In surfing, they call it a battle paddle. Before a surfer can take on the task of riding the perfect wave, she must first claim it. The competition might pull her leash, splash water or even yell during the mayhem.
“There are things that happen in the water that would never happen in golf,” said Patricia Ehrhart, a former LPGA player who raised three competitive surfers.
Ehrhart’s oldest daughter, Mason Schremmer, is one of the top 10 professional longboard surfers in the world. Her youngest, Scarlett Schremmer, won three national titles while growing up on Hawaii’s North Shore.
Now, 18-year-old Scarlett is one of the nation’s top junior golfers and one of 33 players making their debut in this week’s Augusta National Women’s Amateur. Scarlett compares the skill of golf course management to wave selection, except for the part where she had to fight off other girls in the water.
“I’ve been under those pressure moments before,” said Scarlett of the spotlight. “I just wasn’t holding a golf club.”
When Scarlett won her third national title in Huntington Beach, California, she told her mom when she got out of the water that she was done surfing competitively. Her older sister had turned professional and moved to Australia, her middle sister, Lola, had gone off to college, and Scarlett was lonely and burnt out.
As fate would have it, her family had moved to Hoakalei Country Club, site of the LPGA’s Lotte Championship. Scarlett played her first golf tournament at age 12 but didn’t start to play with regularity until 14. After mom got her amateur status back, the gritty Scarlett began caddying for her in USGA events and got the bug to compete.
Ehrhart, 59, plays up a tee box these days when she takes on Scarlett. From the start, however, mom has never let her daughter win. In the week leading up to the ANWA, the two spent hours on the chipping green at Shoal Creek Country Club in Birmingham, Alabama, getting dialed in for the demands of Champions Retreat and Augusta National. The family splits time between Alabama and Palm Springs, California, where Scarlett plays out of Bighorn.
Outside of competition, mom and daughter have the same laid-back approach to life. They don't sweat the small stuff. The late great Jimmy Buffett was a close family friend and supporter. In fact, Schremmer originally committed to the University of Miami to live close to Buffett before he died two years ago.
"I didn't really realize how popular he was until he actually passed away," said Schremmer, adding that "he was light-hearted, didn't take himself too seriously. He was a bad golfer, I'm going to be honest. And he was not a very good surfer. But he brought a lot of joy to both games, and I think that sums up who he was."
