Dan Brooks Talks About Opening The Spring Campaign

Duke women's golf head coach Dan Brooks sat down with GoDuke.com on Friday to talk about opening the spring season this weekend. Brooks, who is in his 24th season at Duke, owns 104 career wins during his tenure with the Blue Devils, which is the most all-time in women's golf. Duke is coming off winning three straight NCAA Championships and posted three wins in the fall season. The top-ranked Blue Devils will open the spring campaign on Monday, Feb. 25 at the Wildcat Invitational in Tucson, Ariz.

GoDuke.com: How excited are you to get the spring season going?
Dan Brooks: I think we're really excited to get going. This time of year I always can't wait for the first tournament. It's sort of like you don't really know exactly where you are, but that's why you need a tournament to get in there and get a little bit of an assessment to see where things are and where we need to go. Everyone's spirits are good. The team has been working hard, and everybody's been doing that wintertime thing where you just get out here no matter what the weather's doing; you've just got to get out there and do it.

GD: What has the team been working on since the fall campaign?
DB: We stressed the short game a little bit more. Our fall stats showed that short game is really where we were coming up a little bit short. So we've been on that a little bit in our Tuesday and Thursday missions. The greens have been rolling fast out here, so I think that's been helpful for us.

GD: After not competing since early November, what do you hope to accomplish at the Wildcat Invitational?
DB: Everything we play in we try to win. So that's the perspective. I don't think anybody is looking at it differently than we always do. We're going to put our best foot forward and just try and win this thing. Also, since it's early in the spring, it's always good for me because it's an assessment time for me. We play in enough stuff in the wintertime, rough stuff, weather and wind, that it's hard to get a real good feel for how the team is doing in our practice at this time of year. From a coach's standpoint, I'm going to be doing some assessment while we're there.

GD: Has there been any members of the Duke team that you have been really impressed with since returning to practice this semester?
DB: Pretty much across the board. I think [Jennifer] Pandolfi has really stepped up. She's somebody that I think wants to finish off her career doing it the right way. So she's really stepped up, but across the board everybody's working really hard.

GD: Talking about Jennifer Pandolfi, has she stepped up this year and taken more of a leadership role as the lone senior?
DB: Yes, she's done some things and said some things that demonstrate leadership. It's exciting for her. She's played really well when it's mattered to us over these three and a half years. She's a player that tends to step up when it matters most, and she's showing signs of that again. It's great.

GD: Are there any certain tournaments that you really enjoy traveling to in the spring?
DB: Any tournament that's got a good field I'm going to like. That's what it's all about. We don't really have much time to do anything other than go to the hotel and the golf course, so the fun tournaments are the great fields.

GD: Recently, you had three golfers named to the Curtis Cup squad. How much of an honor is it to have three Blue Devils on there?
DB: Well, it's great. We've had two in the past, but to get three is just really neat. I plan to go over there, and it's going to be exciting. Especially a player coming in, Mina's [Harigae] got to feel great about getting selected at her age.

GD: Sophomore Alison Whitaker is coming off playing in the Australian Open. How much does playing in professional tournaments help your golfers mature as players?
DB: It couldn't have been a better thing. It's a perfect time. Instead of dealing with February practice weather, she's in Australia playing in a tournament. What could be better than that? It's perfect.

GD: Do you keep in touch with many of your former professional golfers?
DB: It's not anything regular. We're in touch, but no schedule to it. Candy [Hannemann] was just back here to speak in the leadership thing, so I got to spend some time with her. Of course, Oui [Virada Nirapathpongporn] and I are really close. And Liz [Janangelo], I just shoot her texts. I'd say we chat seven or eight times throughout the year.

GD: You lost your assistant coach, Kalen Anderson, to become the head coach at South Carolina. How excited are you for her?
DB: Very, very excited for her. She's going to do a great job. I told her she could use all my secrets up to a point and then once they get to where they're close to us she has to stop. [Laughs] I'm just kidding. She's great, and she's going to do a super job. I'm really happy for her.

GD: What does the team need to do in the spring to try to win a fourth straight NCAA title?
DB: We're not going to change anything. We'll just do things we've done in the past. We have a lot of players on the team who are motivated from the inside, and I think you just keep them playing, keep them having fun, and just kind of nudge them along. As soon as I start to see how the spring is going to lay out as far as what our strengths and weaknesses are then I'll start to steer them in the right direction on what they're working on; I don't have to worry about motivation. They will sometimes go to the thing that's easiest to work on, and not necessarily the best thing for their game.

GD: So the real question everyone wants to know, what have you been shooting lately on the golf course and have you had a chance to get out there very much?
DB: I'm having a hard time doing a lot better than mid-70's. I don't know what it is. I'm blaming it on age and hard work.