Even before Eric Cole became the PGA Tour’s 2022-23 Rookie of the Year, his parents were already writing their own chapter in the sport’s history.

His father, Bobby Cole, won the 1977 Buick Open on the PGA Tour. His mother, Laura Baugh, earned the LPGA Rookie of the Year award in 1973 and spent 25 years competing on Tour. Together, they gave Eric Cole a golfing education most players can only dream of. Eric described it himself. His mother would pile all seven kids into a van and travel to LPGA tournaments. It was an unconventional classroom, but it certainly worked.

Who is Bobby Cole?

Bobby Cole was born on May 11, 1948, in Spring, South Africa, where his father, James Cole, worked at a local gold mine. The mine maintained a golf course for its employees, and that’s where Bobby first learned the game at the age of 11.

Growing up, he drew inspiration from fellow South African players like Bobby Locke and Gary Player. By 18, he had won the 1966 British Amateur at Carnoustie, Scotland, becoming the youngest winner in the tournament’s history at that point. He held that record until Mateo Manassero won the event in 2009 at the age of 16. Cole also held the record as the youngest player to make the cut at the Masters in 1967, until Manassero broke it again in 2010.

Bobby Cole shares a history with the Carnoustie course, as it produced one of the most painful moments of his professional career. At the 1975 Open Championship, as reported by the Open’s official records, Cole tied the course record with a second-round 66. He matched it again in the third round to take a one-shot lead into Sunday. However, that day, strong winds blew, and he shot a four-over 76 but missed the playoff by a single stroke as Tom Watson birdied the last hole to tie Jack Newton.

He played in five Masters, five PGA Championships, seven U.S. Opens, and nine Open Championships, accumulating nine top-25 finishes in the majors. In fact, in 2012, he was inducted into the South African Golf Hall of Fame.

Today, Bobby teaches private lessons and works corporate retreats in Windermere, Florida.

Who is Eric Cole’s mother, Laura Baugh?

Laura Baugh’s relationship with golf started with almost nothing. Her father, Hale Baugh, was a lawyer who had competed at the 1948 Summer Olympics as a modern pentathlete and introduced his children to golf early. However, her parents were divorced, and she had to move with her mother from Florida to Long Beach, California.

Without money for green fees, she and her friends would sneak into golf courses to play. And that impromptu curiosity is what defined her early years in the game. Over the years, she became one of the better golfers.

At 14, she had won the first two consecutive Los Angeles City Golf Championships. At 16, she became the youngest winner of the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship in 1971. She breezed through LPGA qualifying school, tied for second in her very first tour event, and quickly became one of the most marketed athletes in America.

She was named Los Angeles Times Woman of the Year in 1971, and Golf Digest actually crowned her the “Most Beautiful Golfer” in 1972. Off the course, she also became a very well-known celebrity.

She appeared in an Ultra Bright Toothpaste television commercial that went on to win a CLIO Award as one of the year’s top advertisements. From Ford Thunderbird automobiles to a sportswear shoot alongside Arnold Palmer and her own line of Izod clothing sold under Laura Baugh’s name.

Her professional career ran from 1973 to 2001, producing 71 top 10 finishes and 10 runner-up finishes, but no wins. But as her life grew more and more complicated, Baugh turned to alcohol, believing it would make everything more manageable, and that led to addiction. She entered the Betty Ford Clinic in 1996 and, in 1999, published Out of Rough. It was a memoir about her battle with alcoholism, co-written with New York Times bestselling author Steve Eubanks. She now works as a golf instructor in Florida.

Bobby’s and Laura’s relationship

Bobby and Laura Baugh’s relationship has a story of its own. They married in Cape Town on December 12, 1980, and both were active players on the Tour while raising a family together. Eric is the eldest of the couple’s seven children, and he has a junior membership at Orlando’s West Orange Country Club. Every morning, a nanny dropped him off there while both of his parents traveled for their respective tours. However, Bobby and Laura got divorced in 1985, remarried, and then ultimately separated again.

Despite all the ups and downs through their relationship, both parents have poured their efforts into making Eric the golfer he is today. In fact, Bobby Cole has had a great influence on Eric Cole and has always primarily stayed true to what works. As Eric told Golf Digest writer Drew Powell at the 2023 Travelers Championship,

“Keep doing what you’re doing; don’t change much. As you see, guys who maybe hit it further than you or do things that you can’t, just keep doing what you’ve got to this point. If you’re good enough, then you’ll have success.”

Eric Cole’s relationship with his mother

Her honesty about Eric’s path has been equally direct. As she told PGA Tour writer Cameron Morfit in January 2024, “Everyone who knows Eric knows how good he’s been for a long time. He’s had different obstacles, and one is being the oldest of seven children, and your mother can’t take you to golf tournaments because I’m out playing golf.”

Eric Cole also shares a warm relationship with his mother, and he has played most of his early golf with his mother rather than his father. Because of a very simple and weird reason. The two hit the ball about the same distance every time. The lessons Laura has passed on to Eric have stuck with him, and they’re mostly about tempo.

She taught him not to get out of the rhythm in different situations on the course and to try to stay in sequence while not trying to do too much. Years later, it’s visible on the course that that advice has become practical as it was personal.

During the Traveler’s champion, Laura watched him with pride as she said, “This is all him. I’m so proud of the life he has made. There is no greater joy in life than to watch someone do something they love and do it well.”

Bobby was Eric’s only swing coach, as he never sought any outside instruction his entire career. And Bobby specifically drilled something in his mind: own your swing and always be aware when it starts to change.