Paula Creamer and Kevin Craggs have teamed up this year as the former plans a return to the upper echelons of the world ranking. Thus far, everything points to a productive relationship...
There was a strong suggestion of the unorthodox and surreal when Kevin Craggs conducted his first coaching session with Paula Creamer, the onetime golden girl of the LPGA Tour.
Craggs, a Golf Monthly Top 25 Coach, spent a lengthy part of it watching the 31-year-old chip balls into a bunker at the exclusive Isleworth Golf Club in Florida.
This was totally at odds with what had occurred during their impromptu session prior to last year’s Evian Championship, which played a part in the 2010 US Women’s Open Champion turning to Craggs to help revive her floundering and injury-plagued career.
Acting on the advice of her caddie, California girl Creamer asked Craggs if he could resolve a long-standing problem that involved dislodging balls from a sand trap, as opposed to dunking them in it.
“There was a specific bunker shot she always struggled with,” recalls Paul Creamer, her father. “She’d been trying to play the shot for as long as I can remember – people had tried to help her but something Kevin said clicked with her and the problem was solved in half an hour.”
As long as Paul, a retired pilot, can remember stretches back to the time when his daughter was 10 years old and took up the game, albeit with a degree of reluctance.
“I didn’t like golf at first, then all of a sudden I did,” Paula recalls. “As a kid, if you start to get good at something you start to enjoy it. I played with the boys a lot – I was the only girl – and without a doubt I wouldn’t be where I am if it wasn’t for that. They made me mentally strong and tough – they supported me like a little sister.”
The ‘little sister’ was just 12 when she started showing the boys who was boss, but one victory remains elusive.
This story is from the July 2018 edition of Golf Monthly.
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This story is from the July 2018 edition of Golf Monthly.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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