Mariah Stackhouse has been waiting for this moment since she was a little girl, when she would tag along with her father to hit balls on the range. That’s why this next step into the world of full-time professional golf is far from intimidating for the Riverdale native.
She has the resume: a four-year starter with an NCAA championship at Stanford. She has the results: the putt that won the title for the Cardinal in 2015 and an appearance on the Curtis Cup team. She has the Rolodex: Not many people have Michelle Wie or Condoleezza Rice on speed dial.
But none of that really matters as Stackhouse prepares for her first full season as a professional golfer.
That’s why she was more than willing to spend several hours at the range last week, striping 6-iron after 6-iron into the bright blue sky, even though temperatures were in the high 40s and brisk winds caused her to zip that familiar Stanford jacket to the very top.
Stackhouse has never backed away from a challenge, but this one — a chance to compete on the LPGA tour — is her greatest yet.
“This is the next step for Mariah,” said Chan Reeves, the PGA professional director of instruction at the Atlanta Athletic Club, who has been her teacher for nearly a dozen years. “The competition gets tougher every step, from Atlanta Junior Golf to American Junior to Stanford and now the LPGA. There is a period of adjustment.”
It’s all part of the process for Stackhouse, who began to dream about playing professional golf when she was a teenager.
“You start to think of doing something professionally when you realize you love it and you’re good at it,” she said.
Stackhouse is one of the more heralded junior golfers produced by Georgia in years. She was a three-time Georgia State Golf Association Junior of the Year and the 2008 Women’s Player of the Year. In 2009 she teamed with Dori Carter (also on the LPGA tour) and Georgia Golf Hall of Famer Laura Coble to win the USGA Women’s State Championship.
She went to Stanford — that phone call from a former Secretary of State may have sealed the deal — and was a three-time All-American. After graduating from school with a degree in communications last spring, Stackhouse participated in the LPGA qualifying school and missed a full exemption by one shot.
Because of her status, she’ll mix some LGPA events with participation on the Symetra Tour, the LPGA’s minor-league circuit. She played in the Symetra Tour’s opening event in Winter Haven, Fla., this week. By mid-May she should be able to get in all full-field LPGA events without going through a Monday qualifier.
“It’s all about acclimating to the next level,” Stackhouse said. “With each level, the competition is higher. It propels you to perform better. The more comfortable you can get, the better you can score.”
Stackhouse played in five LGPA events before this season. She made her 2016 debut, her first as a professional, in February after receiving a sponsor’s exemption into the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open. She shot 76-72 and missed the cut by two shots, thanks to some uncharacteristic short-game woes, but deemed the trip a success.
“You can’t let a victory convince you that you’re going to win every week. That’s not going to happen,” she said. “And you can’t let a missed cut convince you that you don’t need to be out there. It may be the only one you miss.”
Stackhouse said this season is less about accumulating checks and more about figuring things out — where to play, where to stay, how to structure competition and travel.
“There are things I want to focus on, things I want to stick to,” she said. “If I have a regimented schedule, when I look back I’ll be able to determine whether something is good for me. I have performance goals, but I want to focus more on doing the things that will allow me to perform the way I want.”
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