By Ana Guaderas, Sports Editor
Coach Lyndsey Bevill, the Saint Leo Women’s Golf coach, has built a championship team around the philosophy of becoming one percent better every day.
As a former athlete and coach, Bevill has a strong competitive spirit. Winning matters to her, and after more than a decade in the college coaching world, she has proven it. But when she talks about what has kept her coaching, winning and the championships are not what come to her mind first.
“The relationships. Without question,” Bevill said. “Winning is fun, and I’m extremely competitive. But at the end of the day, the trophies aren’t what keeps you coaching.”
Bevill has taken the opportunity of coaching to help young women develop not just as golfers, but as students, teammates, and most importantly, people.
Bevill began her college coaching career after graduating with a degree in sports business from Northern Kentucky University, where she was a member of the women’s golf team for four years. In 2011, she joined the University of Indianapolis Women’s Golf program as a graduate assistant coach. Coaching gave Bevill a way to stay connected to golf while changing the focus to not just her own results, but her players and team.
“I wanted to stay connected to the game in a way where I could make an impact on other people,” Bevill said.
After six seasons with the Greyhounds, Bevill took the head coaching position at Saint Leo University in 2017.
Bevill’s coaching philosophy has evolved over the years into what she calls the “one percent better” philosophy. For her, improvement doesn’t have to completely happen overnight, but it’sabout finding a way to get a little better every day.
Most golfers want to see the big results: lower scores, tournament wins, championships, but those things take time. They come from the small decisions linked to preparation, attitude, response, effort, and consistency.
“Those little things add up. If we can consistently get one percent better, eventually the results take care of themselves,” Bevill said.
This philosophy impacts the players in much more than just golf; it is a way to push each day to become better and keep growing. It might mean becoming a better teammate, student, communicating better, and handling adversity. Perfection is not the goal; continuing to grow a little each day is.
In 2024, years of small improvements led Saint Leo Women’s Golf to a conference championship. The Lions were able to capture the first Sunshine State Conference Championship in program history. It represented years of recruiting, building relationships, changing expectations, learning from mistakes, players leaving their mark, and believing.
“People see the picture with the trophy at the end, but they don’t see everything that happened before it,” Bevill said.
Elena Verticchio, a member of the 2024 championship team and an All-American Honorable Mention, experienced firsthand how Bevill’s philosophy helped her grow on and off the golf course.
“Coach Bevill has believed in me since the first day I set foot at Saint Leo,” Verticchio said. “Because of her, I have become a more confident person, leader, and athlete.”
Bevill truly saw the “one percent better” philosophy and growth in the 2024 team. They believed in each other and competed for one another. The players became more mature in time, learned to handle adversity, communicate, and most importantly, became better teammates. Those are things that don’t show on Golfstat, but they matter much more than people think.
The team did not depend on one person to carry. They learned to stay in the moment and keep fighting for the whole group, even during the moments that didn’t go as planned.
“You don’t have to play perfect golf. You just have to keep making the next decision the best one you can,” Bevill said, noting what represented the “one percent better” philosophy in that team.
For Bevill, the “one percent better” philosophy goes beyond golf and scores. What she truly wants for her players is to leave after four years as confident and independent women who know how to handle difficult situations, communicate well, and deal with real life.
Golf only goes so far, but the lessons, skills, relationships, and experiences learned through it and college athletics stay with them. Bevill hopes her players develop during their time in the program, developing qualities like accountability, resilience, discipline, and communication.
“I also want them to know that somebody believed in them and cared about them as a person, not just because of what number they shot that day,” Bevill said.
Verticchio experienced this kind of support during her time at Saint Leo and how it continues after graduating.
“She is not only my coach, but also a mentor and someone I trust and know will always be in my corner,” Verticchio said.
Bevill has learned in her role as a coach that caring for her players is not making things easy for them. But pushing them to be better and holding them accountable, since the goal is for them to develop and get better even during difficult times.
Bevill has shown that she doesn’t just develop golfers; she builds a family. The 2024 Sunshine State Conference Championship is part of the team’s legacy. Still, Bevill hopes the legacy is measured by the hard work, relationships, how players represent Saint Leo, the development, and how players care of each other, not just scores and championships.
She hopes her players can look back and say, “Those four years helped make me who I am,” and see a family and support system.
“Once you’re a Lion, you’re always a Lion” is one of the mottos Bevill likes to pass along to her players after they finish their time with the program.
