Kaufman, small-town girl with big golf dreams
The Clark (SD) Golf Club is a testament to the benefits of grassroots golf. The nine-hole public course has no bunkers or water hazards and a $23 18-hole green fee on the weekend. Located across the street from Clark High School – with one green situated on the school grounds – it’s the only golf course for at least 30 miles in the east-central South Dakota town with a population of 1,139.
The course’s example of golf growth is Kim Kaufman, small-town girl with big golf dreams. The 22-year-old developed a golf game during South Dakota’s April-October playing season that has quickly elevated her to the top of the Epson Tour money list following a stellar college career. Her grandfather, Leonard, just retired as the course superintendent after 25 years, and the Kaufman family redesigned the course’s most difficult hole, the eighth, a while back. The pro shop now stays open in the frigid winters as locals stay abreast of Kaufman’s play.
“We moved to Clark when I was 1 year old and my dad (Terry) took up golf,” Kaufman said. “My older sister (Ashley) and I went along. By the time I was 4, I was playing and Dad was just driving us around. What you get out of a small course like that is an opportunity to play. They didn’t have tee times and didn’t care if two little girls went out and played golf. It was the best place to learn. We were lucky to have that course.”
When Kaufman was 5, Todd Kolb with the South Dakota Golf Association gave a clinic at Clark Golf Club. Kolb, from Sioux City, soon began instructing Kim, meeting the family halfway between the two towns to give lessons. Kolb is still her instructor today.
Despite reaching 5-foot-11, Kaufman avoided attempts to draft her for the basketball or volleyball teams at Clark High, instead choosing to traverse 4th Avenue NW from the high school after joining the golf team in seventh grade. That carried her to winning the South Dakota State High School championship four times and capturing the South Dakota Women’s Amateur Championship three times.
Hailing from a small town was also influential in her college choice. Texas Tech, located in remote Lubbock in west Texas, received a commitment from Kaufman because the weather was warmer and Kolb’s sister, Stacey Totman, was the coach, even though Totman departed before Kaufman arrived. Once again, Kaufman thrived, becoming a two-time All-American, the No. 1-ranked collegiate golfer in 2012 and the 2013 Texas Tech Female Athlete of the Year and Big 12 Scholar Athlete of the Year.
After graduating from Tech last May with a 4.0 grade-point average in Political Science, Kaufman quickly turned pro and made her pro debut three weeks later on the Epson Tour in Decatur, IL. She finished in the top 10 and won two weeks later at the Island Resort Championship in Harris, MI. Last week, she earned her second professional title as a final-round 66 carried her to the Volvik Championship in Los Angeles. Even though she has conditional LPGA status, she’ll focus on the Epson Tour this year to earn full LPGA playing privileges, with an occasional dip of the toe into a LPGA event.
What Kaufman has accomplished should already allow her to think of the South Dakota golf greats, among them LPGA Hall of Famer and founder Marlene Bauer-Hagge (Eureka native), Kris Tschetter (Sioux Falls), the Byrum brothers (Curt and Tom, from Onida) and Jim Ahern (Yankton).
Those South Dakota roots are very strong. Even though Kaufman resides in Orlando during the winter and relishes traveling, she returns to Clark during the summer to spend time with family and friends and “just hang out.”
“Golf in the summer is huge back home,” Kaufman said. “Everyone loves to play. It’s so fun to go back there. The support has been unbelievable.”
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