Coach Bruce Heppler on what makes Georgia Tech golf great

Bruce Heppler can’t seem to escape golf. Growing up, his parents and sister all played, and he financed his own club fees by chasing down range balls and washing clubs. But after his junior college cancelled its golf program his sophomore year, he set aside his clubs for a career in accounting and finance — until the game lured him back in again through a few lucky coincidences, like interning with the athletic department at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas just when its fledgling golf program needed a number-cruncher and an assistant coach. Soon enough, he was snatched up by Georgia Tech, and over the past 16 years he has led the Yellow Jackets golf team to eight ACC championships and six top-five finishes at the NCAA Championships, where they made it to the quarterfinals in 2011. As Heppler prepared for the 2012 golf season, we sat with him in his office under Bobby Dodd Stadium’s north stands and talked about recruiting, coaching and what he loves about the sport.

What do you love about golf?
I think it emulates life more than any other sport. … You can have the greatest coach, you can have the greatest sports psychologist, you can have the greatest strength trainer, but when you walk out into that fairway to hit a winning shot in the last hole, you can’t bring any of them with you. It’s all up to you. And so it’s something where self-reliance and self-belief is critical. And I’m not so sure that in life self-reliance and self-belief aren’t what get us all through the things that we run into.

When you’re recruiting, how do you identify a good fit for the team?
The first thing you start with is their transcript. If that isn’t right, nothing makes sense. Typically, you do try to look for a core set of fundamentals — their grip, their posture, some of those things in a golf swing. It’s a very busy time in college — ours is really the only two-semester sport. We play in the fall and the spring, and then they go off and play amateur golf in the summer. So when would you try to make a major fix to a golf swing?

Also, then [you try] to find somebody with some character. These kids walk around with their parents and it’s summer time and it’s 104 degrees and he makes a seven on number nine and his kind mother is out there walking around in the heat supporting her child and hands him a bottle of water. And [if] he knocks it away or gives her some attitude, I will probably walk away. Because think about it: If he’s not going to respect the lady who’s changed his diapers and washed his clothes, why would he respect some guy who comes into his life at 19 years old? So you watch the personalities, you watch guys that may or may not be good teammates. You see a real selfish individual and you may not be able to change that. We need really good students, we need mature kids, and so you’re mostly recruiting to what fits your program and a lot of it is golf, a lot of it is not golf.

What does the 2012 season look like so far?
We already had two [freshmen] start early — they started in January, so they’ve learned how to go to Georgia Tech. We lost three seniors — they were all All-American at some point, played really well going out, one of them was NCAA champion. We have two kids back from the starting five, so it’s going to be a new year. … I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. They’re very eager, they want to show that it’s not over here and that we continue on, that they can wear those uniforms, too, and do those same things that we’ve done for 16 years, which is, we think, have one of the best golf programs in the country.

Do you keep in touch with any of your former players?
That’s my favorite part. That’s why you do it. You’re not going to get rich. It’s a lot of hours. I’m away from my family constantly. In fact, Matt Kuchar let my wife and I stay in his house in Sea Island for our anniversary a couple days ago. The relationships are what make it worthwhile. … Stewart Cink lives in town and he tries to come down and play with the guys once or twice a year. Matt [Kuchar] lives here. … It’s a real treat for those guys to get to play with somebody they see on television. It’s nice to have some of those guys in town who are still trying to play for a living to share things and maybe go, “Hey, you oughta listen to coach. I know he’s a nag but before it’s all over, you might wanna hear what he has to say.” That helps.

What do you think makes Georgia Tech golf special?
I think our program has a lot of character. I think we participate in the sport in the way that it was meant to be, from how we carry ourselves to how we act to how we do everything. … [Our goals are] to send every young man out of here prepared and able to take care of himself. By spending four or five years here, by the end he doesn’t need his mother and father anymore to take care of him, he can make proper decisions, he’s mature, he’s wise, he’s educated, he’s ready for life — not to go back home again. That he’s prepared to go out on his own and make it. That’s very important to me.

Do you golf personally any more?
Not at all. I used to. The team goes to Augusta National every year, and the last three years I haven’t even gone. It was a day for me to spend at home with my son and daughter, and I did it. It’s something that takes a lot of time that I don’t have. And so for me to go get frustrated or disappointed on the golf course, I don’t need to do that. … Now, when I go home in the summertime, my father loves to play, no one’s around, my son goes with us, my mom goes with us, my sister goes with us, and we go out and I’ll go out and slap it around because I get to spend time with them and that’s what they enjoy doing — but for no other reason.