Lady Gaga, Queen Latifah, Madonna or even Cher a bit further back. What comes to mind when you think about these artists? Nothing really about golf, though they’re all masters of reinvention.
Over in Temecula, several international moves and multiple Masters degrees later, LPGA Ashley Tang shows off her adaptable star power as a sought-after Southern California women’s golf instructor.
Ashley loved movement. She still does. As a kid growing up in a small town along the south coast of South Korea, she ran everywhere she went. Any sport she could play, she did. Except golf. That was boring. Her childhood house sat across the street from a playground. With both parents working and her next closest sibling six years older, the playground became her whole world, filled with friends and anytime fun.
Her first exposure to anything American came at the start of high school. Commander, Fleet Activities Chinhae (CFAC), the only U.S. Navy Base on mainland Asia, was right next door. Marines and Navy sailors came and went. Ashley didn’t care. Her sights were set on moving to Seoul and attending college when she graduated from High School.
At 18, she moved to Seoul by herself to start university. Only then did she realize how small her hometown really was. “It was weird not knowing your neighbor in the big city, and wow, I was so homesick for the first year,” said Ashley. “I knew I needed to persevere because being there would give me better opportunities and more real-world experience.” Facing her fear head on, she explored Seoul, and ran, a lot. As she learned the city on foot, it stopped being so scary. Running and studying and taking extra English classes, she earned her Bachelor’s degree. What self-admittedly stemmed from her playground and sports days, she wanted a prestigious physical education teaching job. For that, you need a Masters degree in South Korea. She went for it, earned it, and taught PE at a girls’ high school. “You’re respected as a teacher there. I made good money and had great benefits.”
A mutual college friend invited her out one night and the guy the friend was dating brought a friend. Ashley and the friend of the guy hit it off and began dating.
Reinvention #1 engaged.
Her new boyfriend turned out to be a United States Air Force Officer. They married in South Korea. Soon after, her husband was transferred to Colorado Springs, Colorado. She quickly found out education criteria aren’t the same for U.S. colleges as they were back home, and teaching jobs didn’t carry the same panache. “There seemed to be opportunities to help the senior communities with well being and movement so that’s where I placed my efforts.” Ashley obtained her second Masters degree, this time in Public Health Promotion and completing it in two years, all while raising their first son.
But, the military had bigger plans. Ashley and her family moved back to South Korea with her husband transferred again.
Reinvention #2 ensues.
“I was raising two young kids, but I also wanted to work so I thought about what I was good at and what I could use my previous experience doing while being around other people.”
I had joined some women’s groups through our church and some volunteering events. One day they said they were going to hit golf balls at the course on base and asked if I wanted to go. Really, I was glad to be a part of something. The course on the base was really nice so I wound up going there with my women’s groups a lot and got to be pretty decent at golf.”
She also found her kids liked riding in the cart so she could play golf and watch the kids simultaneously.
As military life goes, the Air Force transferred her husband, yet again, after more than four years in South Korea. To California they all went. He was stationed at March Air Reserve Base near Riverside. A friend already living in Orange County told the couple to check out Temecula and Murrieta as a great place to live.
Reinvention #3 ignites Ashley’s true passion for golf.
The family settled in Temecula, but once more, she grappled with what she’d do for work. Movement was part of her, and now, so was golf. Several weeks into their arrival back in the U.S., her husband booked her a tee time at the Legends Golf Club in Temecula.
While at the golf course, she noticed a flyer for the Temecula Golf College. She wasted no time, Googled it that night and figured out the requirements and what she could do with a degree. As a bonus, her husband’s GI Bill would cover the tuition.
She graduated in 18 months and immediately went to work for Legends Golf Club, then moved over to Temecula Creek Inn, then to Redhawk. She worked in the pro shops, learned merchandising, taught golf lessons – anything she could absorb, Ashley was there. Oh, and of course, Ashley threw on top of that working toward an LPGA teaching professional certification.
Just as she was completing her LPGA teaching professional certification, she found a job opening at Journey at Pechanga. “I couldn’t believe my good luck,” said Ashley. Journey’s management couldn’t believe theirs either with their new candidate.
“We hired her in 2021 when so many new guests were getting interested in golf after COVID. We needed someone who knew all of the areas of the course, what it took to run a golf shop, had an excellent sense of guest service,” said Scott Mallory, Director of Golf for Journey at Pechanga. “Ashley exhibited of that when she got here, and she’s learned a heck of a lot more in these four years.”
“She’s the reason some of our players come to Pechanga in the first place,” said Mallory.
There’s an older man who takes lessons from Ashley while his wife enjoys the casino. That guest made a hole-in-one at Journey at Pechanga within his first three months of playing golf. “His name is on the plaque in front of the golf shop and everything,” said Ashley. It was a proud moment for both of them. She talked about another woman whose husband recently passed away. All of her friends played golf so didn’t want to be left out. She’s been taking lessons two times a month with Ashley and is finally gaining confidence to golf with her friends.
Ashley is a good conversationalist, and those guest stories are endless.
“Golf connects people. It doesn’t matter how young or old, if they’re male or female or where you’re from. I’m done reinventing myself. Golf is my passion and I couldn’t ask for a better place to work and play,” said Ashley.
