On this week’s Stick & Hack Show, the LPGA’s Brittany Lincicome chatted with the guys about her playing career, LPGA coverage, and her wicked driving abilities.
This following excerpt has been edited for space. Listen to the rest of the episode here.
Stick & Hack: It is great to see you. Great to have you here on the show. So fishing, poker, golf, those are all sports that are fit for an introvert. Is that you?
Brittany Lincicome: I feel like I can never pick which one I am. I feel like you have to ask my friends and try to figure it out that way, but it just depends on the moment and the situation. I kind of adapt pretty easily.
S&H: You’re in the moment there with golf. You’ve got people around you; in poker, you’ve got people around you, right? Fishing, the same thing. It just sounds like it’s those singular moment sports that you love.
Brittany Lincicome: I obviously love golf. I just love having a good time and taking time off from golf and doing fun things. And I definitely have some fun hobbies.
S&H: You started playing golf at the age of nine, but your first love was baseball. Why the switch from baseball to golf?
Brittany Lincicome: It’s so funny, I started playing golf and baseball when I was nine or 10. And my dad finally had to tell me, “Hey, girls, don’t turn pro in baseball. You’re going to have to pick golf,” unless I wanted to try out other sports. So, that’s kind of how I went with golf. But I love baseball. I still love going to games. I think I played every position when I was younger and I think it was great. I love when kids these days play multiple sports to try to figure out what sports they’re good at and use all their different muscles..
S&H: Well, I think what’s also fascinating is, you hear a lot of baseball players that turn into golfers, right? Baseball players that love golf. But a lot of the guys that I have played with in the past that were old baseball players- whether it be be collegiate or even in high school- their hand-eye coordination is so solid, it’s so strong, that when they golf, they might not be technically savvy, but they hit the ball a long way or they understand the nuances of that impact because of baseball. Is that something that you can relate to?
Brittany Lincicome: Yeah, I think so. I feel like the swings obviously are kind of similar, but (also) not similar. So I think that’s another reason why I had to give it up. Your eye hand coordination… being able to hit the ball- obviously the golf ball is not moving, but it’s a lot smaller. Those two definitely go hand in hand. So I think that’s helpful for sure.
S&H: So, the mental game of golf is something we talk a lot about here on The Stick & Hack Show. And it’s so important- not just in amateur golf, but specifically in professional golf. In fact, some of the women that you work with now have been on the show- Pia Nilsson and Lynn Marriott from Vision 54 have been on (the show) to talk about their program. Why is it so important, at this stage in your career, to start looking at the mental side and working with the likes of them?
Brittany Lincicome: You know, it’s actually super funny. So back in 2009, when I won my first Major, I had been talking to them weeks prior- the game didn’t feel great. I just felt like I needed something new, a change. I haven’t taken a golf lesson since 2006, so I thought maybe going that route would be better. I talked to them before the Major, and then I won and the next day I was at their facility out in Phoenix working with them. So it was super funny. I just won a Major, and now I’m going to go work with some mental coaches- but they’re great. It’s more kind of how you think on the golf course, and it just easy for me to relate. I’m not super technical. I don’t need a lot of instructions. There’s obviously a lot of things, especially with amateur golfers, that go through their minds- is their grip okay, is their swing okay, yada, yada, yada. They just keep it simple for you. and you just kind of pick one little thing and, whether it’s concentrating on your breathing, slowing your breathing, walking slower in between shots. They’ve definitely been a big help for me.
S&H: We’ve read that you’re a lot like Adam- which before you freak out, let me explain. You’re not a huge fan of practice or rain sessions and the like, is that right?
Brittany Lincicome: Yeah, Adam we’re definitely the same. I feel like there’s more than one way to do it. You know, you can watch Julie Inkster, and she’ll be out there hitting balls for eight hours a day and that’s how she needs to work on her game. You’ll see me maybe 40 minutes warming up before my round; maybe only 20 minutes of hitting balls and then chipping and putting. That’s pretty much it. Even if I have a bad day, I might hit five balls. After Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, I’m going to go play nine holes or go play 18 holes in the Pro-Am.
And maybe on one of my off days, I might hit balls and putt for a combined hour. I just am visual and I need to go out on the course. And even when I come play at home, I’ll go to the golf course. Maybe drop some balls behind trees, or drop some balls in the rough or out of a bunker and just do my practice on the golf course. I don’t practice much, but when I do it’s on the golf course because I like to work on it out there.
S&H: Speaking to the Pro-Ams, you’re one of the longest hitters on the LPGA. And (you’re) out driving some of the men, and most of the men in some of these Pro-Ams. And some of the times that you play, there’s always that cool moment where, you know, they’re expecting you (to hit) 230, 245- which I would be happy as hell with- but you are hitting 270, 280 past them. Is that still exciting for you and still kind of a fun little, “Hey, all right, I’ll see you up here, chief”?
Brittany Lincicome: Yeah. You know, it was definitely more fun back in the day when I hit it even further and I was younger. You hit the nail right on the head. You get to the tee, the guys think you’re going to hit it like 220 and then you blow by them. You definitely kind of look over and when you pass their ball to go to your ball, it just feels good inside.
S&H: Thank you for your honesty!
Brittany Lincicome: It’s super fun. I grew up playing with my two older brothers and my dad, and they never let me play the red tees. So I always had to play back with them. I actually only hit a three-wood when I was younger, I didn’t like the driver, so I had to learn how to hit it far back then, and it’s really helped today. I love hitting it far, and I love seeing kids hit as far as they can.
S&H: Regarding the LPGA and golf today, 2021 has been quite a year for your league, for the LPGA. You have superstars that are constantly in the top 10 every single week. You have some incredible talent and personalities, some young talent coming up here in this league. And also a lot of visual representation of the league and the association throughout the year in sports, with the hoodies and with a lot of support from male athletes and other sports around the country.
It’s been a very exciting year for the LPGA. But there’s also been some controversy and some weirdness when it comes to coverage and what certain things are being covered and what’s not. And at some point streams and coverage just stops. A couple of weeks ago, there was a big thing with Nelly and with Lexi where nobody saw it, it was not even shown. The stream cut off. Does that bother you and what are your thoughts on that in today’s space?
Brittany Lincicome: Yeah, 100%. I was playing, so I don’t get to see these things, but I do read retweets. Lisa Cornwall’s a great ambassador for Women’s golf and promoting us. I did see her tweets about the same situation. It just hurts. It just stinks. We’re trying to do so many good things. We’re getting more network TV. Our purses are increasing, we’re getting new events, all these wonderful things. And then for some reason, it’s still, “well I didn’t see you on TV, or I didn’t see the final group, or I didn’t see who won the tournament.”
You know, just little things like that, it’s so crazy. And it’s hard to compare it to the men. I mean, could you imagine a PGA Tour event going into extra holes and then playing whatever show was supposed to be on after? No, they’re going to go tape right over it or keep playing and keep showing them.
So it definitely hurts that they do that to us. I really would like to get to the bottom of where it’s coming from or why that’s happening and try to understand more. I feel like that might be something I start doing this off-season to figure out how we make it better. We have a new commissioner. She’s asking us all the time, “what can I do? How do I make the tour better?” And we’re moving in the right direction. And we just want to keep moving in the right direction. Something’s amiss with TV, for sure. So, hopefully we can start the conversation and try to figure it out, because we deserve better. It’s pretty crappy.
To get the rest of Brittany’s interview, including which Christmas traditions she thinks is stick or hack, catch the rest here.
