Tag: Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll

Mother-daughter duo headed to Division I and II NCAA Championships this week

“It’s been my life’s work on both occasions – my own child and my team.”

Olivia Stoll doesn’t think there was one specific moment when golf finally hooked her. But deep down, she admits walking around Cypress Point watching her parents play golf might have played a significant role. Her mother, longtime Michigan State head coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll, had taken the family to Northern California while she recruited at the 2018 U.S. Girls’ Junior at Poppy Hills.

Shortly after that trip, Olivia arrived at a high school volleyball camp and called her dad. She wanted to ditch volleyball and head to the golf course.

“I was like ‘What is going on?’ ” recalled Olivia. “I never thought I would want to play golf.”

Oh, but her mother had dreamed of such a day for so long. Olivia’s interest in the game went from 0 to 60 practically overnight at age 15, declaring at dinner one night that she wanted to play college golf.

“Olivia,” her mother said, “I’ve already offered girls full scholarships that are your age.”

Olivia was undeterred, however, and on Mother’s Day, she’ll head to Eureka, Missouri, with her Grand Valley State team for the NCAA Division II Women’s Golf Championship.

NCAA Championship: Meet the 30 teams, 6 individuals going to Grayhawk

Slobodnik-Stoll, the winningest player in Golf Association of Michigan history with 18 titles, heads to Arizona on Tuesday for the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championship. The Spartans claimed their first NCAA Regional title last week at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

Slobodnik-Stoll’s heart will be in two places as she guides her team around Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, and reads text updates from husband Jim on Olivia’s performance in Missouri.

“It’s been my life’s work on both occasions – my own child and my team,” she said. “I’m thrilled that I have such a good problem.”

Now in her 26th season as head coach at her alma mater, Slobodnik-Stoll said what impresses her most about this group of Spartans is they keep improving as the season goes along. Their success comes despite the loss of Valery Plata, a former Big Ten Player of the Year who turned professional mid-year.

Michigan State men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo was headed to watch former Spartan Draymond Green compete in the NBA Playoffs on the final day of NCAA regionals.

“When he landed he called right in the middle of our celebration,” said Slobodnik-Stoll. “I said to the girls, ‘Look who’s calling!’ and they were screaming.”

Sophomore Brooke Biermann took a share of medalist honors at PGA National, the best regional finish in program history. The team’s GPA this semester, 3.984, set a school record for the Michigan State athletic department.

“When they say they’re going to do something,” said Slobodnik-Stoll, “they’re going to do it to the best of their ability.”

That’s a trait that’s also shared by Slobodnik-Stoll and her daughter, along with showing up early and a strong competitive gene that’s not outwardly shown.

“Deep down we know we want to beat everyone in the field,” said Olivia.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Olivia asked her mom whether they could head to Florida when the temperatures dropped. MSU players weren’t coming back to school until January, and Olivia’s high school work was all online.

So on Halloween of 2020, mom and daughter packed up the car and headed south. In two-and-a-half months they played 50 rounds of golf. Olivia was also able to compete in several tournaments, and the time together proved invaluable as she strived to make up for lost time.

As Olivia began to play in more tournaments back home in Michigan, the story of a late-bloomer began to get out, and coaches were interested. Slobodnik-Stoll is often asked: Why not Division I?

Her answer is simple: “For her to go somewhere and sit on the bench was pointless. She needed to go somewhere to play, play, play.”

During her freshman year, Grand Valley traveled to tournaments in Hawaii, California and Arizona. Olivia was recently named Player of the Year in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, despite a disqualification earlier in the season for signing an incorrect scorecard.

The lessons keep coming.

Slobodnik-Stoll doesn’t get to watch Olivia compete as much as she’d like, but their trips now consist of golf as a family – and knowing they’ll have that for rest of their lives is priceless. Husband Jim also played collegiate golf and has a deep passion for the game.

Mom and daughter celebrated Mother’s Day early on Saturday with a round of birthday golf for Slobodnik-Stoll’s father Dave before Olivia headed to NCAAs.

Michigan State head coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll with husband Jim and daughter Olivia tee it up together in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. (courtesy photo)

Olivia isn’t sure how far she wants to go in the game, but there will be plenty of options as her parents have purchased three daily-fee courses in Michigan over the past two years: Twin Oaks Golf Course in Freeland, Huron Breeze in Au Gres and Vassar Golf Club.

But first, there are national championships at stake.

“It’s just cool to have her as a role model,” said Olivia.

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Making another run: Spartan coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll Set for Michigan Women’s Amateur

Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll, the winningest player in 100 years of GAM history, is aiming for yet another title.

Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll, the winningest Golf Association of Michigan (GAM) player, male or female, in 100 years of history, also happens to be the winningest golf coach, male or female, in Michigan State University golf history.

She is preparing to make yet another run at the Michigan Women’s Amateur Championship starting Saturday, July 18, and this time it is being hosted at what is essentially the outdoor portion of her office.

Forest Akers West golf course – on the campus of Michigan State and just outside the window of her office in the 2016-minted golf team headquarters of the Lasch Family Golf Center – is  hosting the Michigan Women’s Amateur for the second time in the last eight years.

Slobodnik-Stoll has won the 104-year-old state championship twice, in 1996 at Egypt Valley Country Club in her hometown of Grand Rapids, and in 1998 at Boyne Mountain Resort.

At age 47, and already in the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame, she made a run to the final match a year ago at Spring Lake Country Club, falling to Elayna Bowser of Dearborn, then fresh out of Loyola University-Chicago and now a first-year professional.

The 2019 runner-up, the coach/competitor who has won an unprecedented 19 GAM titles, including 10 GAM Mid-Amateur wins, is preparing her game and watching over the preparation of her 16-year-old daughter Olivia, who will be playing in the championship for the first time.

“I’m more concerned right now with how Olivia plays,” she said of her and husband Jim Stoll’s athletic daughter who surprised her parents when she decided at 14 that she wanted to play competitive golf after previously showing minimal interest.

“I would like to see her get into the match play. That would contribute another step in her golf process.”

As for herself: “I would also like to make a good run at it again.

“It’s the competition and that’s what I love to do,” she said.  “No matter what it is, I love to compete. I would love to be playing in the U.S. ( Women’s Mid-Amateur) even though this year there isn’t one. I want to play in the Michigan Amateur, the GAM Championship and the Michigan Open for as long as possible.”

Slobodnik-Stoll has two summers of golf before she turns 50 and the world of senior golf in both USGA and GAM opens to her as well. She plans to keep on recruiting and winning Big Ten Championships at Michigan State – her teams have won seven in 22 years to go along with 20 NCAA Championship appearances – and she plans to keep on playing.

“When I turn 50, I hope to get the opportunity to play in more national tournaments – that’s a goal,” she said. “It will depend on coaching, though, and my family. It always has.”

Role models who handled family, career, and golf, gave Slobodnik-Stoll inspiration, and she is very aware of her impact on her MSU players, Olivia, and younger players who she might compete against in the Amateur.

“I want to be a role model for these young people,” she said. “I want to show them that playing and competing in golf is truly a life-time sport, and that having a family doesn’t mean you have to stop playing or competing. I’ve been truly fortunate to have the opportunity to coach and play. I take them both seriously because golf is a big part of my life.”

Slobodnik-Stoll, elected to the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame in 2017 at age 45, said she doesn’t stop to consider the accomplishments behind her. She keeps working on the goals ahead, the next tournaments, the next season, the next recruit.

“I had a long conversation with Sarah Burnham (former Spartan now on LPGA Tour) about that kind of thing after she won the (Michigan PGA Women’s Open on July 1),” she said. “We talked about neither one of us being a slow-down type person. We both agreed there is not a lot of times when we sit around and just hang out. There’s always something going on, whether practicing or playing, or organizing the rest of your life.”

Next up: Playing in the Michigan Women’s Amateur at Forest Akers West.

“I didn’t pay well at the Michigan Open, but I’m confident I will gear things up for the Amateur,” she said. “I keep moving and I don’t see that changing for a long time because this is what I truly love to do. I love to play, I love to coach, I love to watch the game, watch my daughter play, to recruit, all of it, and you know, just figure out that puzzle.”

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