Seven individual tournament championships, two-time USA South champion, NCAA Tournament qualifier … Erin Donovan is undoubtedly one of the best women’s golfers in the nation. Being at the top of your game comes at a price — the pressure and expectations associated with being the best. When on the course, Donovan tries to block out the noise, but sometimes “the voices” still break through the deafening silence.
“I’m very self-critical of myself,” said Donovan, who just capped off her junior year fall season by winning the Chick-fil-A Invitational, besting 81 other women for the crown. “I struggled with mental health off the golf course, which impacted me negatively on the golf course.”
Donovan grew up in a golf family, with both her father and grandfather playing competitively. So it seemed like a natural fit for her to join in her family’s legacy, but when she first picked up a golf club at the age of 10, she wasn’t impressed. “ I hated every experience on the golf course,” she said. “ I did not want to be there.”
But after a brief stint with dance, Donovan eventually succumbed to her fate and decided to fulfill her parent’s requirement that she do something extracurricular by going back to golf. “Once I figured out how to get better and surround myself with supportive players, I began to enjoy it,” she said.
Donovan began playing competitively at 14 and quickly made a name for herself in the Mississippi junior circuit, earning three county medals, two district medals, and finishing 3rd at the girls’ high school golf state tournament. But as her accomplishments stacked up on the course, Donovan’s extreme competitiveness began to impact her off the course.
“My parents have always had high expectations for me growing up,” she said, adding that she began to internalize those expectations. “ I made those expectations higher than they needed to be.”
During her junior year of high school, Donovan broke down to her parents about her struggles and asked to seek therapy. “Thankfully, they were really supportive and provided all the help I needed,” she said.
The therapy helped Donovan, both on and off the course. “Once I figured out how my brain worked and what I could do to ease my personal struggles with anxiety, I was able to tackle it on the course,” she said.
Donovan carried that emphasis on taking care of her mental health into college and, as a team leader at Piedmont, promotes it to her teammates. “We’re out there on the course for five hours. And it’s just you and your thoughts. After you hit a shot you have three minutes to think about the shot that you just hit before you have to think about your next shot again. And that cycle keeps repeating. Mentally, it’s really daunting.”
Donovan is an advocate for therapy for all college athletes. “ I think mental health, especially for athletes, has to be talked about more because there’s so much internal and external pressure on us,” she said. “Being able to talk to someone outside of my sport has been very helpful because they are unbiased.”
In addition to taking care of one’s own mental health, having a strong support system is critical for success. Donovan has found that here at Piedmont, starting with her coach, Hannah Satterfield, who is in her third season as head women’s golf coach. In Satterfield’s first two seasons, she has helped guide Donovan to numerous awards, including USA South Rookie Of The Year (2022-23) and USA South Player Of The Year (2023-24). Two conference Championships and becoming Piedmont’s first-ever qualifier for the NCAA Division lll Women’s Golf Championship.
“She’s very supportive. She’s the team’s biggest supporter, and she’s always there for the team,” Donovan said. “She’s regularly available for us for mental support, and she just wants us to be happy at the end of the day.”
Satterfield praises Donovan, not just for her athletic accomplishments but also her successes off the course, nothing that the junior is also a two-time Academic All-Conference athlete. “Erin is someone who seeks continuous improvement in all aspects of life,” Satterfield said. “ She does everything she can to achieve greatness in all areas.”
Sarah Fox, a senior on the golf team, credits Erin not just for her individual success, but also for her encouraging influence on other golfers. “Erin has reached such success during her college career from her hard work ethic and calm mindset on the golf course,” Fox said. “She’s very supportive of us as she wants to see us succeed as much as herself.”
The team is very important Donovan, who noted that her experience at Piedmont is the first time she actually competed with a team. “My teammates are such great motivators and supporters for me during practice and tournaments,” she said. “I try to be that leader for them because I want to be a team that wins tournaments and conference championships; as a team, we all want to see each other and be successful.”
Erin has continued her success during this past fall, setting and breaking multiple records for Piedmont. Donovan won the MCC Women’s Intercollegiate individual title, finishing with a -8 for the event, earned All-Tournament in the Alamo City Classic finishing fourth, and winning the Chick-fil-A invitational title shooting a -3, the only golfer among 84 competitors to finish under par.
“Erin is pretty intrinsically motivated,” said coach Satterfield. “What gets her going is the fact that she wants to be the best she possibly can be, so she works hard to maintain that success.”
Donovan learned that “intrinsic motivation” is the key to quieting the critical “voices” in her head. She understands that she can’t carry on expectations of others, but only the expectations she places on herself.
“Therapy really turned my life around,” she said. “I think the physical foundation of an athlete’s mental health is the key to succeeding on the field. I finally have confidence in myself as a person, so I can carry that confidence onto the course now. Being able to play golf and enjoy it has been a huge turning point for me.”
