Troy looks ahead, welcomes new women’s golf coach

Troy Athletics announced the hiring of JD Lamm as the newest coaching addition to the women’s golf team. The announcement came exactly a month after Troy made a change in leadership that saw former head coach Randy Keck leave the program.

“[Coming to Troy] was kind of just one of those situations where the stars aligned a little bit,” Lamm said. “We had a lot of success with both of my teams last year and a lot of those players moved on this year.”

A lot of success might be an understatement.

Before joining the Trojans, Lamm coached at Division II Wingate in Wingate, North Carolina. There, he won the men’s DII national championship and coached the No. 1 ranked women’s player in all of DII this past season.

At Troy, Lamm will be able to focus all his energy into the women’s team, something he’s worked towards his whole career.

“Having the opportunity to put 100% of my time and effort into one team has always been something that I knew one day I would get to that position,” Lamm said. “These facilities that this school has are unbelievable, compared to the competition.

“We are definitely a step ahead because of these facilities.”

The word used a lot, not only by Coach Lamm, but also by Troy Athletic Director Kyle George, was “culture.” The two believe a culture is going to be built in Troy, and that Lamm is the right person for the job.

“Number one [goal] is to rebuild the culture,” Lamm said. “If we do that then the scores will come over time.

“It’s the process, and I’m a huge believer if you focus on building the culture and getting players that come in and trust the process, then winning is a reward.”

Some might not be able to tell from his calm demeanor while sitting in his office on the corner of Elm Street and George Wallace, but Lamm is a competitor, and he didn’t beat around the bush of what culture he wanted to build in the wiregrass.

“I want to destroy teams,” Lamm said. “On previous teams, the ladies knew that if they could beat each other at practice every day, they could beat anybody.

“I want the most competitive culture in our conference. I want to make practice just as competitive, if not more competitive than the golf tournaments. I want to create that competitive environment so that when we get to the tournaments, it’s not a foreign language to us.”

In addition to the culture, Lamm looks to bring the same killer mindset he’s instilled at his previous schools.

“[Development] starts with the mindset we talked about,” Lamm said. “I want the girls to think, ‘I’m not trying to win, I’m trying to bury them.’

“[I want them] to keep the gas pedal down, keep going. That fearless mindset is the first thing we focus on.”

All of Lamm’s previous stops include schools in NC or West Virginia, two schools in each state, with Troy being his first school truly in the south. The southwest Florida native said this placement had an effect on him.

“This is my first experience seeing southern hospitality,” Lamm said. “Everybody has been extremely friendly here.

“In a good way, it’s definitely been different than anything I’ve ever been around before.”

Lamm graduated from Pfeifffer, a DII school in Misenheimer, NC, and he isn’t shying away from his old stomping grounds, or the competition. The Trojans make three trips up to the Old North State with tough competition expected in all three tournaments.

“I think the UNC tournament will give the girls a good idea what the top level looks like,” Lamm said. “Once they see that, we can work towards getting there.”

The Trojans start off the season with the Golfweek Challenge in Pawley’s Island, South Carolina. The Challenge runs from Sept. 6-8.