Brother Martin Graduate Swinging His Way to an NCAA Career
What started as a few hours out of the house, on a City Park golf course, has turned into a state championship and an NCAA career. Kyle Traub, a 2024 Brother Martin graduate and LHSAA State Champion, recently made his NCAA college debut at Squire Creek golf course in Choudrant, LA in the Louisiana Tech Argent Financial Classic. Kyle’s hard work, dedication, drive and work ethic over the past 8 years has propelled him into the player he is today. Along with a lot of help from his parents, Kurt and Jena Traub.
In the Spring of 2016, Kyle was a typical 10 year old playing multiple sports at his local playground. Kyle played tackle football, basketball and baseball at Cleary playground in Metairie. During that time, Kyle’s dad, Kurt Traub, took him out to City Park golf course a few times just to get out the house and enjoy some father and son time. Kurt quickly realized that something was different about Kyle and the sport of golf. Kyle quickly showed passion, excitement and a strong desire to want to play and get better. Much stronger than the other three sports he was playing at the time. Kyle was persistent in his desire for golf and after a couple of family discussions, Kurt and Jena agreed to make Kyle’s main focus on the sport he fell in love with, golf.
For the rest of 2016 and early part of 2017, Kyle spent a lot of time learning his golf swing with Coach Jimmy Headrick. He also spent countless hours on the driving range, on the putting greens and on the chipping greens. He was working to get himself ready to play at a competitive level and not embarrass himself. In June of 2017, Kyle played in his first competitive tournament at Money Hill golf course in Abita Springs, LA. Kyle shot a 60 in 9 holes and finished in 5th place, but he got a taste of the competition and was fueled to improve his game and compete.
After 1 year of competition and practice, Kyle took his score from over 100 in 18 holes to scoring an 88 and getting his first tournament win in July of 2018 in a USKids tournament at Diamondhead, MS. After that the Traub family was off and running, playing in tournaments almost every weekend in various junior golf organizations (USKids, Kelly Gibson, SJGA, LJGT). For the next 3 years, Kyle would play in over 100 golf events and gradually improved his game and started consistently shooting in the upper 70s. Kyle won numerous tournaments, and his love for the game and desire to play continued. Throughout those formative years, Kyle’s dad was typically his caddie and mom would ride in the cart to support Kyle and provide him with drinks and food.
Kyle’s parents, Kurt and Jena Traub, had their work cut out for them and mastered the divide and conquer. Kyle is not an only child, and Kyle’s sister Hayden Traub is also an athlete in the family. Hayden is two years younger than Kyle and is a strong softball player for Louisiana Voodoo and Mount Carmel Academy. She was named to the 2024 LHSAA All-State, All-Metro and All-District teams. From 2018-2024, the Traubs spent many weekends separated with one parent/child combination going to softball tournaments and the other going to golf tournaments. However, Kurt and Jena knew that the work ethic, accountability, teamwork and dedication that their kids were learning was worth every minute and every dollar of theirs.
In 2022, Kyle’s career at Brother Martin was blooming. He eventually led the Crusaders to 3 district titles and led the team to qualify for regionals and state for 3 years. During this time Kyle stressed a strong desire to continue his golf career into college. The Traubs created a Twitter page, created a golf resume and started emailing college coaches. While Kyle was excelling in high school and was shooting in the upper 70s consistently, he still wasn’t at the level he needed to be at to play D1 golf in college.
In 2023, Kurt and Jena agreed to hire a mental and physical health coach. They hired Chris Doherty from Active30 to help Kyle develop his mental game and work on keeping his body in the best physical shape possible to compete at the next level. At this point, Kyle had the swing and ability to score low, but he was missing the mental aspect to stay focused after bad shots. Additionally, Kyle needed to acquire more knowledge regarding his diet and exercise and how those factors influence play on the course. Leading up to the summer of 2023, Kyle’s scores continued to drop and he was consistently shooting in the lower to mid 70s.
In the summer of 2023 you can see the difference in Kyle’s mental approach. Kyle’s mom, Jena, would also pack a portable burner, a portable air fryer and groceries for every tournament to make sure Kyle was eating right and getting a great breakfast every morning before a tournament. Food is fuel, especially for high level competitive athletes. In July of 2023, Kyle’s game hit the next level. In the LJGT Junior Amateur tournament at Beaver Creek Kyle shot a 67, 71, 67 to finish in 3rd place out of 120 golfers in the state. The tournament champion was a Georgia Tech commit, and the runner-up was a LSU commit. Many other D1 college commits were further down the leaderboard. Kyle proved that he could play at that level.
The rest of 2023, Kyle continued to compete at a high level and consistently score around par. He finally had college coaches’ attention and started receiving requests for visits. Eventually, Kyle got a few offers to play golf in college. He ultimately decided to stay close to home, represent his state and play for Nicholls State in Thibodaux, LA.
In 2024, Kyle was heading into his last season of Jr. golf and high school golf. He started the year competing in the Sam Burns 4 ball tournament with teammate and Newman grad Neil Phillips. Kyle and Neil finished 2nd, coming 1 stroke short of beating an LSU and Ole Miss commit. Then the focus was back on high school where the Crusaders finished their season with a 15-1 record and a district title. Kyle was determined to win state as a team or as an individual. In district Kyle shot a 71, in regionals he shot a 70 and the team qualified for state. On day 1 in state Kyle came out firing on all cylinders and shot a career low 65 (-7) to give himself a 5 stroke lead heading into day two. On day 2 he was 4 under at the turn, but the nerves kicked in on the back 9 to finish at 2 under 70 and win the LHSAA Div 1 State Title with a score of -9. Kyle went on to complete his junior golf career by winning his last LJGT tournament at TPC Louisiana with score of 70 and 72. Kyle is a Brother Martin graduate, LHSAA state champ and junior golf champion, too.
In August, Kyle moved to Thibodaux to start his college career at Nicholls State University. The team consists of 12 players but only 5 players can start each tournament. Coach Schilling of Nicholls State selected Kyle to be one of the 5 starters in their first tournament this week at the LA Tech Argent Financial Classic at Squire Creek. Our Brother Martin graduate is already playing in the NCAA, and it is amazing to watch.
Kurt and Jena couldn’t be prouder of Kyle’s accomplishments, but are most proud of his work ethic, dedication and drive to be the best he can be at the sport he loves.