcome.  If you get the process right, the results will follow,” says new Mullen girls’ golf coach, David Ramsden-Wood.  Is he going to be that golf-whisperer who magically elevates the lives of those he instructs and, therefore, our girls golf team becomes this sensational success?  That is a lot of pressure to put on anyone, but I like to dream in that direction.  The point being, Coach Ramsden-Wood likes that challenging aspect of coaching.  As he puts it “the greatest and most difficult sport that is played in the 8 inches between the ears.”  Anyone who has ever played the game of golf knows that to be true, and Coach is wired to teaching the game within that 8 inch-span.  “ Practices will be innovative, built around condition games. We will work on course management and understanding one’s own strengths and weaknesses.  We will work on technical skills to make each player better.  And, God Willing, we will be a force to be reckoned with at events.  But most importantly, in 30 years when the girls look back on their time in high school, the golf team will be a positive memory, with lots of fun, that made them better students and people in the service of God as they set forth to achieve their goals”

From where does Coach’s passion to teach and perfect and mold young lives originate? Logistically speaking, in Canada, but as is the case with the vast majority of us, it starts with the real influencers in our lives, our parents.  So too were Coach Ramsden-Wood’s parents the force that influenced his direction in life.  It started with school and the importance education has in directing one’s trajectory in life.  They also steered their children to sports knowing full well the value competition and hard work have on the overall development of a person.  Both he and his sister were in the International Baccalaureate Program, and both went on to become engineers.  Coach earned his MBA from Cornell.  However, all along the way, both he and his sister were immersed in sports.  His sister played squash and ringette and as an adult completed five Ironman competitions.  Coach Ramsden-Wood played hockey, as all Canadians do, as well as squash and golf.  As his skills developed and squash became more of a focus, he set competitive hockey and golf aside and became an accomplished squash player.  He became so accomplished he went on to play on the Canadian Junior National Team at the World Championships and represented Canada at the World University Games.  Because of his dual citizenship, he switched as an adult to represent the United States at the 1999 Pan Am Games and the World Championships.  He retired from the sport in 2006.  The age-old adage that there is nothing like competition to make one better - well, Coach Ramsden-Wood has competed with the best. 

Where does golf come into play, here?  Coach Ramsden-Wood is our new girls’ head golf coach, right?  Dare I say, golf has never left his side since he was a little tyke, and it has been the common bond that has tethered three generations from his father down to his own sons.  “Golf is the perfect sport and it’s always been a part of my life.  As a 12-year old, my father would drop me off at the course on the first day of summer at 6:30 in the morning and pick me up at 6:30 after work. I played 36 holes a day and went from a 36 handicap to a 10. The next summer, a 10 to a 4. It was a huge part of my relationship with my father and a huge part of my relationship with my two sons.”  And, as always, competition is at the forefront.  Since his move to the Denver area after retiring from squash, Coach has played in the State Mid-Am and State Match Play multiple times.  He won the Meridian Golf Club Championships twice in 2018 and ‘19.  He also helped coach the Kent Denver golf team.  But, it has been the development of his youngest son under his tutelage that brings him his most personal satisfaction. “ I was the assistant coach at Kent for the men’s team last season where my son Benjamin played and was co-player of the year for their metro league. I’ve been his golf coach since he shot 104-105-97 as a freshman having never played competitive golf and now is in College at Aurora University in Illinois playing on their golf team.”   It’s that desire to share the knowledge one has coupled with the ability to connect with and teach kids at their level that is going to endear Coach Ramsden-Wood to his golfers.  Are those the ingredients that make one a golf-whisperer?  Only time will tell, but I have this feeling there is going to be an enthusiastic and audible hush over the program in the years to come.