“I feel like I spent a little while giving cryptic answers, so I don’t have to keep giving cryptic answers about what I’m going to do in my future. It’s definitely freeing in that sense,” Rachel Heck said at the Augusta National last year. At one point in time, Heck was the next big thing everyone was waiting to see break through the ranks of women’s golf. She was making huge strides at Stanford University but somewhere along the line, she felt that golf was not giving her the completion she desired. She took a break from the game and decided to become a part of something more inclusive.
She then went on to enroll in the Defense Information School where she graduated with distinction on March 20. Meanwhile, golf fans were also happy to see her receive a piece of good news. On January 26, 2025, Rachel Heck announced her return on X, posting a photo of herself in uniform. The lieutenant was holding an invitation to this April’s Augusta National Women’s Amateur in the photo. Heck will be back in familiar territory, eager to prove what her experiences had taught her.
In a very candid interview, she openly talked about her journey in the world of golf and away from it with Josh Berhow of Golf.com. The talk proved to be a very eye-opening one and one that showcased the internal and external struggles and learnings a young golfer goes through.
Rachel Heck’s journey away from and back to golf
In her senior year in high school, Rachel Heck developed a back issue that kept her away from golf for a significant amount of time. That was the first time that the young golfer felt that something was amiss in her life. She explained her situation back then to GOLF.com, “I really struggled mentally. After I had a back injury, I had to put the clubs down for a few months and I was questioning who am I without this game. That was the first time I ever really thought about that because since I was 3 years old I said I wanted to be a professional golfer.”
Heck’s injury concerns did not end there. In September of 2022, the Stanford golfer felt an ache. By October, she was not even able to grip her club. After a long time, her condition was diagnosed by her father as thoracic outlet syndrome, a condition in which nerves or blood vessels between the neck and shoulder are compressed, leading to pain in the neck, shoulder, arm, and hand. And Heck, who was already debating the role of golf in her life, felt much more confused. “My junior year fall I couldn’t figure out what was going on. I’d be playing and then my handle would go numb, and my blood vessels in my hand would be swollen and I just had no idea what was happening. And it was super painful and I’d go to my trainers and physical therapy and for a while, no one could figure out what was going on,” Heck stated.
The young golfer’s journey was quite hard-hitting and she began to feel the weight of self-expectations on her shoulders. Setbacks seemed like unclimbable mountains. So her reaction was pretty understandable after receiving the diagnosis. “We were about to go into spring break and I called my mom, balling my eyes out I was like, ‘I’ve had enough. I can’t do it anymore,’” Heck explained. Despite not being able to participate in the event at Augusta, Rachel Heck decided to attend. But this time to support her close friend and college friend Rose Zhang.
Both became friends at a very young age. Zhang ended up winning the event and Heck was the first person to run up to her and congratulate her. The duo also got to meet the greats of golf like Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods. Heck was particularly motivated after her stint at Augusta. “I just had the absolute best time following her. Seeing her win. Being able to see her win and then stay with her the next day and talk to Tiger and Rory and Max and all those guys. It was definitely the pick-me-up I needed,” the Stanford alum stated.
A rose for Rose and a teammate celebration. #ANWAgolf | @StanfordWGolf pic.twitter.com/GYNZORo3S2
— Augusta National Women’s Amateur (@anwagolf) April 1, 2023
And that is when the realization struck Rachel Heck. She understood that she needed more than golf in her life. “Just being out there being around the people I loved, I realized I don’t need to have a golf club in my hand to be happy,” she added. Now, as she steps back onto the course at Augusta, we get to witness the next chapter of a career, and a life – defined by something far greater than the game itself.
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