Gabi Powel on Traveling and Taking Swings

As a freshman center forward on William T. Dwyer High School’s girls basketball team, Gabi Powel decided she had suffered enough. Sure, Powel was playing well enough for colleges
to view her as a prospect, but she was just so physically banged up, she knew she couldn’t take much more.

“It was almost like tackle football for ladies,” Powel recalls.

When she told her parents her hoops days were over, they told her that it was fine as long as she found some other sport to fill the void. Idle kids got bored and made mischief, they believed, which is why they kept their athletic only child busy from the get-go. When Powel’s mother discovered that the high school needed girl golfers for its team—and learned that many girls’ collegiate golf scholarships go unused every year—she encouraged her daughter to try it. And when Powel did, a whole new world unfolded before her, fueled in part by a robust social media following that just had to know what she’d do next, and where. Whether she’s attempting famous Stinger Hole at TGL, taking in an F1 race in Miami, she’s showing her followers what it’s like to golf on courses around the world.

Born and raised on Singer Island, Powel recalls weekends on her family’s boat and annual trips to Costa Rica in the summer and Breckenridge, Colorado in the winter. She was a goody-two-shoes, she says, someone who got straight As and was afraid to get in trouble. Not that there was any time for trouble, given her parents’ desire to keep her busy with sports.

“She was a very good kid growing up,” says Dave Powel, her father. “We didn’t have problems with her at all. We weren’t overly strict with her, but we did keep an eye on her, because we wanted to be sure she was spending time with the right people.”

One thing was for certain: Dave and Georgia Powel’s daughter had drive. Once she picked up golf in high school, Dave says she was at the driving range as much as possible, trying to get better and better. Powel didn’t start playing at age 5 like other golfers, but she made up for it with her determination. Though colleges didn’t recruit her, Powel put together her own package of information to share with prospective schools in Florida. Fortunately, Florida International University offered her a golf scholarship, which she accepted.

Though she was proficient on social media and loved posting pictures and shooting videos with her friends, NCAA rules prohibited her from profiting from any lucrative name, image, and likeness deals she might be offered. Instead, Powel posted photos of her competing on the road with her team. The first flickers of interest in her posts were a bit of a surprise, she says.

“When I first started posting photos of me playing, other golf accounts would pick it up and repost it,” she says. “And I was like, ‘Oh my gosh. People like to see this. I need to keep posting.’”

During her senior year in college, she was permitted to work charity golf events where attendees would compete to hit a better shot than she did. Powel could never post about it or promote it because she was a collegiate golfer. But when she graduated, she went to work full-time for Backswing Golf Events. She’d travel the country, working 15 to 20 events a month for the next few years.

“It was great because I was able to network with people, work on my golf game, and be out on the golf course,” she says. “It was awesome, because I wasn’t in an office. I was outside doing what I loved to do.”

While she was working a long drive competition event, a golfer encouraged her to start competing in other events like it. Powel felt she had nothing to lose and entered a competition that took place two weeks later.

“I’ve never experienced anything like that in golf,” Powel says. “They had music blaring, and the energy was so upbeat and not like your typical golf. Everybody’s
screaming, too. The guys are going first, and out there screaming, hitting their golf balls, and I’m like, holy moly, okay. Let’s just see how it goes.”

She made it to the finals and missed first place by just 6 yards.

“It was the most adrenaline I’d ever felt in my life, and I consider myself an adrenaline junkie,” she says. “So I looked at the schedule and signed up for the rest of the events they had that season. I loved it. It was something so different, and something to work towards, and the community was awesome.”

Though Powel no longer travels for long drive, she has continued traveling for other golf events and tournaments. Because her travel posts got such good engagement, tourism boards began contacting her about playing golf in their towns and showcasing fun things to do away from the links. Powel began posting about courses, but also restaurants, hotels, and other things to do.

“It’s a big part of the golf industry,” she says. “A lot of golf resorts want exposure, they want eyeballs. So they have me out to play on their courses and showcase their facilities.”

Her first such trip was to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Then Golf Nation network enlisted her and her best friend and former FIU teammate Hannah Leiner for a yet-to-be-aired show called “3 Courses.” The duo traveled to Atlanta, Georgia; Oceanside, California; and Phoenix, Arizona to celebrate the golf, food, and drinks that make them fun places to visit. Three years ago, Leiner and Powel filmed a show on a golf course in London before deciding to travel on to Spain for more adventures. Since then, Powel has traveled to courses in Southeast Asia, and more recently to some Irish courses with Leiner at her side.

“Gabi absolutely loves her friends and family and would do anything for them,” Leiner says. “She is the most selfless human being I know and really loves to care for people. She is my person, my rock, and it is so amazing to have a friend in my life who I can truly count on forever.”

When she’s not sharing her golf travels, Powel is fishing or on the boat with her family and looking for the best happy hour spot. This fall, she and her boyfriend, Jacques Ungerer, will be launching a fan-driven entertainment studio called Twisted Sports that includes fans in the program’s decision-making process. Ungerer gets emotional when he talks about Powel’s support for the project—and him.

“We were friends first,” he says. “She has an adventurous spirit that I find appealing. If you look at what she does, you can see she’s game for anything. She’s also firm about what she wants and how she is going to go out and get hers. Massive kudos to her parents. Plus, she is a smokeshow and there is not a high enough scale to tell you how attracted I am to her, this blonde, beautiful, bombshell that can pound the ball. For her to not have a ring on her finger yet, but to stand behind me the way she does is the utmost sign of true loyalty.”

Whatever comes next for Powel, it’s sure to be a big hit.

Powel’s Pointers

Gabi Powel shares her tips for traveling for golf, whether it’s in another state or on another continent.

• Get the right gear. Whether it’s a clubglider golf bag from Sun Mountain, or the right number of clothing layers, be sure you’re packing things that will make it easier on you to play your best game comfortably.
• Ship your clubs. When you rent clubs, you feel the difference, and your game suffers for it. If you don’t feel comfortable checking your clubs, consider shipping them with a service like ShipSticks.com, which can deliver directly to your hotel, or a golf course.
• Use protection. If you do travel with your own clubs, be sure your driver head is protected with a good quality clubhead cover.
• Ask the pros. If you’re traveling globally and don’t know the courses, work with a travel golf agency like Golf Asian. They know the courses and can book bespoke trips for you. 
• Watch the weather. Powel recently traveled to Ireland, where the forecast was 55 degrees, blustery, and rainy. Knowing that ahead of time, she was able to invest in a heated vest and hand warmers for her trip.