James Platt is the varsity girls golf assistant coach. As a child, Platt excelled on the golf team at Crespi Carmelite High School in Los Angeles. He then graduated from Marquette University and worked a corporate job for a couple of years. Still, Platt decided to turn his passion into a career in coaching golf. He first decided to get back into golf by working at golf courses and at TaylorMade Golf as a custom club fitter and salesperson.
Platt has been the varsity assistant coach and the head coach for the middle school and JV girls golf teams for four years. During his time coaching, JV golf captain Hailey Cho ’25 said Platt has made a positive impact on the team.
“Coach James’ role to the team has been of great importance for the past few years,” Cho said. “He helped us all improve our golf games greatly. He is always motivating and uplifting the players. This helps us feel less under pressure during matches and improves our team.”
Platt said that he enjoys watching the players’ progress over the years.
“What I enjoy the most is the journey, the process and seeing players from middle school and junior varsity become top varsity players,” Platt said. “Even the little things, like watching a player execute a golf shot we worked on in practice, are special too.”
Platt said he is grateful for his co-workers and their efforts to improve and expand the program.
“I am very grateful to work with the program head BrandenAugustus, the varsity assistant Tina Nagai and the JV golf coach and middle school assistant Alison Howard-Smith,” Platt said. “We all push each other as coaches and feel more motivated than ever to help the program grow.”
This story originally appeared in the fall edition of Big Red. Find the issue here.