Puggy Blackmon is Looking Forward to Life After Coaching

Puggy Blackmon doesn’t like to use the word “retiring” in association with his recent announcement that he’s leaving college coaching after nearly four decades.

“I’m not retiring. I’m not dying,” Blackmon said with a smile. “I have more energy and passion for the game and teaching and coaching, and also learning, than I’ve ever had in my life. It’s just time to change gears. That’s what I’m going to do. Nobody can have a more fulfilling life than I’ve had and continue to have. Working with the women’s team has given me the opportunity to go out on my own terms.
 

  Puggy  Blackmon and Kalen  Anderson

“If you’re worth your salt as a coach, you never lose the anxiety of competing. That combined with travel, it really became taxing. It pushed me to the limit. I told (South Carolina women’s golf coach) Kalen (Anderson) at the end of last spring, ‘I don’t know if I can do this anymore.’ Then I came back and said, ‘let’s do one final year.'”

“He’s been an amazing asset to our program,” Anderson said. “Personally, he’s been a very stabilizing force for me. From a professional standpoint, he’s an incredible developer of talent. He’s helped me develop the players and build the program to where it is now. He’s been a great mentor and has taught me a lot. I can’t thank him enough for that. He’s been awesome to work with.”

After a stellar career as the men’s coach at Georgia Teach and South Carolina for a combined two dozen years, Blackmon has spent the last 10 years as the Gamecocks’ Director of Golf and associate head coach for Anderson and the women’s golf team, which has made eight-straight NCAA Championship appearances and won five NCAA Regional titles since 2010 while producing tour professionals Justine Dreher (2011-2015), Katelyn Dambaugh (2013-2017) and Sarah Schmelzel (2012-2016).

“When I hired Kalen from Duke, we had that first semester where she needed some help with an assistant, so I told her I would help her that semester and get her through it until we could find someone else. I was having so much fun, I’ve been doing it since then! It rekindled another collegiate coaching career.”

Blackmon announced his decision to South Carolina’s women’s golf team prior to the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate Tournament in Hilton Head in March, where he was honored by Rucker before his annual private concert that he performs for the teams attending the tournament.

“I never anticipated it would be that emotional, but by the time we got done, I had to break it up,” Blackmon said. “I told them that the last time I had lost it was at my daughter’s wedding, and I didn’t want to do it again today. I told them that this is the group I want to go out with.”

Blackmon enjoyed tremendous success in 12 seasons as the men’s golf coach at Georgia Tech (1982-1995) where he won five Atlantic Coast Conference Championships, made 11-consecutive NCAA Championship appearances and won 34 team tournament titles in making the Yellow Jackets a dominant force in college golf. He earned ACC Coach of the Year honors four times and his program churned out numerous All-Americans, including future PGA stars David Duval, Michael Clark and Stewart Cink.

“I have no intentions of slowing down.”
– Puggy  Blackmon

He then came to South Carolina where he had another great 12-year run as the men’s golf coach, leading the Gamecocks to the NCAA Tournament every year, including eight NCAA Championship appearances. During that time, six Gamecocks earned 10 All-America honors, including future PGA standout Kyle Thompson (1997-2001).

“When I was being recruited, I had offers from all over the country, but at the end of the day it ended up being Puggy,” Thompson said of his decision to come to South Carolina. “I just connected really well with him. He had an incredible track record from when he was at Georgia Tech. My whole goal was to play pro golf, and he had a good blue print for how to do that.  He pushed me hard. Nobody got preferential treatment. Other schools said they would guarantee that I would start my entire freshman season. Puggy said it doesn’t matter who you are, everyone has to qualify. I like that. I like having to prove yourself.

“He’s very level-headed. He never gets too emotional. He was very good on the mental side of the game.  He understood how your brain should work under pressure and how to manage yourself on the golf course.”

Blackmon said he had no problem transitioning from coaching men to coaching women.

“With a wife now of 48 years, a daughter (and two sons), and four granddaughters, it was actually a very easy transition,” Blackmon said. “It came at a time age-wise where it was fun. There was such an age discrepancy, we sort of developed a father or grandfather type of relationship. It’s been a blast. These girls are a lot of fun.  The biggest difference from the boys is that when these girls get done playing, within 30 to 45 minutes, they’re done with it. They’re ready to have dinner, have fun and enjoy life. That’s been fun. It’s been a special relationship. Kalen is a large part of that, and it’s been fun watching her develop. I think she has evolved into being the best female coach in the country.”

Puggy  Blackmon and Ainhoa  Olarra

“Puggy likes to work with people who want to be coached,” Anderson added. “The men’s game became such a power game after a while. The women’s game now is more like the way the men’s game used to be with the way we manage it, the length of it, and the strategy.  He’s good on the mental side in helping players manage their emotions, too.”

“Everybody who knows Puggy knows the kind of person that he is. He’s a good man,” said former Gamecock Ainhoa Olarra (2014-2018). “When I arrived at South Carolina my golf was not good at that time and neither was my English. Even with all the difficulties with the language that we had, he never stopped helping me. He proved to me that with hard work, you can achieve so many things. I will be forever grateful to have had him as a coach. He’s the best!”

While his list of accolades is long, Blackmon’s impact on the game of golf can’t be measured just by numbers.

“The times that former players have reached milestones in their lives is what stands out, and it’s not just with golf,” Blackmon said. “Whether it’s with marriages or other personal things. Over the years, I’ve developed spiritually, and I’m probably most proud of my players who have made a commitment spiritually. Just to see them with family and kids and what they’re doing; just having had a part in that is what coaching is all about.

“I’d like to be remembered as a man who cared, and one who was interested in every facet of their lives and continued to maintain a close relationship with a vast majority of them as time went on.”

Before he was well known as a college coach, Blackmon had helped develop the American Junior Golf Association. After creating the Jacksonville Junior Golf Association in Florida, he took over a defunct Atlanta Junior Golf Association and developed it into one of the largest junior programs in the country while he was coaching at Georgia Tech.

“I’ve given back in some ways, and probably not as much as I’ve received, but hopefully it’s helped somebody,” Blackmon said.

With four granddaughters within a few miles of his Blythewood home, Blackmon won’t exactly be disappearing from the South Carolina landscape.

“It’s like I told the girls; I’m not really going anywhere,” Blackmon said. “There are just some other things that I’m excited about. I have no intentions of slowing down.”