Meet Your Golf Pro - Leila Harman
I think it’s important that you know your pro. Whether you are a student or someone who plays regularly and we say hello it’s always nice know a bit about your pro and their life.
I started golfing when I was 11 years old. My parents handed me a 5 iron at age 10 and I would hit it until I got to the green. The summer of age 11 I qualified for a North American Championship in Little Rock Arkansas. I competed in 8 Canadian Junior Championships from age 11-18 (which is a record). My best finish was 4th when I was 18. I used to say my best finish was when I was 11 and I broke 100 everyday shooting 98,97,92 to beat 10 people. I also won $60 from my dad who bet me $20 a day to break 100.
I continued golf on a Full Scholarship to USC where I captained the team who were ranked as high as 4th in the Nation. My Sophomore year I was ranked individually as high as 5th in the NCAA and finished 5th at the NCAA Championship individually while my team finished 4th.
In my senior year I hurt my back so when I graduated I slowly started playing some tour events. I was fortunate enough to win a West Coast Golf Tour event in Arizona and qualified to play on the Futures Tour. Unfortunately I quickly realized my bad back would not withstand the travel.
So I started teaching. I was able to win a Canadian Tour event and competed in 2 Canadian Opens while teaching and playing part time. I fell in love with teaching almost immediately. I love helping people and watching them love the game. It’s not an easy job as I am hard on myself. I want all my students to feel that they have the tools to reach their goals.
I continued golf on a Full Scholarship to USC where I captained the team who were ranked as high as 4th in the Nation. My Sophomore year I was ranked individually as high as 5th in the NCAA and finished 5th at the NCAA Championship individually while my team finished 4th.
In my senior year I hurt my back so when I graduated I slowly started playing some tour events. I was fortunate enough to win a West Coast Golf Tour event in Arizona and qualified to play on the Futures Tour. Unfortunately I quickly realized my bad back would not withstand the travel.
So I started teaching. I was able to win a Canadian Tour event and competed in 2 Canadian Opens while teaching and playing part time. I fell in love with teaching almost immediately. I love helping people and watching them love the game. It’s not an easy job as I am hard on myself. I want all my students to feel that they have the tools to reach their goals.
In the past decade I have also grown my own family. I have two beautiful children Jack who is 7 and Grace,5. Jack loves hockey so I spend a lot of time in rinks in the winter when I’m not teaching as much and Grace loves to dance.
We are lucky though because they both love golf. You can find us out here with my husband Quinn on a Saturday evening playing a few holes. Just recently the whole family made 4s on the 3rd hole. Grace played from 100 yards, Jack from the whites 150 yards with me, and my husband from the Silvers.
We are lucky though because they both love golf. You can find us out here with my husband Quinn on a Saturday evening playing a few holes. Just recently the whole family made 4s on the 3rd hole. Grace played from 100 yards, Jack from the whites 150 yards with me, and my husband from the Silvers.
I think it is important that your pro be passionate about the game. I still love playing golf. I try to play once a week to keep my own game sharp. This year has been a struggle with a poor showing in my tournament in June. But I used that as motivation to practice and play more to improve and try to win the Women’s Championship in October at Point Grey.
I hope the next time you see me you will stop and say hello. Let me know how your game is going. Just today a member told me how the tips on alignment from my last article helped him with his game.
I hope the next time you see me you will stop and say hello. Let me know how your game is going. Just today a member told me how the tips on alignment from my last article helped him with his game.
Let’s keep sharing golf stories and keep getting know each other! That’s what this game is all about!!
HAPPY GOLFING!!