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The Right Stuff: Lipscomb’s
from Tee Times June 2020
by Joe Hall
Nolan Ray has the Right Stuff Lipscomb transfer has sights set on professional golf career
By Justin Onslow Tee Times Associate Editor
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The physical tools it takes to be a successful golfer in the col- legiate ranks are gifted to many. What separates the good from the great and the success stories from failure lies between the ears. By that measure, Nolan Ray is great, and his success story is just beginning. Some in Tennessee may recog- nize Ray from his victory in the Tennessee State Amateur Cham- pionship last August. Others know him as a former standout at the University of Tennessee, and others still know Ray as the redshirt senior who transferred to Lipscomb University for one last shot at collegiate golf glory and to complete his master’s de- gree and be closer to home. All of those footnotes in Ray’s story are accurate, as is the fact that he holds Brentwood High
School’s all-time record for ninehole scoring average (34.5). And that he was well on his way to another tremendously success- ful college golf season in 2020 before it was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic. Ray has found success, and it has little to do with his 6’3”, 180-pound frame or his ability to hit draws and fades and fair- ways. Sure, that’s obviously an important part of it all, but the 24-year-old soon-to-be certified public accountant has gotten to where he is now – and is on his way to where he wants to be – thanks to maturity beyond his years. He’s got the right stuff be- tween the tee markers and be- tween his ears.
Learning from Disappointment
Ray joined Tennessee’s golf program straight out of high school, but his college career began with disappointment. In
stead of competing for the program, he was redshirted and spent his entire freshman year watching from the sidelines. “Honestly, I was disap- pointed,” admits Ray. “Like any other fresh- man, I wanted to go there and play golf and help the team and be a part of the team. I think it’d be weird if you didn’t have those as- pirations. “It was a little bit of a dis- appointment for me, but I learned from it. I tell peo- ple all the time when they start freshman year that you just don’t think it’s Nolan Ray wins
the 2019 104th
going to be that different, Tennessee State but it’s the little things that add up that you didn’t
Amateur at Honors Course
have to do at home that really catch you.” In retrospect, Ray is thankful for that redshirt season to get his collegiate legs under him. He doesn’t see setbacks as failures so much as opportunities. “Looking back now, five years later, I am beyond thankful I redshirted,” he adds. “I didn’t choose to, but I’m so thankful I did. It was just another year to adapt. There’s not many times in golf you get an entire year to master your craft and to have a year to pick apart your swing and be honest with yourself.” Following that redshirt season, Ray went on to have three terrific years as a key member of UT’s golf team. As a sophomore, he posted a 73.47 scoring average and turned in three top-25 finishes. Following a somewhat less impressive junior season, Ray carried a career-best 72.89 scoring average in 27 rounds over nine tournaments – an exclamation point on what was already a fine career. But following 2019, Ray wasn’t looking back on any of it. He was looking ahead in a way most people not yet old enough to rent a car are capable of. after the 2019 season. Instead, he made a measured, calculated decision in choosing to wait. Prioritizing school and a strong foundation for the future first, the Brentwood native transferred closer to home to earn his master’s in accounting and play one more season, this time at Lipscomb. “I love Tennessee,” he says. “I wouldn’t change it (his career) for anything. One of the biggest reasons I transferred was I was already a little bit old for my grade going into college and then I redshirted. We had a young team, and I felt like I was in a different phase of life. I was just ready to come home. Professional golf was definitely on my mind, and I always wanted to be in Nashville when I turn pro.” So, Ray made the move to Nashville to prioritize the things that matter most to him. “I figured out that my environment was a huge thing for me,” he adds. “I guess to boil it down, I figured that my priorities are golf, school and friends and family, and I felt like when I came home, I could focus on those priorities a little bit better.”
The Next Step
Ray aspires to play professional golf, and he very easily could have opted to try his hand at Q School and a professional career So much so that Ray is just a couple months from his master’s degree, which he admits will be beneficial whether he makes it in professional golf or not. “I haven’t given career pros-
“Nolan has been an awesome example of the type of young men we recruit at Lipscomb. I’m so proud of him as a player and even prouder of the man he has become.” - Coach Will Brewer
Brentwood High School & Junior Golf
• Collected two top-five finishes in American Junior Golf Association tournaments • Tied for 29th in the Rolex Tournament of Champions • Lettered five seasons at Brentwood High School, team captain during his senior year • Holds the Brentwood High scoring average record with a 34.5 average over nine holes
pects as far as not being golf much thought,” he says. “I do like that I have it in my back pocket
University of Tennessee
A graduate transfer and alum of University of Tennessee, touting All SEC Academic Honor rolls for all four years. so I can decide what I want to do if golf is not the route that Lipscomb University works out for me.” It’s hard to see that happening, though, when you consid- • Ray played for Lipscomb University in seven tournaments and took home two individual titles in the Lone Star Invitational and Autotrader Collegiate Classic. er Ray’s work ethic and even-keeled ap- Coach Will Brewer Nolan Ray • Ray had five top-10 finishes in seven tournaments proach to everything • Nolan Ray was the ASUN Player of the Week three times and he does. led the conference in stroke average with 70.45, just missing Lipscomb’s Dawson Armstrong’s all-time school record of 70.25
Keeping It in Per- spective
“It’s like anything else,” Ray posits. “You have ups and downs. My dad always told me ‘never let your highs get too high and nev- er let your lows get too low.’ “If you go out and shoot 10 un- der or 11 under, that’s not every day. If that’s every day, you’re the best golfer who’s ever lived. For me, if I go out and shoot a couple over and don’t play good, that’s not every day, either. Everything comes back to that middle point.” That middle point is the point around which Ray’s life revolves, though he’s always looking to move that point forward every day. In school, his homework is done before he hits the road for a tournament. When he practices, Ray is all about efficiency and not wasting time. No extreme highs. No extreme lows. “I go to the golf course and see a lot of younger guys go for five, six hours and just practice,” he says. “In my mind, it just doesn’t take that long. If I go to the golf course and I’m going to practice that day, I have a list of things I’m going to do, and if it takes me an hour, it takes me an hour. If it takes three, it takes three.” That’s not to say Ray doesn’t prioritize practice, though, because oftentimes practice is what he’s doing when no one else is. “You just have a limited amount of time in day,” he explains. “Certain things are set in stone, like when you’ve got to go to class or maybe when practices are or when workouts are. Those moments that are free are where I feel like you either pick up ground or lose ground. It’s those three, four, five hours free and you have to choose how to spend them is how you separate yourself.”
A Follower and a Leader
The best leaders are often those who first learned to be a follow- er and remember what it’s like to be the latter. At Lipscomb, Ray has had an opportunity to be a leader, and he hasn’t taken that role lightly. “I was nervous coming into Lip- scomb,” he says. “I didn’t want to be that guy who comes in for the fifth year and be the one-anddone guy. I really wanted to con- nect with those guys and help them any way I can, because the better they play, the better I play and the better we play. “I wanted to be a part of that team. I can be the best leader I can be, and if they’re not receptive, it doesn’t matter. They were extremely receptive, and when it comes to leadership, I think I did a good job, but I don’t think it would have mattered if they weren’t receptive.” Ray credits his teammates in the same way he credits his father and the same way he credits his coach. He’s never one to take sole credit for his success. “My dad’s played a big role in my golf career,” he says. “My dad’s been there. You see a lot of parents living vicariously through their kids or maybe getting too happy when they play good or too mad when they play bad. I could go out and shoot 95 tomorrow and if I don’t act bad, he’s fine. “I’m just so grateful for him. He was always a steady hand and a steady head. I’d talk to him after great rounds and he’d [tell me] I’ve got to look forward to tomorrow, and after bad rounds he’d say the same thing. It would have been easy for him to ride the rollercoaster with me.” Likewise, Ray praises Lipscomb head coach Will Brewer for believing in him enough to add Ray to an already loaded roster. “Him having the confidence taking a fifth-year senior, and the second I got there I could tell he believed in me,” he says. “It went a long way. He was just kind of there, that positive voice the entire year, and I appreciate that. “I couldn’t talk to him during the transfer process, so I kind of had to take a chance that he would take me, because that’s really where I wanted to go. That meant a lot because it wasn’t a guarantee. They already had a big team, and they had to find room for another guy.” But Ray has never been just “another guy.” And as much as he’d like to prove that in the pro fessional golf world, the fact that he’s being patient and doing it right is all the proof he needs.
Making It
“I don’t have a timeline right now, but I’m 100 percent going to pursue professional golf at some point, whether that be here in a couple months or maybe a little bit longer – whenever the water clears up a bit and I can figure out what I think the best path is,” Ray says. “I’m definitely going to do it at some point.” There’s not a question in Ray’s mind that he’s going to turn pro and make it. That’s the future middle point for him – highs and lows be damned. “I’m just trying to put myself in the best position to do whatever it is I can do,” he adds. “If I’m going to do something, I’m going to do it right.” So far in Ray’s life – golf career and otherwise – that’s absolutely been the case. He’ll credit his upbringing and he’ll credit coaching and everything but himself, but what it all comes down to is this: Ray has the right stuff, and he’s making the most of it.
Lackey bringing personal touch to the Golf Club of Tennessee
By Justin Onslow Tee Times Associate Editor
The best golfers in the world don’t necessarily make the best golf instructors. To be a great teacher, one has to not only love the game of golf but also the art of teaching. And teaching effectively is all about caring for one’s students. Enter Brian Lackey, Director of Instruction at the Golf Club of Tennessee. Lackey is a great golfer, yes, but his role at the Golf Club of Tennessee isn’t about that. To Lackey, it’s all about making every one of his up to 10 or 11 students a day feel like they’re the only student on his calendar. “We all need to put food on the table, but that’s not really what it’s about for me,” says Lackey. “It’s not about the money as much as it is devel oping the relationships and trying to make sure I’m nourishing that person and helping them to believe more in themselves.” Teachers are inherently the giving type – giving of their time and their patience and their attention. And for Lackey, that’s what matters most when he’s giving instruction to his many students. “It’s an investment of yourself into somebody else’s life and making sure it’s quality and it’s not just, ‘hey, you’ve got to hurry up and get out of here because I’ve got the next guy coming in the door,’” he adds. “I hate for people feel rushed during a lesson. It feels like a revolving door, but I try to make sure everybody who walks through the door knows I have their undivided attention.” In coaching students of all ages, Lackey also understands that just as every person is different, so is every golf swing. He sees about 45 students a week, each with different needs. And while being patient and kind and giving is a tenet of teaching, so is being effective when it comes to subject matter. For that, Lackey leans on a specific philosophy. “We take what a player has and we modify that,” he explains. “You’re tak- ing that player’s strengths and using the strengths to enhance the weak ar- eas. “I tell people all the time, I’m going to fit your golf swing like I’m going to fit you for a set of golf clubs. You have to take what a player has and find the swing that fits them instead of trying to fit that player into a swing.”
Sawyer Porch Age 13
are just starting their relationship with the game of golf. It’s often those students who reaffirm why Lackey chose to be a golf instruc- tor. “I had a kid in today – not really a golfer, but he wanted to play because his sister plays and so they play as a family – and when he made contact and finally hit one the way he thought he could or should, he had a big smile on his face,” Lackey says. “I looked at his dad and said, ‘people ask all the time why I do this and that’s why I do this right there.’” The results of Lackey’s work are apparent to his students, but they’re
Tennessee top-10 teaching pro Brian Lackey works with students of all ages and genders.
Anne Griffin Age 15
Gavin Clements Rising Sophomore at MTSU
Brian Lackey, PGA, Director of Instruction
The Golf Club of Tennessee is the per - fect facility for that approach. With an indoor-outdoor practice area and plenty of room – all dedicated to golf and not tennis and swimming pools, unlike many private clubs – students can focus of every aspect of their swings. “Being able to attract better players to this facility gives us a lot more to do as far as short game work,” he says. “We have one of the best short game facilities I’ve seen – maybe the best short game facility in the state. It’s been a lot more enjoyable for me because it gives me an opportunity to work on the parts of the game that matter most.” While Lackey says the Golf Club of Tennessee boasts upwards of 100 members who are scratch golfers and another 100 with single-digit handicaps, those aren’t the only students Lackey works with. The club also allows him to see non-member students and many of his students – member or otherwise –
also apparent to the men and women who selected him to Golf Digest’s “The Best Teachers in Your State” for 2019- 2020 – an accolade Lackey is proud of but also downplays in his modesty. “We have a lot of golf courses and we have a lot of great teachers in Middle Tennessee: Joe Hallett, Matt Walter, Virgil Herring. You’ve got a lot of guys in the area that are good, reputable teachers,” he says. “To be on a list with those guys is awesome. Those things are always nice to know that your peers see you as a reputable teacher and they want to award you.” The accolades and awards are meant to recognize Lackey for his great work, but it’s Lackey himself who sums up what he does better than any award could. “Watching that player achieve their goals is what makes me probably the happiest as an instructor,” he explains. “To know I can create some enjoy ment for a player to make the game easier and a lot more fun to play. Seeing a player enjoy the game a lot more is really why I do it.”
