University of Georgia Athletics
Quick Chat: Jim Douglas
May 11, 2020 | Men's Golf, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
Georgia men's golf associate head coach Jim Douglas has been around the sport his entire life. His father owned a public golf course in Augusta, Ga., the Augusta Golf Course ("Affectionately known as the Cabbage Patch," Douglas said), and Douglas took to the game from the outset.
As Douglas explained recently during a Quick Chat, his playing career got derailed as a teenager when he developed a case of the yips that he couldn't shake. The yips ended any chance at a college career, he said, but they've also helped him to be a better coach. Douglas knows as well as anyone that so much of golf is played between the ears.
During our Chat, Douglas, a Georgia graduate who joined coach Chris Haack's staff for the first time in 1997, also talked about life at home, getting into coaching and much more. Here's some of what he had to say:
Frierson: Normally at this time, you'd be out at the golf course every day and getting ready for the NCAAs, so how are you handling working from home?
Douglas: Working from home is not so difficult, necessarily, because a big part of my job is recruiting and a lot of that can be done over the phone. But the new NCAA recruiting rules that we have, I really can't do much of that until June 16th, when we can start communicating with the next crop of kids.
What makes it different and difficult is, when I'm not traveling with the team I'd be going to watch a state championship high school tournament or getting on a plane and flying to some other tournament. That's really where I'm kind of at a standstill and there's not a whole lot I can do. That's what's really different, the inability to communicate with the next crop of kids and the inability to go put your eyeballs on them.
Frierson: How are you filling the hours? Have you taken up any new hobbies or reacquainted yourself with any old ones?
Douglas: A lot of walks [laughs]. I'm trying to walk as much as possible. The golf course is closed down so I'm not able to go out there, so it's just me and my sons at home, for the most part.
Even though they don't want to come and hang out with me too often, they're teenagers and they're upstairs in their rooms, it is definitely good to have this time with them and it's a good reset. I think that when everything gets back rolling towards normalcy, I think anybody who's a competitor or someone who loves their job, there's going to be a great renewed vigor to get out there.
Frierson: How did you get started in golf? And when did coaching enter your life?
Douglas: My father owned a public golf course, so I was raised on a golf course. Golf's always been a huge part of my life. I got the yips when I was younger, in high school, and that kind of killed any aspirations that I would have had to try to play professionally or even collegiately.
Golf's always been such a huge part of my life, I was kind of searching for a way to be involved in it. Being a teaching professional, a club pro, that just wasn't really winding my clock, so to speak. I went back to school and I was a schoolteacher, an educator, and I was the golf coach of the (Richmond Academy) high school golf team. I was like, what a great way to be involved with golf. It doesn't just encompass working with someone that can't play at all, I'm around high-level people.
I had a love of being an educator, as well, so it fit a great niche for me. When that occurred I was like, man, this is awesome.
Frierson: How did you wind up at Georgia?
Douglas: When Haacker got the Georgia job, I was coaching golf in Augusta and I had some guys that he was recruiting, so I called on their behalf and we started talking.
We were talking one afternoon and he goes, I have no idea if you'd be interested in this but we have a restricted-earnings position open — it wouldn't pay you hardly anything. I was like, well, it's not like I'm making a fortune being a teacher. I took him up on the offer and I was restricted-earnings, they didn't even take taxes out of my paycheck I made so little.
Frierson: Has going through those yips helped you as a coach?
Douglas: I think it definitely has. I mean, I would constantly try to figure out ways to get over it, because that's completely psychological, it's certainly not a physical thing. Golf, and you could probably relate it to any other sport too, you're always trying, if you're a coach, you're trying to trick someone into believing they're better than they actually are. As a player, you're also trying to trick yourself into believing that you're better than you actually are.
I think going through that has definitely helped as far as looking at it through that lens — if you can help somebody believe in themselves and believe they can become something that they may not believe themselves at some point. If you can get somebody to believe that they're really good, that's a huge thing.
Frierson: What's the best meal you've ever eaten? Is there one that stands out above the rest?
Douglas: That's a funny one. If you're asking any of the guys about my palette, so to speak, I'm a huge pizza eater. It's my favorite thing and regardless of where we go, I'm going to find out about the best local pizza place. We're always traveling to different parts of the country and when we play well (at that annual tournament), we'll go back to that restaurant.
Some of the times that we've played well, like in 2011 when we went to the (NCAA) finals, we had ice cream every night — literally every night. Before we went on a good run in 2015, out in San Diego, we'd not played as well as we'd liked and we went to a Denny's and then shot the low round of the tournament. And we kept going to Denny's after that.
Frierson: If you could be great at anything for a day, just to experience it, what would it be?
Douglas: I'd want to win Wimbledon.
Frierson: OK, that was an unexpected answer.
Douglas: I always grew up watching Wimbledon and I had a good childhood friend that was a really good tennis player and we always would argue back and forth about which is the harder sport, tennis or golf. He played tennis in college and has since admitted to me that golf is harder.
I always watched Wimbledon and I always would go and watch the NCAA tennis tournament in Athens. I thought that was phenomenal and in my mind I'm like, how phenomenal would it be to win Wimbledon.
Frierson: Last one, as someone that grew up in Augusta, how weird is it going to be to see The Masters happening in November, assuming it does?
Douglas: You know, I think it'll be just like anytime The Masters is put on, it will be spectacular. I think it will be very, very cool. I think it will be something cool and something that people will remember always. The winner of this Masters will probably be one of the recognizable winners in the history of The Masters.
They do such a good job down there, heck, they may have some azaleas blooming by then. You never know.
(This Q&A was lightly edited for length and clarity.)
Staff Writer
Georgia men's golf associate head coach Jim Douglas has been around the sport his entire life. His father owned a public golf course in Augusta, Ga., the Augusta Golf Course ("Affectionately known as the Cabbage Patch," Douglas said), and Douglas took to the game from the outset.
As Douglas explained recently during a Quick Chat, his playing career got derailed as a teenager when he developed a case of the yips that he couldn't shake. The yips ended any chance at a college career, he said, but they've also helped him to be a better coach. Douglas knows as well as anyone that so much of golf is played between the ears.
During our Chat, Douglas, a Georgia graduate who joined coach Chris Haack's staff for the first time in 1997, also talked about life at home, getting into coaching and much more. Here's some of what he had to say:
Frierson: Normally at this time, you'd be out at the golf course every day and getting ready for the NCAAs, so how are you handling working from home?
Douglas: Working from home is not so difficult, necessarily, because a big part of my job is recruiting and a lot of that can be done over the phone. But the new NCAA recruiting rules that we have, I really can't do much of that until June 16th, when we can start communicating with the next crop of kids.
What makes it different and difficult is, when I'm not traveling with the team I'd be going to watch a state championship high school tournament or getting on a plane and flying to some other tournament. That's really where I'm kind of at a standstill and there's not a whole lot I can do. That's what's really different, the inability to communicate with the next crop of kids and the inability to go put your eyeballs on them.
Frierson: How are you filling the hours? Have you taken up any new hobbies or reacquainted yourself with any old ones?
Douglas: A lot of walks [laughs]. I'm trying to walk as much as possible. The golf course is closed down so I'm not able to go out there, so it's just me and my sons at home, for the most part.
Even though they don't want to come and hang out with me too often, they're teenagers and they're upstairs in their rooms, it is definitely good to have this time with them and it's a good reset. I think that when everything gets back rolling towards normalcy, I think anybody who's a competitor or someone who loves their job, there's going to be a great renewed vigor to get out there.
Frierson: How did you get started in golf? And when did coaching enter your life?
Douglas: My father owned a public golf course, so I was raised on a golf course. Golf's always been a huge part of my life. I got the yips when I was younger, in high school, and that kind of killed any aspirations that I would have had to try to play professionally or even collegiately.
Golf's always been such a huge part of my life, I was kind of searching for a way to be involved in it. Being a teaching professional, a club pro, that just wasn't really winding my clock, so to speak. I went back to school and I was a schoolteacher, an educator, and I was the golf coach of the (Richmond Academy) high school golf team. I was like, what a great way to be involved with golf. It doesn't just encompass working with someone that can't play at all, I'm around high-level people.
I had a love of being an educator, as well, so it fit a great niche for me. When that occurred I was like, man, this is awesome.
Frierson: How did you wind up at Georgia?
Douglas: When Haacker got the Georgia job, I was coaching golf in Augusta and I had some guys that he was recruiting, so I called on their behalf and we started talking.
We were talking one afternoon and he goes, I have no idea if you'd be interested in this but we have a restricted-earnings position open — it wouldn't pay you hardly anything. I was like, well, it's not like I'm making a fortune being a teacher. I took him up on the offer and I was restricted-earnings, they didn't even take taxes out of my paycheck I made so little.
Frierson: Has going through those yips helped you as a coach?
Douglas: I think it definitely has. I mean, I would constantly try to figure out ways to get over it, because that's completely psychological, it's certainly not a physical thing. Golf, and you could probably relate it to any other sport too, you're always trying, if you're a coach, you're trying to trick someone into believing they're better than they actually are. As a player, you're also trying to trick yourself into believing that you're better than you actually are.
I think going through that has definitely helped as far as looking at it through that lens — if you can help somebody believe in themselves and believe they can become something that they may not believe themselves at some point. If you can get somebody to believe that they're really good, that's a huge thing.
Frierson: What's the best meal you've ever eaten? Is there one that stands out above the rest?
Douglas: That's a funny one. If you're asking any of the guys about my palette, so to speak, I'm a huge pizza eater. It's my favorite thing and regardless of where we go, I'm going to find out about the best local pizza place. We're always traveling to different parts of the country and when we play well (at that annual tournament), we'll go back to that restaurant.
Some of the times that we've played well, like in 2011 when we went to the (NCAA) finals, we had ice cream every night — literally every night. Before we went on a good run in 2015, out in San Diego, we'd not played as well as we'd liked and we went to a Denny's and then shot the low round of the tournament. And we kept going to Denny's after that.
Frierson: If you could be great at anything for a day, just to experience it, what would it be?
Douglas: I'd want to win Wimbledon.
Frierson: OK, that was an unexpected answer.
Douglas: I always grew up watching Wimbledon and I had a good childhood friend that was a really good tennis player and we always would argue back and forth about which is the harder sport, tennis or golf. He played tennis in college and has since admitted to me that golf is harder.
I always watched Wimbledon and I always would go and watch the NCAA tennis tournament in Athens. I thought that was phenomenal and in my mind I'm like, how phenomenal would it be to win Wimbledon.
Frierson: Last one, as someone that grew up in Augusta, how weird is it going to be to see The Masters happening in November, assuming it does?
Douglas: You know, I think it'll be just like anytime The Masters is put on, it will be spectacular. I think it will be very, very cool. I think it will be something cool and something that people will remember always. The winner of this Masters will probably be one of the recognizable winners in the history of The Masters.
They do such a good job down there, heck, they may have some azaleas blooming by then. You never know.
(This Q&A was lightly edited for length and clarity.)
John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
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