Episode 3: Clark Atlanta University

When we look at the golf team at Clark Atlanta, I tell people we are not just starting a program. We are creating a beast. You know, we're gonna come in hot. We're hitting fairways. We're hitting greens. It's gonna be a great year. In life, you want to do something that's going to make a difference. What is it that you want to accomplish? What do you want to bring to this team? I want us to make a really big splash. I think we're gonna kill it. I think we're gonna build each other up as a team. One, two, three. We found that it was time to have the distinction of having a women's golf program at Clark Atlanta University. And I'm proud that we actually are instituting women's golf before men's golf. Good morning. Gather round, gather round, gather round. This is our first day on the driving range. I want you to focus on a few things. The first one is tempo. I want you to start with wedges. Start there, loosen up, and then we will start to go through some other things. Thank y'all, thank y'all. I'm Erica Payton. I'm building the first women's golf program at Clark Atlanta University, and it has been a whirlwind. City of Atlanta is excited. University is excited, and so it's just been incredible. Every day you're doing something that's gonna make a difference. Weeks down the line, or months down the line, or years down the line, it's a massive responsibility. Yes, you are swinging down the line extremely well, but it's also really, really fun. Hello, how you doing? Hello, Popolo. Please, please, please. Good morning. What's she saying, Baps? Don't say it if you don't mean it. I'm aging myself, you probably don't have a clue what Baps is. I do know, because of TikTok. Lord, have mercy. Being a part of the first golf team, women's golf team at Clark Atlanta, that's a big thing. Hopefully we can instill a environment where we're serious, but we're a family. Oh, bow. And you can have a lot of fun, but you gotta handle business too. I think that going to college at HBCU is just very important. You get that exposure to different people that come from different backgrounds, and it's really a learning experience when you meet someone from across the country, and they wanna do the same thing that you wanna do. Being in a historically black college or university was a pivotal part of my life and my upbringing and how I got here, and I want them to have that too. Significantly better than where we started. Yay! Significantly better. I love Coach. She's so funny, and it's really different, because honestly, you don't really see a lot of black women golfers. This is going to be a critical distance for you. Yeah. Good shot. It's very important for Coca-Cola to help us establish this opportunity, because you don't really see too many HBCU golf teams, period, especially catered to black women. So it's really important, because their help giving us that leap and that jumpstart for us to establish something that maybe everybody in the black community can participate in. To receive that call, to see the notification that we were awarded the grant was everything. Being here in Atlanta, we're close neighbors. You know, just the excitement of knowing that Coke saw what we were doing and wanted to, you know, really bestow a great blessing to us, it means a lot. It's really exciting to actually be able to be part of the building or the foundation of this Clark Atlanta Inaugural Women's Golf Program. It's starting with four this year. Maybe it'll be eight next year. And so I think that's why we're excited to continue in our second year. The World is My Yard Golf Impact Program. And we hope that this seed that's planted, again, just continues to grow and bear fruit for future golfers across the US. This is our PGA Tour tour, take one. So here is the media center for the Tour Championship. Walk up, take a photo, enjoy it, feel what it's like. It's just practice for when Coach Payton gets you guys at the top of the mountain. Oh, this is cool. What do you think about that putt on hole 10? Man, I missed a one-foot putt. Coach Payton won't be so happy about that. So you know we're gonna be running putting drills because of you, right? Absolutely. Being at the PGA Tour Championship was like, like I never thought I'd be in those spaces in life. Like coming from like a reservation, you know, we don't have a lot. All right, there we go, there we go. All right, one, two, three. To see it in action was so surreal. I can't believe that happened. I loved everything about that day. All right, so what we thought would be really cool since you all are golfers, is to see what it takes to build a bag. Titleist has graciously volunteered to have you guys step into their truck, which is really neat, and see what it's like. We just are constantly building stuff. So if you look at, you can carry 12 of each model in loft. So eight degree, nine degree, 10 degree, 11 degree in GTS3. When we were on the Titleist truck and we were seeing how they get their clubs like catered to them, that was so cool. And then you've got irons. So these are all like utility irons or long irons. Full sets of irons. It's really eye-opening. It's different than normal players. So, keeps us busy. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thanks for stopping by. To have the opportunity to go to the Tour Championship was unbelievable. Well, this is Eastlake Golf Club. You'll be seeing a lot on TV during the week. We can pop inside. Thank you. Take a look. Oh, wow. Wow. I talked to the players and told them, hey, if you have the opportunity to show up for an event like this, see everything that you can, talk to who you can talk to, build relationships because golf is not just the sport. It's a huge business that you have an opportunity to step into. Holy cow. This is nice. Imagine winning. You're walking up to the green, the sun is setting, and this is your view. It's too much. The season will start in the spring, short term. The goal is to practice really hard. The goal is to focus on your studies. The goal is to show up for your teammates. Those are things that we're establishing now. My goal is to, yes, build this championship competitive caliber program, but also to build great people who will give back to their university, great people who will show up as Clark Atlanta alum, golfers from this amazing institution, and continue to give back to the sport. So looking at me here, three, two, one. This inaugural women's golf team has the opportunity to set the standard, to create the legacy for those ladies that will come behind. We are super excited.