OCEANSIDE — In the lead-up to one of the biggest stages in her sport, Natalie Vivaldi looks comfortable hitting subtle draws on the range at Goat Hill Park.
She’s surrounded by loved ones, including her dog, Bogie, whom she jokes is sleeping off a hot dog-induced food coma.
Vivaldi, a PGA professional at the Oceanside public course, is gearing up for the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, which will be held at historic Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota.
“It’s kind of like a circus,” she said. “I’m Coach Nat from Goat Hill Park in Oceanside. And all of a sudden, I’m teleported over to a major championship with the best players in the world overnight.”
This will be the second consecutive year Vivaldi has qualified for the major championship after competing in last year’s event at PGA Frisco in Texas. She estimated about 50 people traveled to the Dallas suburb to support her last year, and has heard rumblings of similar support heading to the Minneapolis suburb later this month.
“For me, it’s about enjoying it,” she said. “Like, I just really want to enjoy the process, enjoy my friends that are there, my family that are there, and just being able to come back and share those stories. And just stay in my breath. That’s my biggest thing this year is just keep breathing and enjoy the circus, because it’s going on with or without you.”
Vivaldi played high school golf at Rancho Buena Vista High School before competing collegiately at the University of Colorado and San Diego State University.
From there, she competed in the LPGA Qualifying Series and on the Epson Tour while pursuing an LPGA card until a shoulder injury threw her future into limbo.
“‘What does that mean for me and my golf, my career, and my identity?’” Vivaldi remembered thinking. “Then I just realized I fell in love with the other side of the game, which is the teaching and coaching side, and that’s how I became a PGA Member. And once I did that, a bunch of playing opportunities opened up again.”
Coming Home
Goat Hill is a special place to Vivaldi for many reasons.
She joined the team earlier this year following the retirement of David Emerick, longtime PGA professional and founder of the North County Junior Golf Association.
Emerick was also Vivaldi’s first professional instructor after her grandfather introduced her to the game at Goat Hill.
She called it “a huge full-circle moment” that she is both grateful for and feels a responsibility to maintain.
Goat Hill markets itself as “World Class/Working Class.” Unlike stuffier clubs, golfers regularly play the Goat barefoot, in T-shirts or with canine accompaniment.
Vivaldi said accessibility for golfers of all skill levels matters to her.
“It’s one of the fastest growing sports, but there’s this old-school way of thinking,” she said. “I think that keeps a lot of people back. And I know I hear that from women all the time. Like, ‘I’m afraid, I don’t feel welcome. What do I wear? How do I act?’
“It’s a very old-school game with a lot of tradition. And that tradition is beautiful and should be celebrated, but I think we’re entering a day and age where there’s a middle ground, and for me, I want to share that middle ground. Golf is for everybody.”
In addition to using the major championship to raise funds for the NCJGA, Vivaldi plans to apply lessons learned from competing against some of the world’s top players.
“Whoever I get the chance to tee it up with, I’m gonna try and learn as much as I can from how they handle it and what they’re doing so that ultimately I can take it back home and share it with my day-to-day,” she said, “which is the women, the children, my lessons, all that.
“The biggest thing I think I’ve learned from teaching is that we are all — every golfer — struggling with the same things. The nerves that some of my clients feel at … the club championship, or the member-guest, … those are no different than my nerves that I’m gonna have at the first tee at the KPMG. So, for me, these opportunities to compete are chances for me to kind of do a proving ground of my teaching of the mental game.”
Vivaldi has also connected with the local golf community in other ways. She represents Sun Day Red, Tiger Woods’ apparel brand under the TaylorMade umbrella. She has visited the Kingdom several times and considers the Carlsbad-based golf company more than a sponsor.
“There are people there that I consider family that are there for me,” she said. “They’re flying out on their own dime just to watch me play at the KPMG. And so there’s a lot of support there. I have some really great friends at TaylorMade.
“Golf’s given me my husband, my amazing husband, our dog, beautiful friendships, and travel the world. Literally everybody in my life — I don’t think I have any friends that I haven’t met through golf. My entire life is manifested through golf, and it’s beautiful.”
Paying it forward, Vivaldi said she enjoys teaching kids what she wishes she had known at their age. She wants to help others feel more comfortable in a game that can make even the best players uneasy.
She said she is grateful for the welcoming community at Goat Hill and in golf that she was able to join all those years ago. Ultimately, she wants to open that door even wider for the next generation of golfers.
“That’s what I’m doing all this for,” Vivaldi said. “I’m not trying to play full-time. I’m not trying to be Nelly Korda. I’m trying to be Coach Nat. As good a Coach Nat as I can be here in Oceanside.”
