Q-C Sports Hall of Fame: Building Beth Bader
One dance recital pretty much decided Beth Bader’s future was not going to include a tutu.
“She didn’t even want to stay on the stage,” sister Amy Bader recalled. “That was it for dance. I ended up being the dancer. She got the athletic genes.”
Amy’s little sister used those athletic genes to excel for North Scott High School in softball, volleyball and basketball, where she was a four-year varsity starter and left in 1992 as the school’s all-time leader both in scoring and rebounding.
It is in golf, however, where Beth Bader has made her mark — as a fourth-place finisher at state as a high school junior; a two-time All-Big Eight conference performer while leading Iowa State to four straight NCAA regional berths from 1993 to 1996; and, for the past eight years, as the lone Iowan and a steadily improving performer on the premier women’s circuit in the the world, the LPGA Tour.
In the aftermath of a career-best 2007 campaign that saw her finish 46th on the LPGA money list — when she earned more than a third of her $792,048 in career earnings — the Eldridge, Iowa, native has been elected to the Quad-City Sports Hall of Fame.
Although flattered, the former tiny dancer isn’t quite done earning the honor.
Bader will miss the April 30 induction ceremonies in order to compete in the SemGroup Championship in Broken Arrow, Okla., where she will continue to pursue her breakthrough first professional victory.
“Everything really is in front of me,” the 34-year-old Bader said. “I have got a lot of high expectations coming off of last year. I had a great season, but I don’t want it to end.”
‘Totally’ tomboy
Although she won 11 junior tournaments around the state of Iowa while growing up, Bader said she did not take golf seriously until her junior high school season.
And, even while playing her way into the ISU Hall of Fame, she didn’t dream she would golf for a living.
What Bader, her sister and her parents knew at an early age is that she loved athletics and wanted to compete.
Amy Bader said a trip to her grandparents’ farm was sure to wind up in a race with baby sister, be it on ponies or three-wheelers.
“She played all the sports, from touch football with the boys to softball and volleyball,” said her father, Gary.
Beth Bader remembers first playing golf at the age of 10, but her father said she started earlier than that.
“When she was 6 or 7, I was showing her mother how to hit a golf ball,” he remembered. “She was struggling, but Beth picked up a club and started fooling around. (Before long) she was hitting a 7-iron 100 yards.”
‘Bringing her along’
Julie Manning handed Bader a one-third golf scholarship to Iowa State even after Bader blew out a knee in a rec basketball league the summer of her senior prep season.
She said Bader’s combination of athleticism and competitive hunger made her a Division I prospect.
“We had a special athlete who had talent in golf,” Manning said. “It was a question of bringing her along.”
It was hardly a drawn-out process. As a freshman, Bader finished second in the Big Eight Conference tournament. It was an effort that led ISU to the only conference championship in the program’s history and earned Bader a full ride at Ames over her final three seasons.
Still, Manning said Bader remained a work in progress, as a player with prodigious length and a deft touch with the putter but also a short game that left a bit to be desired.
Like most big hitters, Bader enjoyed practicing with her driver, Manning said.
“I had to tease her into working on her pitching,” said the coach.
Clearly, it worked.
Last year, Bader finished just 119th on tour in greens in regulation, but 30th in scoring average as well as sand saves. Both are clear indications of stealthy scrambling.
And, of course, outstanding putting.
“That is probably what made her a special player,” Manning said of a crucial talent Bader displayed early on. “She had the length to play, but so do a lot of people. What she had that other people didn’t was the ability to read the green and stroke the putt.”
Eighth on the tour in putting last year, Bader has used that stroke throughout her career. It helped her record the most top five and top 10 finishes in ISU history and to lead the Cyclones to the NCAA regionals all four years of her career.
Two years ago, Bader was elected to the ISU Hall of Fame. Interestingly, she didn’t feel she got the most out of her college golf. Certainly, she said, her resumé didn’t point to a pro career.
“I think I kind of just let my natural ability lead me up to that point,” she said. “Then I was like ‘Hey if you want to be better than these girls who are working their tails off, you have got to work your tail off too.”
Chasing checks
Bader’s pro career started slowly, with three non-descript years on the secondary Futures Tour and a pair of missed opportunities at LPGA qualifying.
When she came to her sponsor/father in the fall of 2000 seeking the four-figure entry fee for a third shot at qualifying, he told her he didn’t think she was ready yet.
“I pretty much told him ‘That’s not the answer I wanted to hear,’ ” Bader said, noting her father was and is her biggest supporter.
She got the money elsewhere, plus a boost that year from veteran Florida golf teacher Joe Mann, who had worked with a few other LPGA players.
“I just knew she had a lot of talent and was playing with some old clubs,” said Mann, who helped her land some LPGA-quality equipment and helped coax her to a ninth-place “Q-School” finish and a ticket onto the LPGA Tour.
Mann’s belief was critical throughout Bader’s early years on Tour, when she battled to retain her playing privileges while showing occasional flashes of clear-cut talent.
“He wrote me a three-page letter and told me ‘You have an unbelievable talent. You can do this if you get your head together,’ ” Bader said of Mann. “He is definitely one of the factors of who I am and where I am today.”
Likewise current swing coach Peter Nedvick and consultant Craig Harmon, whose simple suggestion for a grip adjustment was a key to last year’s breakthrough.
Save for a 2004 campaign in which she struggled while her mother fought a losing battle with pancreatic cancer, Bader mostly made steady progress leading up to last year, incrementally proving to herself she belonged on tour.
Last year, she finally and fully understood.
“It comes down to confidence,” she said. “I remember walking on a fairway last year thinking ‘How could I actually miss a cut out here? ... I feel like in every facet of my game, I am capable of playing on the tour and not just playing, I am actually capable of winning.”
And now, a purpose
These days, Bader also believes she is capable of making an impact beyond the fairways.
Since even before her mother’s death at age 53 in December of 2004, Bader has teamed with her sister and father to raise in excess of $150,000 for pancreatic cancer research.
“I think I was put here not only to play golf, but to serve this purpose of helping others with cancer,” she said. “As much as I want to win, as much as I want to be known for my golf, I would rather be known for what I do off the golf course.”
Just so long as dancing isn’t involved.
Craig DeVrieze can be contacted at (563) 333-2610 or cdevrieze@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.