Why Nice Wins (with Karen Peek, Detroit's Muni Golf Boss)

Karen Peek's first golf memory isn't a great shot. It's her mom and aunt on the lesson tee at Rackham, laughing to tears and hitting it terribly. In this episode of The Bag Drop: Untold Stories in Golf, host Matt Considine and co-host Dr. Kevin Moore (a.k.a. "The Professor") sit down with Karen Peek (Director of Golf Operations for Golf Detroit and an LPGA teaching professional) to talk about growing up on Detroit's municipal courses, chasing the LPGA Tour through four Q-Schools, and why being genuinely glad to see people is the best business decision a golf course can make. The conversation dives into: Learning the game from Ben Davis at Rackham and Chris Williams at Palmer Park, the only two Black members of the Michigan PGA section at the time Four tries at the LPGA Tour, never once feeling comfortable at Q-School, and a putting saga that runs from hypnosis to a new Scotty Cameron ordered two weeks ago Why teaching is a skill, not telling people how you do it, and why the boyfriend lesson ends the golf before it ends the relationship The 150-yard markers at Chandler Park and why she isn't getting drunk on golf's boom "Hey dude, what's up?", the private-club pro shop that never said hello, and why she can charge more because her courses are nicer Ben Davis's legacy: humble, fierce, and always moving golfers off the range and onto the course Connect with our guest 🏌️‍♀️ Karen Peek — Golf Detroit: https://golfdetroit.org — 📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GolfDetroit/ — 💼 https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-peek-6a649712/ Join the NewClub community 🌍 Website: https://www.newclub.golf 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newclubgolf/ 🐦 X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/newclubgolf 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/newclub Links & Partners ⛳ Erin Hills: https://www.erinhills.com 🏌️ Titleist: https://www.titleist.com The Bag Drop 📺 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bag-drop-untold-stories-in-golf/id1430328006 📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thebagdrop 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2xRWtUBJH8RazdLw14oaGH 🎧 Website: https://thebagdrop.fm/ Connect with Matt & The Professor 🎙️ Matt Considine — 🐦 X/Twitter: https://x.com/consequential85 | 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/consequence18/ | 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-considine-103bb21/ 📚 Dr. Kevin Moore ("The Professor") — 🐦 X/Twitter: https://x.com/kevcmoore | 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kevcmoore | 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-moore-177b30b3/ 🗣️Contribute to the show! — 📧 email: [email protected] Chapters 00:00 Cold open: when your boyfriend is your golf teacher 00:45 Welcome, and a bruised fall for Guardians and Bulldogs fans 03:12 Best fall format: East Lothian rules vs. Steel vs. Rubber 05:05 The team-event climax, plus First Tee Cleveland and Akron 06:20 Meet Karen Peek of Golf Detroit 07:56 The Professor's teaching: 20 minutes outside, less cortisol 09:58 Erin Hills: the glaciers did the heavy lifting 12:10 Karen joins: baseball first, and nothing for State 15:18 A Cleveland-fan dad and a Tigers-fan daughter 19:35 Mom's lessons with Ben Davis: so happy, so awful 22:12 Free Press summer golf school: 400 kids, no golf balls 23:39 Biking to Palmer Park and learning from Chris Williams 25:07 Losing her dad at 14, and the comfort of the individual game 27:51 Par was the standard, practice was the answer 31:37 Four tries at the LPGA Tour, and advice from people who haven't been there 36:43 Q-School: prepared until she got there 38:45 Hypnosis, acupuncture, and a putter over the knee 42:53 Lemons into lemonade: joining the LPGA to teach 44:50 Teaching is a skill, not telling people how you do it 48:16 Six-foot-four students and "please don't apologize" 52:41 What Carol Mann taught her: people need to know you care 56:28 Horrific lessons and the boyfriend at the range 59:35 Delivery over knowledge: listen first 1:03:13 Get them on the course, the sooner the better 1:04:14 Nobody knows what 300 yards looks like (hit one more club) 1:08:49 The 150-yard markers at Chandler Park 1:11:23 Don't get drunk on the boom 1:13:19 Building comfort: staff who look like your golfers 1:15:26 "Hey dude, what's up?" 1:17:36 The private-club pro shop that said nothing 1:19:23 "I can charge more because I'm nicer" 1:22:55 Ben Davis: humble, fierce, always smiling 1:26:26 Thanks, and the outro with Erin Hills What is NewClub? A golf club without the real estate. One membership, a rotation of great courses, tee times, competitions, trips already on the calendar, and people who love the game the way you do. We play as visitors of the clubs and courses that host us, and those relationships are the heart of what we do. What is The Bag Drop? Deeply researched audio documentaries telling the stories behind golf's greatest clubs, plus weekly conversations with the characters and communities shaping golf today. Hosted by NewClub founder Matt Considine and The Professor, Dr. Kevin Moore.