Preppy Podcast
The Preppy Podcast features interviews every Tuesday with the brands, businesses and influencers who are keeping the modern preppy lifestyle alive.
Preppy Podcast
Nattie Golf
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Nathalie Sheehan offers refined golf instruction, curated golf lifestyle inspiration, and timeless style for women. Rooted in the traditions of golf and expressed through a modern feminine lens, it celebrates the sport not only as a game to be played, but as a way of living. Through refined instruction and an authentic female perspective, Nathalie invites more women to experience the game with confidence, clarity, and ease. Discover more at https://www.nattiegolf.com/.
You're listening to the Preppy Podcast, and I'm your host, Patricia May Olsen. I'll be interviewing the brands, businesses, and influencers who are keeping the modern preppy lifestyle alive. Each Tuesday, I'll bring you a new episode, but if you're craving more preppy, then shop the merch and listen to past episodes at thepreppy podcast.com and be sure to follow at the preppy podcast and me, Patricia underscore May underscore Olsen on Instagram. And it is golf season, so I could not think of a better time to chat with her. She shares all the things about how she fell in love with golf, how she decided to turn it into a business, and even some style tips. We talk about some of her favorite brands. Some of them are new to me, so I cannot wait to check out. But I know you guys will love this episode just as much as I did. And before we get into that, as always, let's do some housekeeping. So, first things first, Campreppy, Colorado is literally like maybe two, three weeks away. I can't even keep track of time. But I do have a few tickets left to that. And I also added a local ticket. Um, I had a couple people request to join the fun but not stay overnight. So there is an option if you are in the Vale area and just want to join all of the days, but not stay overnight, want to go home. Um, just send me a DM or an email and I can send you that direct link for that option. But it's going to be so fun, you guys saw I was out there a few weeks ago and truly stunning, like ugh, such a beautiful time of year at West. Uh, I know the campers are gonna love it. We have so many fun preppy activities and an insane welcome bag that they're gonna be thrilled with. And also Kenny Bunkport, Camp Preppy Kenny Bungport. Um, those tickets sold really quickly at the start in the spring. I added a few more because I had some requests. That's going to be in October, of course. Um, there's only like three tickets left, so go get those as soon as possible if you want to join us. Just Kenny Bungport in the fall with the leaves changing. Um, just it's such a magical time and place. So grab those. And then finally, you've seen me share a lot the past couple weeks about Club Preppy on my Instagram, and that's our monthly membership. Ladies who love a preppy lifestyle. I had someone DM me actually asking if you have to be a business owner, and you do not. You just have to love a preppy lifestyle. It is um a monthly membership. Like I said, we do at least one event per month virtually. So, for example, for July, we did a cooking um session with the Southern Discourse. She shared some recipes for the 4th of July and just like an Americana summer that a lot of the members used over the 4th of July weekend and have rave reviews about, shared pictures of those, so that was a hit. And then later this month, we are talking with Andrea of Hapsi. She's actually going to be sharing some tips for AI and also like organizing your family calendar. Um, as well, obviously, as we are going to be tasting Hapsi, um, her drink. So that's gonna be so much fun, and we have lots of fun chats on the horizon. Plus, you get a free little gift in the mail. Those are preppy, fun, exclusive, branded, um, and fabulous. And then lastly, you're part of our group chat on Instagram where the ladies are always cheering each other on, sharing links to some of their favorite preppy finds. Just such a great community. So find all that information for Camp Preppy and Club Preppy at the Preppy Podcast.com. And I hope you will join us in some of those. Be a camper or be a club member. All right, let's get into this week's episode. Okay, so why don't you first let everyone know who you are, where you live, and what you do?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, thank you so much for having me. Um, I'm very excited to be here. So I am a golf professional. I'm a PJ of America uh member and I'm based in Tampa, Florida. So I work at a golf club called Pelican Golf Club in Tampa Bay, out in Bel Air near the beach, and teach golf there. I'm also the director of women's golf there. So I run all of our women's programming. Uh that includes tournaments and instruction and all of the fun things. Um, I also have my own business outside of the club where I travel all over the world and teach uh lessons and clinics to mainly women in corporate spaces, kind of helping them use golf as a tool in business. Um, and then I've also recently launched uh another leg of that called Opre Golf, and that is golf travel for women. So we do trips to iconic destinations as well as golf schools to further help women who want to use golf as a business tool.
SPEAKER_00Excellent. Well, I am so thrilled to have you on the podcast. I've been following you for a while now. I love your tips with golf. Um, I love how you're bringing women into golf, which I feel like was a men's sport for so long and women were scared to take part in it. Um, and I love like your golf style you and I love seeing your outfits and your stylish takes on golf. Um, so I'm thrilled to have you on today and learn more about how you got to where you are.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, thank you so much.
SPEAKER_00Of course. So let's start at the beginning. Tell me a little bit about you as a kid. Were you someone who was entrepreneurial, maybe had like lemonade stands, or um, were you someone golfing at a young age? Like, where'd you grow up? What was childhood like?
SPEAKER_01I grew up in northern Connecticut, um, so just outside of Hartford, and I played all of the sports. I was very much a tomboy, very um, I played every sport you could think of. I played lacrosse. I played, I actually played ice hockey all the way through high school.
SPEAKER_02Wow. Okay.
SPEAKER_01Um I yeah, I was very, I was very into sports. It was, I was always a hard worker. Um, I was not, I'm sure I did a lemonade stand or something at one point in my life, but I was not, you know, starting businesses at a young age or anything like that. Both of my parents are relatively entrepreneurial. Um my mom is a lawyer and uh my dad does commercial real estate, but they have done various entrepreneurial things throughout their both of their careers uh together and separately. So um I think the biggest thing was just I had a strong work ethic. It was kind of imprinted on myself and my sisters that if you're going to do something that you should do it well and you should want, you should be the best at it if it's something you're passionate about or try to be. Uh so we always worked very hard at everything that we did.
SPEAKER_00Excellent. I love that. It's funny. I've had a few people on this podcast who have like more of a sports background, like played sports growing up, played in college, and I think it instills a lot of great skills as an entrepreneur because you have to work with others, you have to work as a team, um, you're putting in a lot of hours into something, right? So I think it it lends itself naturally to be an entrepreneur.
SPEAKER_01100%, especially college athletics. You are doing a lot of not very fun things and pushing yourself very hard a lot of times when you don't want to. So definitely lends itself well to entrepreneurship. I agree with that.
SPEAKER_00So speaking of that, then let's talk about college. Where did you go? What did you uh study? Obviously, you played Division I golf, like you mentioned. So tell me about like how you how you landed there and where.
SPEAKER_01So I went to the University of Delaware. Uh, the year that I was a freshman was the second year that they had a women's golf team ever. So it actually was a Title IX team that had gotten added the year prior to me being a freshman. So it was a very young team. Uh, my coach had previously been at Georgetown and she came and helped start the program there. Patty Post, she was fantastic. Um, we went from being ranked like 200 something in Division I golf to being top 100 in my four years there and actually advancing to NCAAs my senior year. Uh, so we got pretty good pretty quickly, which was really fun. Um, but I majored in, I started out, I think I switched my major three or four times. I started as fashion merchandising, which will surprise no one. That's what I thought I wanted to do, uh, which I would have absolutely hated. So thank God I uh switched paths. I didn't like that, so I switched to English at one point because I was basically focused on golf and wanted to study something that I enjoyed so that I could focus on golf. Um, and I actually ended up taking an art history class randomly with one of my teammates who was a, she might have been like a bio major. I don't even know what she was, some science major. We took this art history class, we were obsessed, and we just decided to switch our majors to art history and finished it out that way and really thoroughly enjoyed that so, so much. Um so a little bit random, but I really did enjoy studying that.
SPEAKER_00No, that's so interesting. Um, and I'm based right outside of Philadelphia. So I looked at University of Delaware because I have a degree in fashion and communications, and it's a school that has both of those as well. Um, so how do you why'd you decide to go to the University of Delaware? Was it the golf that really pulled you in and you were interested in them?
SPEAKER_01Yes, 100%. I got recruited to play golf there. Um, it was between all over the place, but between their SMU and University of Idaho were sort of my three that got narrowed down to. So really all over the country. Um that ended up being just oh my gosh, yes, fairly. So that ended up being the best uh, you know, fit for me. And actually, funny enough, I did take a same teammate that did art history with me, who is still one of my good friends. Um, we did take, they have a great entrepreneur program at the University of Delaware. Forget there's a name of like the school. And we did take one or two classes that were an entrepreneurship class, and that was really cool too. So we would go, I want to say it was like a three-hour class once a week, and you had to do elevator pitches and come up with all sorts of business ideas. And so that was really interesting as well. I actually kind of forgot about that until Yeah.
SPEAKER_00It kind of gave you that bug for entrepreneurship, right?
SPEAKER_01For sure.
SPEAKER_00So backing it up a little, when did you start playing golf? Like, how did you start playing golf? Like, what was that first interest in golf?
SPEAKER_01My parents both took it up pretty quickly after college. My dad played hockey and baseball in college. Um, my mom went to law school. She graduated from college in three years and went to law school. So she is very, very smart. Um, and so they both got married at say 24-ish. They joined a golf club soon after, and I think saw the importance of you know, making connections with other people and you know, using golf for work and all of those great things. So we were just around it from a young age. Um, but my mom says I just was obsessed with it even from a when you know when I was little, she said I would go in the backyard and swing, want to swing the golf club and and all that. So I don't remember not playing golf.
SPEAKER_00Oh, wait, I love that. So you just it came naturally and just loved it naturally, which that probably makes your job easy now. I always say, like, when you love what you do, it doesn't feel like work, right?
SPEAKER_01100%. Now I will say there are parts to every job that are not great. Like everyone thinks, well, you're so lucky because you must just get to play golf every day. And I'm like, well, you know, there's great things about it, and I do 100% love what I do, but I think even when you love what you do, it's important to know there are days or things that you it's it's okay to not have everything be, you know, 100% perfect all the time.
SPEAKER_00No, for sure. Um, so then once you graduated college, what did you end up doing? Did you go into something with this art history major um while still golfing, or did you automatically um create your golf business?
SPEAKER_01So I I actually I worked for my college coach during the summers when I was still in school. Then when I graduated, I randomly I ended up going and playing at a private golf club in Philadelphia and got kind of like impromptu interviewed on the spot by my, he ended up being my boss for four years. Um I spent the summers in Philly. I got a job at this great golf club there, and I I did that for the summers. I was still trying to play that first year at a school. I wanted to play on tour, which was a little bit delusional, but I'm glad I tried. So I went to Q School, which is the qualifying uh tournament for the LPGA tour. Okay. Uh that one time. So right when I graduated from college, I did that, but I was working at the same time teaching. So had kind of my feet in two different places, but um, it was a good experience. And uh I ended up just deciding after I went to Q school the one time that I wanted to dive into teaching full time and really stick with it. So I got another, I did summers in Philly, and then I had um a couple different places I worked in Palm Beach during the winter. Okay. Um so yeah, but my road to kind of where I am now is definitely a little bit all over the place. I have, I would say, tried many different things, and I'm sure people can kind of relate to this from COVID times, but I moved to Tampa in 2019. Okay. Um, my now husband was down here and I was just gonna come for the winter. It was like the end of 2019, so right before COVID, and I was like gonna go back to Philly for the summer and still do that. And then COVID happened, and so I didn't do that, but I didn't have anywhere to teach when I first came to Tampa. So I during COVID got my real estate license. I um did some online coaching. Like I was trying, I was like thinking about getting like my health certification, like a health certification to do like nutrition or something like that. Um what else have I done? I tried to start a clothing company. Um, I like I've just I've tried a lot of different things, and which is good because you know, I think it's good to try things. I've learned so much from doing different things, but ultimately it's all led to kind of where I am now and really diving into golf deeply and and finding what serves me well within golf so um and helps me serve others well. Yeah, so I I've tried all the things. It's easy, you know, everyone always sees like where you are today, and it's like, well, you know, I did try. I I have done a lot of things and made a lot of mistakes along the way.
SPEAKER_00No, and I think that's part of being an entrepreneur. A student had called me a few days ago and was asking me about like entrepreneurship and how I got here. And I one of the biggest things with being an entrepreneur is like trying everything, right? And seeing what sticks. And you have to be flexible, you have to be willing to put yourself out there. Um, and it sounds like you did that before you found like where you wanted to be in in this golf industry and what worked for you, what what served your your uh clientele, right?
SPEAKER_01Definitely, definitely.
SPEAKER_00So I think you know, looking at you from the outside, I think something that you do really well and set you apart is social media. You do such a great job with that. Was that part of like a strategic plan from the beginning then? Like when you were trying things, you realized, like, hey, this is something different that I can offer and sets me apart. Um, or is that something kind of like you naturally fell into or maybe had to force yourself at doing videos? I feel like a lot of people that I have on this podcast, they're like, I hate doing videos, it's so cringe, or you know, I know that it's hard and I have to do it though for my business. So I'd love to hear, you know, how you got to where you are on social media and building that following.
SPEAKER_01Nothing I do is like intentional. I don't have some people like, what's your five-year plan? Like, I have no grand plan. Like, I'm the kind of gal who is I have an idea in the morning and I have executed it by the afternoon. I'm like, like, which is good and bad because sometimes I don't have enough plan. I've gotten better, but yeah. So there's no, there's no, there's no grand plan behind the scenes necessarily. I actually have one right now, but generally speaking, I just like say yes, I have an idea and I go for it. I started social media when I was still kind of just wanted to play a little bit, and I it was before everybody was posting golf tips online. Um, and I listened to, I was obsessed with Gary Vaynerchuk at the time and would like listen to everything he said and everything he put out, and he basically said, just record what you do every day. And I was still working really hard on my own game, and I would just record kind of I would do like a little tip here and there of what I was working on. So whatever drill I was doing for my swing, I would post it and it kind of had some traction to it. And I wasn't doing any talking on video initially, and then the it happened that the club that I was working at in Palm Beach, um, there was a top 100 instructor uh through golf.com that was there, and they were coming to film some stuff and they had seen me on social media, I guess, at the time, and they asked me to do some stuff with them. So I was doing some more kind of like talking instructional videos, and it just sort of like escalated from there. Um, I got this opportunity to work with golf channel, which I'm now on, I don't even know, year five or six of working with them. Um, so I show on golf channel, and you know, you get better at it, obviously, as you do it more. I would say uh my comfort zone is golf tips. It's so easy for me to record that because it's really, I just pretend like I'm I'm teaching, you know, giving you a golf lesson. So easy and natural for me. The cringe to me is when it's you're doing something that's not as natural to share. So, like when I'm doing, you know, if I'm gonna post like my outfit that I'm wearing, like that doesn't that to me is what feels a little cringy. Um, but the I get validation when I go and do these big clinics for women and they're like, oh my gosh, where did you get your shirt or where are your shoes from? I need that. Like, so people that's part of the whole thing and helping women feel really good about themselves when they're on the course. But I think that if you're doing what you believe in and something that kind of is natural to you and is maybe a little bit easier. I don't know, or maybe I've just done it for a long time now. But the golf instruction thing is definitely easier for me to, you know, generate a lot of content around.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, you do it so well. And like I said, I even I love your outfit content just as much. Um, so let's talk about, you know, you've uh been able to do so many amazing things um in the golf world and beyond, like one of which we just talked about offline was your ray of light collaboration. Um, how how did those come about? Like, is it something where you're reaching out to brands, they're reaching out to you? Um, I'd love to hear about that because I'm sure even people listening, whether they'd love to collaborate with you in the future or maybe they're just wanting to know in general how things like that happen.
SPEAKER_01It can definitely go either way. Um I have, I would something like that. That was sort of a, I don't want to say like a one-off partnership, but a um a product partnership. That was the first one I've kind of done like that, where it was a collaborative effort to create a product and then uh market together. Um, I had actually worked with Teddy on, because I run all of our women's tournaments, on creating some custom stuff over the last few years at Pelican. And they reached out to me and said, hey, we were thinking about doing a, you know, a golf line. Would you be interested in collabing with us on that? So I was like, yeah, of course, that sounds really great. Um, so we worked together through like the design process. I sent them a bunch of ideas of things that I thought would be interesting. And um it took a while to get everything kind of rolling, maybe like a year in planning and and whatnot before the launch of those. But um that was great. And then I have other, you know, partners that I work with on a yearly basis to either create content or go support them um and those brands at different events. Uh, and that can go both ways where I'm doing outreach or they're reaching out to me. It just totally depends on the situation.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that makes total sense. And I I love the right of light collab. That tote bag is one of my favorites. It's just so well made, the perfect size, um, goes with everything. That like shade of green is just great.
SPEAKER_01So I also people don't realize until you get it in your hand. I don't know what are those crock tote things that people use for like the pool and stuff.
SPEAKER_00Like, but I think they're called bog bags, like B-O-G-G or something.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, something like that. It's like that material. So it's great for the golf course because you could just wipe it off. It's not leather, yeah, which you wouldn't know until you like have it in your hands.
SPEAKER_00Uh-huh. Yeah, no, a thousand percent. So, you know, when we started the podcast, you talked about your niche in the golf industry and um helping women in corporate worlds use golf to their advantage to network. How did you decide to land there that that was sort of gonna be um your offering in the golf world and set you apart?
SPEAKER_01No different than trying one million other things. My initial goal when I knew I was, okay, I'm gonna go teach golf full-time. This is what I'm gonna do was there are no female instructors teaching PGA tour players. I'm gonna go teach on the PGA tour, I'm gonna teach the best players in the world. And the more that I did instruct golf instruction, the more I was around other coaches. When I met my husband, who has worked with a ton of LPGA tour players, um I was like, I want nothing to do with tour players. No, thank you. So that definitely was a kind of a learning experience of okay, that's definitely not where I what I want to do. I don't want to be on the road all the time. It's a very high-pressure coaching situation, very different from teaching club players. I actually, I think personally, teaching club players is a little bit more rewarding. Um, there's definitely a lot more at stake, obviously, when you're teaching a PGA tour player or an LPJ tour player. Um, but I also kind of got over this hump of I cared a lot about what everybody else in my industry thought of me and really wanted to be taken seriously, especially as a younger female in the business. And I'm still on the younger side, but um have some years under my belt now and and have some you know street cred. So that's good. But I really did care a lot about what everybody else thought I was doing, how it, you know, how it appeared I was spending my time. Like I would have never posted, here's what I'm wearing. Like I would have, oh, everyone's gonna think I'm dumb if I do that. Um, and so I think that was a huge hurdle to. Get beyond that, okay. I actually don't care what everybody else thinks. I'm gonna do what I want to do. And that's okay if some people think that it's silly or you know that they don't approve. Who cares? I'm not here to serve other golf coaches. I'm here to, you know, serve the people that are my clients and my students and some of the companies that I work with. And uh it also, I just really enjoy spending time with women who, again, especially in corporate spaces, who have not been invited into golf in the correct way yet. And when you do that and you can give that to them, it is so empowering and it really can change the trajectory of their entire career if they feel competent enough to be able to say yes to a golf invitation. Um, and it doesn't take that much in order to get someone there. So it's been very rewarding uh to be doing more of that.
SPEAKER_00Mm-hmm. Now that I love, you know, your message and what what you're doing in the golf world. I'm curious, you know, what's your favorite part about your business? And then what's like your least favorite or the hardest part? And we talked about, you know, it might look nice on social media, but of course there's things that like, you know, the accounting work or the travel schedule might be hard. Like what's your favorite and least favorite?
SPEAKER_01Um, I would say this is maybe a bad answer, but my least favorite part is that I do everything myself currently. So that is hard. Um, I and I I actually am trying really hard to hire somebody. I posted on Instagram yesterday. So um I am sending out job descriptions. I'm on top of it. Um attempted to hire somebody a few months ago that didn't work out. So now I'm on it. We have like everything in place. Hopefully that will help. Um, because I just have too much on my plate. So that really has been my least favorite part. I'm also not a math gal. However, I have gotten much better at, you know, being organized within my business. I'm very type B and uh messy behind the scenes. So but you know, it's one of those things where you start a business and no one why don't they teach us these things in school? And maybe it's because I was an art history major. People are gonna be like, yeah, it's because you got an art history degree. But um I like I don't I didn't know, you know, you have to have, for example, something so dumb, separate bank accounts and credit cards for everything. Like you can't be intermingling all of your funds. Um you know, even like tax stuff. I mean, there's so many secrets that no one is aware of and how to manage all of that. So um I wouldn't, I don't know that that's like my least favorite. I think it's just that's just challenging to learn. Yeah. No many things about you know, an LLC versus not what type of LLC should you have. Like there's so many things I've learned that you don't you don't know until you mess it up or until something goes wrong. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Uh and it's something you can't learn in school. Like no one's tea, there are entrepreneurship and business classes, but I don't think you're learning those sorts of things, right?
SPEAKER_01It just seems so basic though, like a lot of it is not that hard. It's like we just needed one class in college, a guidebook or something. Exactly.
SPEAKER_00Totally. That makes complete sense. So I'd love to talk about a prey too, because I know that's like one of your latest ventures and newest babies. So, how did the concept come um for that? Tell me about your first, or was it the one you just did in Palm Beach? Was that the first one? So I'd love to hear about it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so um basically we are doing there's a couple different legs of that, but it is golf travel. So they are trips uh for women and we go to iconic destinations and there is golf instruction, there are other fun activities. Um, really all with that main kind of string of connection is golf. Some of the trips are geared toward women who maybe haven't played as much golf before, they are newer to the game or not as experienced yet. Some will be geared more toward a more avid golfer who is, you know, interest interested in playing 18 holes a day. The one in Palm Beach was very low-key golf-wise. Uh, we did 18 holes at the Palm Beach Par 3. We just did a short clinic prior to going out and playing. So it was very laid back. Um but we had a great group of women. It was eight women on the trip and came from all over the country. Uh, and it was really, really fun. I mean, so such great connection. And um everybody was it, I mean, truly, it could not have been better. It was such a great group, and everybody really got along and everybody had different kinds of backgrounds and different jobs, but almost everybody, I would say, was a yeah, everybody has definitely worked in some sort of either corporate job. A couple of women in the golf industry came. Um, it was just, it was so fun. So, really looking forward to continuing to grow that. We're gonna be launching more um locations soon for our next trips. But so yeah.
SPEAKER_00Excellent. I love that. It's all about community, right? Bringing people together and that connection. Yes. So it's funny, I have a um club preppy group that it's like a membership group, but one of the ladies in the chat recently started golfing and she's like, where does everyone buy their golf outfit? So I'd love like to hear from you like where are some good places that listeners should check out for like cute preppy golf attire?
SPEAKER_01Okay, so a few of my favorites. Tuckernock number one. I actually have because they've grown their sport line quite a bit over the last couple of years, they have a lot more options now. They have really cute stuff. Um, I am obsessed with this company called A Putnam, which I'm sure you have heard of.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_01Um, and Allie uh Putnam, who started that company, is wonderful. So I am a huge fan of the women behind the business and her partner Alexa. But the clothing is awesome because I'm actually like, what am I wearing today? Um, I don't have any of that on today, but their clothing is great, a Putnam, because you can wear a lot of their pieces non-golf. So especially if you uh work in an office at all. Like they have these button-downs that are a tech material, so you could you could literally throw them on with a pair of jeans and they look really cute.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But you can also wear them to the office as well as to the golf course, okay. Um, which I love. You just you can look very polished because a lot of times golf clothes are expensive now. Um, and a lot of women, if you're not a super serious golfer yet, it feels crazy to spend $200 on a golf skirt, maybe. Yes. But if it's something that you can wear, maybe not just to the golf course, but to the office or you know, to dinner or to lunch, um, it's a little bit of a an easier spend. And all of their pieces are that way and very well made and really great fit. Uh, so big fans of both of those.
SPEAKER_00Okay, excellent. I feel like I've been seeing them on social media a lot. I haven't tried them yet. Um, but I do think they have like almost more neutral and sophisticated styles. So that, like you said, you can wear it off the golf course. Um, they look very put together and polished.
SPEAKER_01Yes. And they did just come out with I'm obsessed with Hill House, as I'm sure many of your uh listeners are. Yeah. And they I literally said last a few months ago, I'm like, someone needs to make a Hill House golf dress. Yes. And they basically did that. They made this really cute. It comes in like three different colors. I have it in blue. Um, it's like a smocked top. Oh. Kind of like the Hill House, I don't know what they call it, like the ruching or whatever they have. And it's a golf dress. It's so cute.
SPEAKER_00Okay. I need to check that one out then. So good. Uh now, what piece of advice would you give someone wanting to start a business, wanting to go and do something on their own? Like, what would you tell them?
SPEAKER_01Don't overthink it. Yeah. Um, I think so many people hem and haw and you know, want to iron out every little detail and everything's got to be perfect before they jump. And I am the opposite. And I think that now, like when I listen to other really super successful people and you know, who have started businesses, that's kind of the common thread is you know, jump off the cliff and build the airplane on the way down. Like it's and it doesn't have to be perfect, like especially if you're just starting out, it's not like you know, hundreds of thousands of people are seeing your product or your Instagram post when you're first starting out. So who cares if it's not perfect? It's you know, it's okay to learn along the way or fail in public. No one cares.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's such a good point. I feel like we'd get along great because I'm the same way. It's like I have cut have an idea and then like it is set in motion like a few hours later. Um, and I think that is kind of what you have to do because sometimes it just, if you overthink it, then you never get it off the ground and you can constantly tweak things. So yeah, thousand percent. What about someone wanting to get into golf, might not have the golf ever in their life, wanting to test it out? Like, what advice would you give to them? And like what would be the first step?
SPEAKER_01So I would find a friend to do it with, I think that's important. And if you don't have a friend willing to do it with you, maybe you've moved to a new place, or you know, you don't you have you don't have a ton of friends in your city that want to do it with you. Um, there are plenty of women's golf groups in most major locations uh now. Um, companies like For the Girls, which Abby Liebenthal runs, she's wonderful, and they do clinics all over the country. Um, they also do golf trips that are definitely geared toward more serious golfers. There's not golf instruction on her trips, but they do like these really cool golf trips. Um there are a lot of women's golf groups popping up, and I just I think that's a fun way. You need buddies to do it with. Like that's the whole point. Yeah. So I think that would be my biggest piece of advice is find somebody to do it with, but find a golf coach. Invest in lessons when you're starting, you don't need to take a million lessons, but invest in one or even you can usually get a package of like three or five lessons. Yeah. And just do that to get kind of a good base down so that you have an understanding of what to do. Because there's a lot of etiquette stuff, um, especially if you want to use golf for business, that I just think is important to know. And it doesn't have to take all that much time, but just getting that basic knowledge down at the start can really help you uh enjoy it more.
SPEAKER_00Yep. No, a thousand percent. I um our club does this like get ready for golf each spring where it's a month, and each like Wednesday, uh, there's a group of like 10 women each time, and we get instruction on a specific, like whether we're using our driver or wedge or whatever each week. And then after that, it transitions to once a month sip and swings where we're getting instruction for 30 minutes at the range, and then we go play two holes with an instructor and like a group of ladies. So I think that's a great way too. After you take some lessons, is like with a group and actually out on a course with instruction.
SPEAKER_01Definitely. And those are so when we do um the Opera Golf or when I do like my corporate programming, that is what we do. We do instruction one day and then you go on the golf course the next day, because I definitely agree it's a very different animal being on the range versus on the golf course. So I think that's another piece of advice. Go on the golf course sooner than later, especially. I think a lot of ladies get very intimidated that oh, I have to be of a certain level to go out on the golf course. You do not. Most people are terrible at golf, and then you're you're gonna be fine. Um, you know, tee it up everywhere when you're starting out, totally fine to do, but go on the golf course sooner than you think. Don't wait till you feel like you're good enough to go on the golf course.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's great advice. So, since this is the Preppy podcast, I always ask everyone, what does Preppy mean to you? So, how would you describe Preppy?
SPEAKER_01Okay, I'm gonna tell you a funny story. So I teach a lot of younger girls, and the I would say eight to twelve year olds are always telling me all of the crazy lingo these days. Yeah, and preppy allegedly means something very different to the onions.
SPEAKER_00I know, it's more like Love Shack Fancy for them.
SPEAKER_01It's Love Shack Fancy and bright colors and um my gosh, what's the company that makes all of the cute little pouches and stuff? Um Stony Clover. Stony Clover, that's preppy. And I'm like, that's not preppy.
SPEAKER_00It's like plaid and tartan and sear psycher.
SPEAKER_01100%, 100%. Um but I think, you know, uh growing up in Connecticut, Preppy is definitely to, in my opinion, you know, old school J. Crew Bermuda shorts that I would wear with like the polo growing up playing golf. Um, that to me is kind of like quintessential uh prep. But I feel like I have kind of like elements of that still, obviously with the golf style, but uh I feel like it's kind of evolved a little bit, you know. I think there's a lot of ways that you can pull kind of like the prep into your life, and and I don't know, I I like the idea of dressing in a little bit more of a classic way with with a twist. And so I definitely still have pieces, pieces of that uh that I stick to.
SPEAKER_00No, that's a perfect answer. Um, so my second to last question is anything you're working on that you want to plug um or talk about, like I know you have some upcoming appraise coming up. I don't know if you have locations yet or any other sneak peeks.
SPEAKER_01So I actually the one thing that we are launching in August for Opera Golf is we uh are going to be sharing a comprehensive uh video library. So when you come to one of our events or clinics, you'll have access to it, but you also can just purchase access to it uh on your own. And it will have when we launch right around a hundred videos, and it's basically a guide for uh geared specifically to women on how to play golf. So it covers in you know, in my voice, all my instruction, how to go from zero to a hundred uh if you've never touched a golf club before. So great for you if you are even a newer golfer, you just want to brush up on your skills. Yeah, it goes over etiquette, uh, literally anything you would need to know in order to go play golf, host client golf, uh what to wear, all of the things. So that's gonna be really exciting.
SPEAKER_00Amazing. Oh my gosh, I'm so looking forward to that. And I think it's a good, like even winter activity to watch these videos and like you know, practice indoors and get ready. So that's perfect.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00So, final question is where can people find you? Let them know social media handles, website, anything else, um, so they can follow along, support you, maybe sign up for some of your clinics and things like that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so um my website, everything is Natty Golf, N-A-T-T-I-E golf, uh on Instagram, um, TikTok. I don't really like that much, but I have TikTok. Um and then my website is nattygolf.com. Uh Opre Golf is Opre Golf. No, I'm like, I don't remember the handle. It's I think it's Opre.golf Clubhouse or Opre Golf. If you search Opre Golf, it'll come up. Okay. Um, there is a head cover company called Opre Golf as well. They have the handle that I want. So it's like OpreGolf.clubhouse or something like that. And then my website is Opre Golf Clubhouse. If you are interested uh in getting on our email list for when we launch uh the video product or any other trips or anything like that, if you go to OpreGolf Clubhouse.com, you can enter your name and email and you'll get updates on everything uh when we launch. But um you can also just follow along on Instagram and you'll get notified of when we're gonna launch our next trips.
SPEAKER_00Perfect. That sounds amazing. Well, thank you so much. This was such a pleasure chatting with you, learning more about you and your businesses. Yeah, thank you so much for having me. Thank you so much for listening to the Preppy Podcast. I hope this put a little prep in your step for the day. Please subscribe, rate, and review on wherever you listen to your podcast. And follow along with at the Preppy Podcast on social media.