With just under a month until the Epson Tour kicks off its 45th anniversary season, we caught up with Lindsey McCurdy Peek to see what she has been up to in the off-season. From a wedding to becoming a cat mom, check out what she has been doing to prepare for her eighth year as a professional golfer.

Q: We are checking in our off-season, in between 2024 and 2025. What have you been up to since Epson Tour Champ? We had a really strong finish. Ending your season last year, you were in the top 35, so had that automatic bid into final qualifying. Can you talk about what you've been up to since then?

A: It feels like I've had a lot and not a lot at all at the same time. It's kind of weird that way because, after our final tournament, I was still getting ready for Q-School final scene, so it didn't really feel like off-season.

And then I was also doing some wedding planning because I got married right after the Final Stage. It kind of felt like a lot of the same because I'd been doing that all year and then right after Final Stage, went and got married and then took a lot of time off, which was definitely needed.

Q: So being in that top 35 ending at Tour Champ, how did that motivate you to go into Final Qualifying with all that you've got knowing that your entry fee was paid for, you just had to get there, train and make the most of the week? How did that all line up for you?

A: The goal is obviously always top 10 or top 15. But if that doesn't happen, you always kind of have that top 35 number in your head just because it does take a lot of weight off your shoulders knowing that it's paid for, and you don't have to worry about the second stage. So that was obviously a really big goal of mine. Last year I fell just outside of that, and so I feel like every year I've kind of come back and gotten a little bit better and better.

This year, I think I finished 22nd, and that really helped kind of ease some of the nerves of not even just golf, but the financial stress that comes with it. So that was really good. I was really happy about that, and once I got down to Tour Championship, all I could do was just focus on my game and keep it going for Final Stage.

Q: That had to have been a giant relief. How did that all play out, having four days between the end of Final Qualifying to your wedding day?

A: It was actually fine. I feel like I had a lot of people kind of look at me like I was crazy when they were asking when I was getting married. And I'm like, ‘On Friday,’ like, it's nothing. But we knew that going in all year. I picked the date sometime last off-season, and I'm pretty sure I even asked Jody (Brothers, Epson Tour Chief Business and Operations Officer) before the schedule even came out, 'Hey, when is Final Stage?' Because I know that's going to be the last tournament, if it is your last tournament. So, I think I knew the dates before anyone did, and Jody helped me out there.

So that was always like, that might be worst case scenario, but that's a good problem to have, right? I just wanted to be done with golf whenever we had our wedding, and I knew it was going to be a quick turnaround. But at the same time, we had everything pretty much planned at that point, and that's what our venue owners told us. We’ll have all these deadlines for you a month and two weeks before, so at that point we kind of had it all figured out anyway.

As crazy as it sounded, it really wasn't bad. As the year went on, I told everyone like, it's been kind of nice. It almost feels like the wedding planning distracted me from golf, and then golf distracted me from the wedding stress. They kind of helped me where if one of them was stressing me out, I would just focus on the other and it worked out. It was kind of nice.

Q: Besides the wedding, what else have you been up to since your off-season started? What have you been getting into?

A: It's always crazy to me how fast the off-season goes, and especially since we had final qualifying the first week in December and then four days later had a wedding, I feel like all that was a week ago, and it just flies.

I obviously kept practicing from October to December, getting ready for Q-School, and I always try to give myself a few weeks off. After the wedding, I took, I actually think it was right at a month off. I kind of needed it. I had some elbow issues that I've been struggling with too, so I think that was really necessary just to not focus on golf for a little bit.

I do it every year, and I think it really helps me mentally, too. But I'm still making gains in the gym and trying to focus on some goals now that I can sit back and reflect and say, ‘Okay, what would I do different next year to take it to that next level?’, ‘Okay, now instead of that top 35 being the goal, how can I maintain being in the top 10 or top 15?’ So really, I feel like (those are) the biggest things I've been doing, aside from a vacation here and there, maybe skiing.

And then Patrick (Peek, her husband) and I adopted two little kittens, so they are like the cutest little things. I feel like just taking care of them, a stay-at-home mom now.

Q: You talked about how you've been really focusing on your training and your attack plan going into the 2025 season. What's a new drill or a new workout you've been doing in the gym? Is there anything training-specific that you've been really trying to nail down during this off-season?

A: I know that I've always tried to go to the gym pretty regularly, and I think I was a lot better about it last year. But one of the goals we talked about was maybe just getting a little more distance off the tee. Final Stage of qualifying, it played pretty long, and I know a lot of people told me that going into it. Those were the first times I played those courses, and some of the girls that played there already were saying like, 'Yeah, it plays long' and then it was freezing cold, so you don't hit the ball as far. I felt like that was really when I said, ‘Okay, I know I've gotten stronger in the gym over the last couple of years, but maybe just applying it to golf specific.’

So we're trying to do some more speed stuff and ways to gain a little distance off the tee because I've learned that just because you get stronger in the gym doesn't necessarily mean it's going to directly correlate to your distance off the tee or whatever shot you're hitting because you still swing the same. So, trying to apply it more to golf this year has been one of the biggest things we've changed.

Q: I love that sport-specific training stuff. That's always been a huge interest of mine. Not being a golfer personally, I find it super interesting, the workouts that you guys do to train for golf. I tried to do a golf lift not too long ago, and I have never been so sore across my front shoulders and chest. It's a completely different muscle group than I've ever really had to use for swimming. The range of motion that you guys have and the strength you've got in that range of motion is just wild to me. It blows my mind.

A: I played basketball in high school too, and I brought my two best friends that played basketball with me out to the driving range one time. They never played, but they're super athletic and strong and obviously good basketball players. So I'm like, ‘Alright, let's see,’ and we hit a bucket of balls and the next day they were like, 'I'm so sore.’ And I was like, 'Where?' I wasn't expecting it, but I think it was in their back and shoulders, too. Stuff you don't usually use, and I would not have thought they would get sore from that.

Q: Are there any specific goals that you've set for yourself going into the 2025 season?

A: That's something that I actually wanted to be a little bit more intentional about this off-season, really trying to visualize what I think I need to do to improve next year and giving myself objective goals that I can actually reach.

So obviously, top 10 would be my goal, the ultimate goal. Top 15 would be great too, but I think that next level of not stressing about getting into those early events would be really nice and avoiding Q-School altogether. That was my Epson Tour goal.

Then I have a lot of mental goals where I'm really trying to be a little bit more patient. I know every year that I tell myself, it really is like a marathon. It's not a sprint. One bad week or one bad day is not going to kill you. But then when you get in the heat of the moment you kind of forget about that sometimes, so I'm really trying to keep that in mind.

Patrick (her husband) is going to be caddying for me full-time this year, which is really exciting. We've been talking a lot about how he can help me. Obviously, it's nice to just have a caddie every week, but it's also nice that he can be there too, to help me, to remind me in those moments because I do feel like a lot of times when I'm playing and I'm out there all by myself, I start feeling sorry for myself or I forget about things that are really important and know when to shake things off. I think us working together is going to be really good for me for that.

Q&A: Catching Up with Lindsey McCurdy Peek

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