Golf: More Than A Game For Gillian Vance

BOULDER - University of Colorado senior Gillian Vance did not pick up her first golf club with aspirations of playing professionally; she just wanted to spend time with her older brothers.

"I was eight years old," she said. "I started playing because of my brothers. I actually remember the day. I had this little purple hat from the Limited Too and I had my little pink moxie golf clubs I just gotten for Christmas. We went out to Fox Hollow Golf Course. I was horrible, but I loved it."

The Lakewood, Colo. native loved the family time she got to spend with her two brothers, Cody and Drew, as well as her father, Michael. For her, that was the best part of golf.

As she got older, her family joined a golf course, which became a nice, safe and fun place for Vance to go after school. Then she started getting better and better, so her dad entered her in some junior tournaments where she found out how much she loved the competition.

"I kept on working and working and realized that I was better than I ever intended to be and better than my dad expected me to me," she said. "Juniors in Colorado was a small pond and I loved it."

Vance went on to play golf at Dakota Ridge High School, earning four letters, and started thinking that maybe she could play golf in college. And one of the colleges on her radar was CU.

"I loved Boulder and I really wanted to play for a DI, Pac-12 school, and be close to my family," she said. "I never imagined they would actually respond to me. So getting that email back from [head] coach (Anne Kelly) and having Brent (Franklin) actually show interest was amazing."

Kelly took Vance and her mother, Jamie, on a tour during an unofficial visit. At the end, Vance was surprised when Kelly told her she would love to have her as a walk-on on the team.

"We couldn't believe it," she said. "I had never understood how much hard work would pay off for me. I was in such a little pond growing up in Colorado that I never imagined it could actually come true for me."

Coming in as a walk-on her freshman year, with 10 women on the team, was a bit of a challenge. But it definitely pushed Vance to work hard to make the team. Eventually, she would earn a spot on the travel team and went on to earn a scholarship, which is not an easy task.

"She is a great example of wanting something badly enough, persevering, and going to get it," Kelly said. "She has really done well for someone that joined the team as a walk-on, worked hard, and has played some good rounds for us."

The mental game can be one of the toughest elements in the golf game, but it is one that Vance says has improved during her time as a Buff.

"The mental game is always something I have tried to work on and I think I have gotten a lot better," she said. "There is always room for improvement, but just knowing that I actually could make it on the team, helped my confidence a lot. Outside of golf too, I can do stuff I put my mind too, which is something golf has taught me."

With about one month left before graduation, Vance, a public relations major, is looking to the future, which will definitely include golf.

"I have decided not to go pro, but I would like to stay connected to the golf industry, whether it be in golf management or teaching, or at a golf course working with marketing, membership and coordinating. Ultimately, I would love to make golf a better place for women," she said.

Vance will definitely be missed once this season is over, and it is not just because of her golf skills.

"She is a very nice, sweet person," Kelly said. "She doesn't make excuses. There have been times that I have told her, "Gillian, you aren't going to this tournament." Of course, she is not happy about it but she puts her nose back to the grindstone and figures it out. She is not a person that ever makes excuses. She takes what she gets and makes the best of it."

No matter what path she takes, it all goes back to wanting to be with her brothers. Because if it was not for them, she may never have picked up a club.

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