This episode of the 2nd Swing Thoughts podcast features Bella McCauley, golfer for the University of Minnesota, discussing her historic 2024 golf season. Specifically, Bella’s college golf season included two lights-out rounds to advance in postseason play. She won a Big Ten individual championship and later earned a spot in the NCAA National Championship, stamping one of the best college golf seasons in the University of Minnesota’s program history.
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[Music] hey golfers and welcome back to another episode of the second swing thoughts podcast um today we have a very very special guest um I think by now one of the most accomplished golfers in the history of you of Minnesota women’s golf has to be up there uh Bella mol is with us if you haven’t been following uh well for one she’s been on a YouTube channel several times so um if you following our Channel you’re familiar with who Bella is and you know how good of a player she is but um if you’ve been following the Gophers this spring she’s had she’s had quite a run here of golf lately so um first of all Bella thank you for taking the time today and joining um we’ve got some fun highlights to go over here but first just how are things since the season’s been been wrapped up here well thank you first for having me it’s always an honor to be a part of you guys here on the channel I it’s been a crazy couple months to be honest you know spring season kind of comes in a Flash and we start in February and it just runs all the way through uh miday so just a lot going on but towards the end is really when you know the big time is and it’s it goes super fast and it’s kind of just a whirlwind but it’s been really cool these past couple weeks just being able to process everything that’s happened and um just dream come true is an understatement um being able to win big 10 and qualify for National the second time in a row is just there’s really really no words for it it’s crazy yeah cuz the way the NCAA kind of golf uh is structured is that it’s very very difficult to make it to the National Championship as an individual they you know there’s sort of a big time bonus I guess if you’re you know on one of the teams that makes it there right but um I got I mean and the way that you’ve done these things is just by absolutely killing it in the final rounds and so I have to I have I have the stuff in front of me and I’m going to make sure I get it 100% correct here okay so this is kind of the summary the last you know month maybe of golf for Bella so in the Big 10 Championship shot a 64 in the final round is at eight under par yes eight under par to earn a share of the Big 10 title individual title uh so that qualified her then to go to uh the Regionals right for NCA um shot a 65 in that final round to finish runner up for the whole event um which also then qualified you as an individual to play in the national champ championship and so that was your second straight year than competing in the national championship which I thought I saw I looked at I was reading on the uh University of Minnesota website that it was you’re the first gopher to do that since oh it was like 87 or 88 or something like that yeah so it’s been 30 plus years more than 30 years since a gopher has played in the national championship back toback years so um I know I kind of just asked you this but like how do you I mean do you do you think about that stuff do you process like the history factor of things and we can also talk about scoring average and all those things right now your scoring average I think I saw as the lowest in the history of the of the program so do you process any of that or think about that stuff or is it just is that on kind of the back burner you know I have heard some of these statistics and it really shocks me it’s not something that I normally just think through in process because until afterwards you know and and it’s very shocking but in the moment it’s just you’re playing you’re playing against yourself really I like that’s what and I’m just trying to play my and day and so that’s not something that’s in my head but thinking back on it it’s really is crazy you know um just kind of some backstory for the national championship about two two years ago they changed the format of it to allow more teams into the NCAA and so there’s only six individuals in the entire country that qualify for the national championship so there’s 30 teams six individuals one individual from each Regional site and so the thought process as an individual going into it is really you know I have to have a really special tournament basically roughly top five to make it and you know there’s actually been a little bit of discussion about whether that’s fair or not you know I think it’s it’s cool for the teams it but it obviously makes it really difficult for individuals to get in and it almost makes it feel like if you are an individual and a te and your team doesn’t go as good as you might be it’s it’s almost impossible to imagine there’s a ton of really good individuals that their team might not have quite been at that up brelon of making it to the National Championship that are being left out and you know you were able to just sneak past some of those individuals but it has to be there’s probably that feeling in a sense among a lot of those golfers that it’s kind of working against them absolutely yeah I mean it’s there’s I think it ends up being about 40 to 50 I forget the exact number of people that don’t go as a team and that are all buying for one spot yeah at each Regional site and so just you know that’s a two 3% odds and everyone’s you know the best in the country so it’s it’s very it’s very difficult and to be able to do it twice I mean I just I feel honored um you know it’s the dreams you think about as a kid and so I I haven’t I still don’t think it’s fully sunk K yet over these but it is slowly and it’s been just such a cool such a cool way to end the season so when you’re at these you qualify for these regionals and you’re you go into it looking at kind of the leaderboard and the participants and you’re like okay these are the individuals that I need to beat or are you not even does that not even cross your mind are you like I I’m trying to kind of get the sort of the your mentality going into these big events because there’s something that clearly works for you I just I’m just curious on what is going through your like are you thinking about these other players or you’re just like I’m playing my game I’m working on my shot um whatever they shoot I can’t and not I’m not worried about it yeah I’m more that mentality where I don’t even think about really who’s in the tournament I swear I don’t even know who was all in the tournament till I got there showed up started playing I was like oh they’re in here and I you know I think I think it’s important when you’re entering any sort of golf round at least for me everyone’s very different but at least for me it’s important that I don’t put too much pressure on who I’m playing against trying to beat I mean at the end of the day even though you’re trying to beat out some other players you’re really just trying to put down some good rounds for yourself and put down a good tournament you know you could shoot you could play not good for yourself and still win or you could play Lights Out you know shoot couple 65s and someone still beats you out you know and that’s just the game of golf so I think in the moment you just have to focus on yourself and what you can control my coach talked a lot about that and just um controlling what you can can control and that’s just putting one step in front of the other and trying to make another good shot so that’s just really what I try to do in all my tournaments this spring and just enjoy the process um it gets to be a long season so towards the end you’re just really grinding it out and trying to to to play the best round you can in that very moment and not thinking too much about the leaderboards or what’s what else is happening so is that has to be kind of kind of I was going to lead into talking about a sort of if you have like a comfort level so to speak in playing from behind essentially because these the last couple of events where you’ve had a really really good final round and kind of vaulted up the leaderboard to the top is there going into those final rounds let’s say you’re I I got I don’t know exactly what it was but you know your five six seven shots back from the top um and you’re you know you have to go really low to catch up are you thinking about that going into your final round like you are you thinking about all right today I got to shoot 65 I got to shoot 64 today or I got to put something really low up there today make a bunch of birdies or again or or is it the kind of the same thing where you’re just like here’s the first hole here’s my first t- shot I’m worried about that first yeah not at all I’m way more just in enjoying the process I’m not even thinking I mean going into Big 10 there’s four out of the six of us there are graduating and so I’m really actually just thinking about them and this is could be their last round of competitive golf ever and it was just kind of like a really weird emot like emotional moment for the rest of the team and so I was really focusing on them um same at regionals I wasn’t really thinking about qualifying or anything like that it really wasn’t in the back of my mind I knew a rough number actually at regionals I knew I needed to play really really really really good that last round but it’s really not in the back of my it’s not really in my mind as I’m going out and trying to play and I think once I got both of those last rounds once I got started and realized how you know how I was feeling that day with the game and um made some really good birdies early on and just felt like I can’t miss a shot like I know I’m going to be hitting it close on almost every single shot I’m feeling really good over the over the ball for putts um the whole looks super big to me I’m like okay I know it’s going to be that’s when I know it’s going to be a good round is once I get going but I really don’t know until I’m like nine holes in yeah is it you know you hear golfers talk about being in the zone is that would is that exactly how you would describe it totally I mean I think that’s the thing in all competitive Sports too um anyone can attest to that is just you kind of just enter a different mode so to speak and I don’t know what it’s like in other sports but in golf you just really zone out and you you know you just can’t miss a shot it’s the the feeling of comfortability over the golf ball is absurd and I just feel like I can’t miss a shot can’t miss a put I’m comfortable over everything it’s crazy it’s just a really weird feeling sounds like a really I mean it sounds like something I’ve never experienced but it sounds it sounds like that it sounds exactly like what you hear lpj tour Pros or PJ tour Pros talk about when they go you know you hear those golfers that go and shoot 62 63 and to start a tournament and you know you get they get ask those questions by the media and that’s it’s almost exactly what they say you know there’s a certain weird extra level of yeah Comfort or confidence over the ball and absolutely obviously you found that in the perfect time with those rounds cuz is there cuz I feel like I’ve been you know you know in following some of your scores and your career a little bit is there maybe something too likee for you as well getting into a tournament a couple of round maybe a round or two and then you’re kind of comfortable with the course comfortable with your game a little bit where you maybe I guess I don’t have a a stat in front of me but um it I don’t know maybe it seems like rounds 2 three 4 are a little bit lower than the others you know I think it varies at each course and obviously each tournament I’ve gotten asked a lot I really don’t have a different mentality going into the last round or anything like that I think it’s more coincidence that the final rounds at Big 10 and regionals have been so good but I will say once you get going and there is a certain level of comfortability you know being further back and having to jump up on the leaderboard rather than hold that there there’s definitely different levels of pressure there you know when you’re leading the tournament by a lot and you’re going to the last day that’s almost more pressure in my personal opinion they’re both very different feelings um I’ve had both and you know um I think there is a level of comfortability coming from behind and um but both final rounds I towards kind of to answer your question your last question um towards I would say whole 12 13 that’s when I kind of knew and then the pressure started kicking in a little bit more of like okay now you have to step it up and you know you’re close and you’re within Striking Distance and that’s when um that’s when you kind of that’s when like more of the pressure starts kick in and you start realizing where you’re at and all of that all of those emotions but cuz I was going to ask I mean at some point there’s a there has to be yes whether it’s from a coach or you know I don’t know a teammate however you guys communicate out there where you kind of get that message like okay you’re in the mix a little bit here and you have a chance so I I guess well then also I saw was it at do you have is is there a caddy that you can have at the Regionals or how does that work because I saw I think I saw your coach was there too so how does that work and how much communication is there between you and the coach during these high pressure moments for sure so our caddy if you will in College events are coaches they’re the only ones that can give us advice um in any any college event but my coach our coaches do a really good job of just handling each individual person and what they need on the golf course and everything I’m a pretty independent player I would say there’s definitely times I’ve asked them where hey what do you think in here um this seemed a little different yesterday or the they came up to me in my final round at at Auburn in regionals and there was a hole that was playing ridiculously hard they just really tricked up the pen and people didn’t like see it right they didn’t see like the fall off and they mentioned it to me before I I hit my shot into the green they’re like hey just so you know this is how it’s playing and that’s helpful so they’ll mention things like that but most of the time I just kind of do my own thing and um heading into re in regionals in my last round after 15 I asked my coach I kind of wait till like towards the end and and I’m like hey what do I need to be at and she goes okay you’re one back we obviously have three to go but the leader that you’re that’s is actually already in the clubhouse and so it’s just you out here and I’m like okay so I know what I need to do birdie 16 par 17 and actually going into 18 I told I looked at my coach my assistant coach Matt and I said hey I hate playoffs like I hate playoffs like that is the worst feeling it’s not a good feeling it’s just there’s the pressure is heightened if whatever pressure was there it’s heightened times 10 and I said I hate it and he goes well do something about it then and I was like okay um I and I birdied the last hole in like crazy fashion made a 25f footer um just really surreal so I think there is something from coming from behind and just um it’s weird because it’s not like I have a different mentality but heading into the final holes I do know how to kick it up a gear um Kick It Up A Notch if you will and when I see the number insight and know what I need to do sometimes I can do that you get the just even like hearing you talk about it there’s certainly you know you have obviously all the the talent and the swing and the mechanics everything is all down right but there’s certainly you get to this level and then the the separator seems to be that that mentality part um I think you know you you know you can go out there and shoot 72s 73s all you know you could do that in your sleep right but then there’s to go low in a crucial moment you know there’s a certain comfort that you have with that clearly that you’ve I’m sure it’s a ton of competitive experience before obviously um but that seems to be just based on what you what I’m hearing from you and obviously the communication with the coaches and everything they seem to have up utmost confidence in you and just going to you say hey here’s what you need to do yeah to get to a certain number or here’s here’s what the Mark is you know what are you going to do about it as this other said you know like you go figure it out um and it’s funny cuz I I saw I’ve I’ve got the video seen the video have you seen the video of your putt yet I have it’s this one of my it’s one of my best golf memories yeah so um and you know we’ll we’ll show it here as we’re talking about it but you talk you said 25 foot putt um so you know at that moment you have to make it to to avoid a playoff yes but if you miss it you probably go to a playoff is that what you knew at the time yes okay uh so are you are you thinking like going like cuz I as an amateur golfer I’m thinking like don’t leave it short in that scenario cuz I want to give it a is that something you’re thinking you’re probably too far in the zone where you’re just like I already know the speed to this putt I mean I don’t know I was really thinking you know it was downhill breaking left to right so not the most comfortable I’ve most of the time you’re ever over a left to wrer you know and but I was I was in the zone and I was kind of like all right let’s keep it close have good speed but I just had a really good feeling about this about this read and so I just when I hit it I mean it was like 7t from the hole and I knew it was going in um it’s just a it’s a really weird Zone that you can get in as a as a golfer it’s it’s crazy but it’s uh yeah it’s it’s really surreal it was in my mind I’m like I don’t want to three putt this like that would be a really bad move but I I was so comfortable over the putt that it just didn’t feel like that was a possibility that is exactly where my mind would go in that scenario I would be like instead of trying to make it I’d say let just not three putt this just to it did you did you think about what you what the hopes and dreams that you crushed of the person that didn’t get to go in the playoff with you oh my goodness I probably weird question to ask but I just thought about that I do feel bad I well but I will say it would have been worse in a playoff I think for either one of us just because if you had lost or even or if she had lost in that or if I had lost in that I mean that’s just a worse feeling I would have rather at least if I was in her position I would have rather lost that way just because you know it’s still the tournament mode you lose or win fair square and it’s not like it’s just one like a weird anticlimactic one whole kind of thing and so even the rules officials actually came up to me and they were just like you know we love both of you guys and we’re so happy for you Belle but we’re just really glad we didn’t have to do a playoff cuz it’s just so weird for everyone I suppose they got to figure out a hole to go to and all this stuff and yeah I suppose that that is another complication to it um so did that other player become like an alternate then for is that how that would work or I don’t I don’t know how everything goes I know how it works I mean I don’t think it’s really an option you’re just going yeah I mean I suppose most of the time people are going to go they get qualif if something were to really happen I’m sure she would have been alternate yeah gotcha okay interesting but yeah that’s like I like I said before and it’s just it’s it’s cool to hear the I guess what was going on between the ears for you the whole time you know you’re you know what you got to get to you’re you’re trying to make birdies you’re trying to make the 25f footer instead of not three putting which is something that I again I think most amers would would if they were being honest is is what they would be trying to do so uh I mean awesome to hear that and it’s really cool for for us here at second swing as such you know meet as such kind of supporters and and fans of the Gophers to kind of follow this and um I don’t know how you know if I mean in chatting with you know Aaron Roth your Club fitter right um he’s he was so excited about it and we were we were following along kind of through textt message and stuff and so he was pumped about that um so kind of on that note too I I wanted to ask you know we are a golf equipment company and Aaron’s been working with you for a while um is there is there a club or clubs in the bag that you kind of are the mo is the most confident in or you just it doesn’t really matter what it is you’re just you’re going up there with the same confidence on all 14 of them I would just say I love my putter like I love my putter it’s it’s it’s um I’ve actually had it in the bag for almost 10 years and then before remember mening this to me yes and then before that it was my dad’s for like 10 years I mean this thing is old this thing is like an old Scotty it’s seen Newport kind of Blade style right yes it’s a Newport blade style I mean this thing’s old it’s got on the um backside not the the face but on the back side it’s got so many bumps and scratches I mean it’s just seen a lot of wear and tear but I love that thing and I know when I’m putting bad it is not the put fault like i’ it’s never really once crossed my mind at least recently like if I’m putting bad I’m like it’s I know it’s just I got to figure something out because it’s not the putter so the amount of confidence I have in that thing is insane and when I’m putting good I it’s like it’s crazy like I just know I I can see the whole everything’s going in I feel like everything is going to drop in you have you ever made any sort of tweak to that at all or has it just been here here’s what it looks like I love what it looks like and it just works for yeah I I’ve never um I mean certain times I’ve gone through definitely some putting Yips or you know pads I think everyone does but um and then you know just working through that and working through some different like um putting just work tuning fine tuning it and everything but not any really big major things actually a couple years like once I in high school I tried to switch over to a a mallet just to like see if things would be different and I hated it went back immediately um completely regreted that so I love that club I would also just say I I really love all my clubs in my bag but um it it really depends on the day too like I can feel some days I just feel really confident with a seven iron and other days it’s driver and every day it’s just really different and so I would say while like I want to put that out there too I mean it’s not just some people think oh you know that’s I just need to get better and stuff but sometimes it just happens you know it’s life we’re not robots so each is going to feel a little bit different um holding a club in your hand and giving yourself Grace there um if I have to pick one of their Club probably my hybrids like I love my hybrids I feel I feel like I can step up over a hybrid and be like this thing is going to be on the green like like nine times out of 10 yeah I mean that’s got to be a tremendous feeling I’m far away from that I joke with my coach I’m like I sometimes would rather have a hybrid in my hand than an iron sometimes wow sometimes as long as the aren’t too sometimes it just depends on the day but right I suppose on occasion that that’s that’s cool though I mean that’s cool cuz I think there’s a certain I don’t know maybe maybe not so much in the in the women’s realm but in the men’s realm I know there’s a lot of players that should be playing more hybrids that maybe don’t because of they don’t like how they look or they you know don’t think they want they want the traditional iron or whatever um but that is it is cool to hear you say that because those hybrid clubs if you you know are confident in them they can perform for you so yeah um I got to ask now too as we kind of I mean obviously fantastic spring of golf um what does kind of now and into the summer look like is there any any competitive golf being played this summer or do you kind of take it easy until the fall season you know is upon us again or how does that work for you yeah for sure I think one mentality I’ve had really since the beginning of golf career in high school and middle school and all of that is I just really prioritize breaks as well and I’ve gotten better about it as I’ve gotten older and I think I think all competitive golfers or anyone in competitive Sports really faces it I mean there’s definitely a challenge you get through like mentally going day in day out and so sometimes giving yourself breaks is really needed and right now is definitely the time that I try to do that you know in the in the win in the fall there’s definitely that time too but I try to still keep going and keep working on swing changes cuz I feel like that’s the time to do that whereas right now um I’m just taking kind of a full break and then I’ll actually get back into it though fairly soon and I’m going to try to qualify for the USA in the summer so really excited about that and then um soon after the fall season will be upon us you know that that starts like right away September 2nd or something so that’s really exciting and um you know we always have I’m really excited to start gearing up for that but I do think breaks are necessary and I think anyone in competitive Sports can can get that to some extent everyone’s different but that’s definitely hardest for me when you say mentioned a break like are you I mean you’re not going to a golf course at all or how like how what like how far away from the game are you getting during these breaks is it like you’re not not watching any golf or you I mean what level of uh separation from the game I never watch golf isn’t that crazy I never watch golf I don’t even know if I watch the Masters that’s so bad that’s so bad I feel like it’s a golf SK saying that oh my goodness but I um yeah no right now I’m not even not even going to the golf course for a couple of weeks but um I feel like that’ll allow me when I do go back to just be like super excited about it and rejuvenate and not just kind of going in like half hard and all stuff I’m going to be ready to go so that’s kind of why I do it and also just like take some time to be with family and um I’m going to be watching my sister as SE with sections and say coming up and so kind of being able to encourage her in that and be there for her so all of those things I think are really important and then that’ll hopefully just allow me to be more excited once I do start golf again in a couple weeks yeah yeah it’s uh it’s been fun to kind of track and follow your career as it’s progressed here cuz you know like we mentioned you’ve accomplished a heck of a lot in two years earlyer you’ve won you know you won that the boiler merer Invitational which was last fall I think right and then obviously now a big 10 Champion played at Nationals twice um that resume is building pretty quickly for you so it’s been fun to watch um thank you for taking the time today this has been really fun and to to catch up and hear your side of the story story I guess from we’ve been following from afar but to hear it kind of from you and and uh your success has been really cool so uh Bella we won’t take any more of your time I know it’s uh we had a little window to make this work and we did so uh thank you for stopping by sharing some of the stories and uh of course there’ll be more with Bella coming here throughout the summer but um otherwise we’ll let you go and continue with that break away from golf this is probably as close to golf as you’re going to get next couple weeks here so yeah no thanks for having me it’s always wonderful being on and yeah stay tuned for more golf content this summer [Music]
3 Comments
Man, I wish I could score in the 60's..
Awesome interview Drew! Thanks Bella!
Congrats Bella!!! Good for you