PGA of America Golf Professional Kristy Gleason is a living legend in the state of Iowa. But not for golf. In college, Gleason was a four-time All-American, twice the Big Ten’s Athlete of the Year, the University of Iowa’s all-time leading scorer and recipient of the prestigious Honda Broderick Award in 1994. And she was later enshrined in the University of Iowa Athletics Hall of Fame. But not for golf.
After college, the multi-talented Gleason represented the U.S. on World Cup and Pan American Games teams – even winning a pair of bronze medals. But, again, not for golf.
Now serving as the PGA of America Head Professional and Director of Golf at Kingswood Golf Club in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, golf is unequivocally Kristy Marie Gleason’s life and love. But it wasn’t always that way.
Gleason grew up in Amesbury, Massachusetts, playing ice hockey, basketball, softball and field hockey. With a strong slap shot and superlative hand-eye coordination, Gleason gravitated to field hockey after becoming a star in the sport at Amesbury High School, where she also led her teams to championships in softball and basketball. The multi-talented athlete ended up at the University of Iowa in Iowa City because the Hawkeyes had a preeminent field hockey program. In addition, because when she attended summer field hockey camps growing up, several Iowa players served as camp counselors.
“I gravitated to Iowa because I had been named to the U.S. National Team at the age of 18 and there were several players on the national team who were at Iowa,” admits Gleason, (pictured middle) who guided the University of Iowa to the NCAA Final Four as a center midfielder all four years and is still the Hawkeyes’ all-time leading goal scorer with 132 and a school-record 285 points.
“My recruiting visit to Iowa was amazing and so was my entire college career. Iowans are wonderful people,” says Gleason, who is the second-leading goal scorer in NCAA history. “Iowa was and is first class.”
After college, Gleason stood at a career crossroads since there are no professional field hockey leagues in the U.S.
“I was ready to move on to golf at that point. I had always loved golf. But I didn’t have any real experience in competitive golf,” recalls Gleason.
As a youngster, Gleason would accompany her father to the golf course and play a few holes, but she didn’t play organized golf as a junior. Gleason applied the fundamentals she had learned in ice hockey and field hockey to build her swing with a few tips from her dad.
“My dad was a very good athlete and golfer, single digit still to this day,” notes Gleason. “I loved the solitude and challenge that golf provided, but it was on the back burner when I was growing up.”
However, before she focused all of her talents on golf, Gleason enjoyed a three-year career on the USA Duathlon Team, which consists of an 8.5k run, a 150k bicycle race and a 30k road race. She won a bronze medal in Duathlon in her age group, but then decided golf was indeed her future.
The indomitable Gleason turned professional and sought her fame and fortune on the Futures Tour with an eye toward qualifying for the LPGA Tour from 2003–05. She worked with highly re garded PGA of America Golf Professional TJ Tomasi and began the transformation from All-America field hockey player to professional golfer.
“Together with Dr. Tomasi, we built a swing for me that was short due to my field hockey days that would hold up under pressure,” explains Gleason. “We worked extensively on the short game.
“But I was really behind the other girls on tour as far as experience and competitive rounds. I lacked the experience and mental mindset of having gone through the challenges golf brings.”
Elected to PGA of America Membership in 2009, Gleason worked closely with Dr. Tara McKenna, PGA; Heidi Papoosha, LPGA; Tom Dufresne, PGA; Bob Green, PGA, and Tomasi to become a highly competent and popular PGA of America Golf Professional. She continues to compete in PGA Section events and loves to play alongside her members at Kingswood Golf Club in New Hampshire, where she has served as PGA of America Director of Golf and Head Golf Professional for the past 10 years.
Gleason’s focus is on teaching, coaching, mentoring and running golf operations at Kingswood.
“Since moving from field hockey to golf, I have not looked back and golf is my life now,” she assures. “Serving and helping those around me is my passion.”
—Roger Graves