Women’s Amateur Star Jess Baker Creates Sweet Music On the Course, Brings Her Caddy Dad to The Woodlands

England’s Jess Baker, the winner of The Women’s Amateur Championship, is getting ready to play The Chevron Championship, one of the LPGA’s majors, in The Woodlands. With multiple LPGA events under her belt and last week’s Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship behind her, Baker is looking forward to the LPGA’s first major of the year. Her invitation comes through the Chevron Championship’s tradition of including winners from several high-profile amateur events.

The 20-year-old Baker will be fresh off her UCF college team’s regional event — and she notes the difference between an LPGA event and her collegiate golf life is huge.  

“It’s interesting because you’ve got your teammates at UCF and you’re together every day and they’re supporting you,” Baker tells PaperCity The Woodlands. “Anybody could be having a great day and anyone could be having a bad day. But someone else could be having a worse day.

“It’s all about never throwing in the towel and always playing for something bigger than yourself.”

The difference extends to carrying your own bag.  At college golf tournaments, with no caddies, you carry your own bag.

“Our coach comes around and gives us a sandwich at halfway,” Baker says. 

But during this LPGA major at at The Club at Carlton Woods next week (April 20 through 23), Baker will have her dad on the bag like she usually does in these types of high-profile events.

“He caddied for me when I won the British and in the three LPGA events I’ve played so far it’s been really special to have that experience with him,” Baker says.  “I actually just came from the Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship so I had a local caddy there and that was different having someone else on the bag.”

For Baker, having her dad on the bag is important.

“It’s different to have someone talk through your shots and be there to support you,” Baker says.

While Baker’s mom and brother won’t make it to The Woodlands for the Chevron, they were with her at Augusta and will be rooting her on from England, where she says she has “loads of supporters back home.”

While Baker sets goals for herself, winning the British Amateur was never even on her radar. 

“The goal for me was to make the cut and progress to the match play” she says. “I think I have certain outcome goals at the start of the season that seem maybe a little challenging or far away, but I think I always progress toward them. Had I set an easier goal I might not have gotten as far.”

Baker considers her distance to be the strongest part of her game and likes the setup of the Carlton Woods course, which will measure in at 6,824 yards for this LPGA major.

“I hit it far off the tee and it’s a long course and that is an advantage for me,” Baker tells PaperCity. “There’s four par 4s on that back nine and I think that’s going to be key to sort of get something close to the green.”

Other aspects of her game are in good shape as well.

“My short game is progressing really nicely so that’s good to have under my belt as well and then putting is a huge thing for me,” Baker notes. “That was the thing that helped me win the British. Had I not hit that, things might not have turned out the same.”

Jess Baker and The Psychology of Golf

At UCF, Baker is a psychology major, and that translates well to her golf game.

“I’ve always been interested in exploring how the brain works — especially under pressure in golf,” Baker says, “It’s such a mental sport so to kind of have that background knowledge and understanding of it is really key. I do feel that it gives me an advantage in understanding emotion and how that plays into it.

“Sometimes your thoughts aren’t really You and it’s just what happens and not trying to blame it on anything. There is an underlying foundation there that gives me an edge.”

Baker says always play better when she’s enjoying herself and talking to her playing partners.  

“I’m very much a feel player and not so much the numbers,” she notes. “I’m more like trying to see the shot — visualize it and feel not so robotic or mechanical.”

Baker credits a background in music for laying the foundation for her success in golf too.

“Music has been a huge foundation in who I am and taught me the discipline of working hard,” she says. “Dedication for those times when you don’t want to do the practice.”

This golf phenom describes her family is a good mixture of “sporty” and “musical.” Her grandmother was both.

“She got us into golf and she was the real musician in the family,” Baker says. “She did the organ in church and things like that. She was the one that pushed me on in golf.”

Baker plays piano and violin — and used to sing. In fact, she and her mom both reached the Grade 8 piano rating in England. The music side of the family these days is her brother, who is currently training to be a musical therapist.

Set to graduate from UCF in May, 2024, Baker says time management and flexible professors have been key.

“Balancing school and travel you have to learn time management and efficiency and you download things to study on the plane,” Baker says. “It’s all about managing your priorities.”

She feels like her professors at UCF have been very supportive of student athletes. 

“Freshman year was very odd with COVID — we had no in person classes.” Baker says. “We had to learn how to do things online, but I feel like that made it easier moving into the last few years when I’ve moved into more of my major classes and schoolwork gets a little trickier. I feel like I started harder and it has gotten easier.”

With UCF located in Orlando, Baker practices in her idea of golf heaven.

“We get to play Isleworth in Orlando twice a week and that’s a very special,” Baker says. “There’s an LPGA event there, and we we have Lake Nona. A lot of pros practice out there.”

Isleworth served as Tiger Woods’ home course for a long time.

The Future

Baker’s current plan is to graduate from UCF next year and turn pro back home in England. She spends summers at home in England and goes back when she can.

“I’m looking to play on the Ladies European Tour (LET), so I’ll do Q school which will be December, 2024,” Baker says. “That’s kind of the starting plan. I feel like some part of me is going to come back to America at some point. But that’s kind of where I’m starting.

“I’m very much a home girl, which I found out through college. I travelled a lot through high school and I thought I would always live somewhere else, but the more I’ve been away, the more I kind of love going back home. Home is where my heart is.”

Next week, Jess Baker’s heart will be in The Woodlands for one of women’s golf’s biggest events of the year.

The Chevron Championship is at the Jack Nicklaus Signature Course at Carlton Woods for the first time. Tickets are on sale now.