UpNext Player Spotlight: Gurleen Kaur

We are proud to highlight UpNext Alum Gurleen Kaur, who had an illustrious career at the University of Baylor, and recently earned her LPGA Tour card!

In 2018, Gurleen found the perfect fit at Baylor during her recruiting process. “The recruiting process was a rollercoaster because I at first did not want to look at many schools close to home. I wanted to be far away as possible. I made many visits but eventually took a visit my junior year to Baylor and really enjoyed seeing the campus and the amazing golf facility. With world class facilities, a golf course, coaches, and a top-ten team at the time, Baylor was an easy decision."

After an amazing 4 years at Baylor, Gurleen progressed to her next goal: The LPGA Tour. Starting that new chapter has been exciting but challenging. “The transition from college golf to the LPGA has been very different in a variety of ways. I really enjoy having the flexibility of choosing my own schedule and doing what I want daily rather than a strict schedule of class, workouts, practice, qualifying, etc. However, there are many benefits to college golf such as having two coaches to always support you; fewer things to worry about (finances, traveling,  etc).The most challenging thing is the increased amount of golf I play daily."

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When asked about a notable moment in her career thus far, Gurleen said, “It must be any time my sister has caddied for me; specifically, when she caddied for me for 6-7 days in the US Am at Golf Club of Tennessee in 2018. I am so grateful for golf for bringing us close as we spend a lot of time together.”

We wondered how she puts her GCQuad to use and she provided several simple drills and that “Ever since I got my Quad, I have been using it almost daily and I saw the transition of using the technology impact my game immediately.”

Gurleen’s Routines:

• I use my Quad for wedges the most. I do 30-110 yards in 10-yard increments and hit the carry number within 1, plus-or-minus the yardage I am trying to hit.
• I also try to use the quad for my path as well; I do +5 path, 0 path, and –5 path drills with some irons to be able to shape the shots more and be creative with the shots.
• For ball speed numbers with my driver I have a drill I use at the end of my sessions-I like to hit three balls one after the other, with one more mph faster than the other.

Gurleen shared valuable insight for UpNext members regarding stock yardages. “I think Upnext members should focus on carry numbers especially for wedges and scoring clubs. Knowing each day and week-to-week how far the ball is going depending on weather or location is super important, and adjusting to those numbers is key to dialing the clubs and scoring better.”

Closing out her suggestions to junior golfer, she offered that they should “Enjoy the journey and don’t take the time that you have for granted. Enjoy the game and ups and downs that come from it. Practice super-duper hard but be easy and kind to yourself because you are the one person that needs to be the nicest to yourself!! Junior golfers are so hard on themselves; I know I was; but it's okay to have bad days because the next could be the best. Also- hit it as hard as you can and train speed as early as you can. Speed > accuracy. And there is no amount of time that can be overspent on a short game!”

We asked Gurleen a few closing questions to get to know her just a little better!

• Favorite Food: fav food is sushi!
• Favorite vacation: anywhere warm with a beach; Cabo, Bahamas, etc
• Golf memory that makes you laugh the most: My freshman year of college we played regionals in Austin and there was a horrible virus going around and one of my teammates got sick and played golf with a trash bag and a diaper handy!
• Activities off the golf course: I like to workout, outdoor cycling, music, sleeping, Netflix
• Non-golf job for one day: I am doing my dream job so I wouldn’t change it!! But I would also like to be a DJ because I love music and I think making music and tracks is fun but I wouldn’t be a singer because I can’t sing.

Thank you and good luck to Gurleen!

You can follow along with her journey on Instagram