Senior Art Studio and Art History Major Kali Griggs has been playing golf competitively since the sixth grade, but she has always played golf with her dad. Kali started talking with the Men’s and Women’s Golf Coach Scott Moe her senior year in high school about playing on the Golf team at Gustavus.
“I choose to play because I like competition, and I figured it would be a good way to meet people,” Kali said.
Kali plays for the Gustavus Women’s Golf team, which won the MIAC Conference this past weekend. The meet was held in Coon Rapids at Bunker Hills.
“I incorporate art into my golf game. I visualize all the different shots I can hit,” Kali said.
The Women’s team won by 46 strokes and is now going to Florida for Nationals in May. Last year was the first time the Women’s Golf team won as a team at the MIAC Championships.
“Kali has turned into a good leader for our program. She is one of the hardest workers I have ever coached. Our team is really starting to come together and support each other, and that needs to come from our upperclassmen and Katie Schenfeld and Kali have stepped into that role very nicely,” Head Golf Coach Scott Moe said, who has held this position for the past 14 years and has been the Women’s Golf Coach for the last seven.
Golf is an individual and team based sport where five players compete in a tournament and choose the top four scores to make up the team score. Individual players can be recognized for low scores.
“We participate in 9 out of 10 tournaments a year. Most consist of 12-18 teams. We will play 36 holes over two days, except for 54 holes during MIAC and 72 holes at the NCAA. We play 5 players and count the best 4 out of the 5 scores each round. We completed our play on Monday, Oct. 5 at the MIAC Championships. The winner of this event gets an automatic bid to the NCAA [Tournament] in the spring,” Moe said.
Kali has numerous goals that she wants to accomplish before and after graduating, one of which was reached this past weekend when the team won the MIAC Tournament. Another one of her big goals is to win Nationals in May.
After college, Kali wants to play golf professionally and is planning on starting off by playing at smaller tournaments.
“I need more experiences, international experiences. I have a lot of support from Gustavus and the community. I have met a lot of great people and alumni. An alumni family hosts us for ten days in Florida over Spring Break. We play about 36 holes a day over Spring Break. It is the perfect vacation for me,” Kali said.
The Women’s Golf team is done with tournaments but will be working hard in the off-season to prepare for Nationals.
“Kali’s golf ability speaks for itself. She was named First All-American last year, finished sixth at the NCAA Championship and led our team in scoring average last season,” Moe said.
Kali and her teammates work hard together but also make time for fun. “We are incredibly fun together, and I think that is what makes us so successful. We all have very different, but similar personalities. We love to joke around. We are very sarcastic, but supportive of each other; we are like a family,” Kali said.
On the team’s long drives to different tournaments, they listen to a mixed CD that a member of the golf team compiled consisting of anything from country to N*Sync to Queen, a favorite of Coach Moe’s.
“Last year our Nationals song was ‘Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)’ [by Beyonce], and this year it is ‘Party in the U.S.A.’ [by Miley Cyrus]. We have listened to the CD so many times, and to make it up to our coach we made him a Queen’s greatest hits mix,” Kali said.
Kali chose art studio and art history majors during her first year at Gustavus.
“I always loved history, and studying art from the past helps me to establish my own style,” Kali said. Kali is looking forward to her Senior Show in the spring when all senior art studio majors will have their works displayed in the Hillstrom Museum of Art.
I don’t really like showing my artwork; for me it is really personal, so it will be different displaying my art,” Kali said.
Kali has not decided what her theme will be yet for the Senior Show, but said, “It will be somewhere along the lines of human figures.”
The Gustavus community can look forward to the Women’s Golf team representing Gustavus at Nationals in the spring and the Senior Show in the Hillstrom Museum of Art.