‘Homesick’ Galloway leaves University of Texas, transfers to NMSU
Dominique Galloway has traveled much of the country for a number of years while playing in some of the top national junior and college golf tournaments in the country.
But the former Cleveland High School golf sensation simply wanted to be closer to home.
“I was homesick, that’s really the main reason,” Galloway told the Journal of why she is transferring from the University of Texas to New Mexico State after just one semester with the Longhorns. “In Texas, I was 12 hours away and it was so hard to be away from family and to be there for my little sister.
“Las Cruces is the perfect distance for me, because it’s only a three-hour drive to get home, but I can still live like an adult on my own. I’ll be able to drive back any weekend and see my family and go to my church.”
On Saturday, NMSU announced the transfer of one of the most highly recruited golfers ever out of New Mexico. Galloway, who won three straight big-school state individual titles in 2013-15 before finishing second to her freshman sister, Jacque, last year, will be eligible to play for the Aggies immediately. NMSU’s first tournament this semester is Feb. 11-12 at Stanford.
Galloway committed to Texas and coach Ryan Murphy, a former Lovington High and University of New Mexico star golfer, before her senior year at Cleveland. She said she and Murphy were “both on the same page” with the transfer, and “he said he would help me anyway he could.”
She said that Murphy gave her a release to go to any school in the country with the exception of any in the Big 12 Conference.
Galloway said she really wasn’t interested in another school, because she wanted to be near family. She said she didn’t seriously consider coming to UNM because she wanted to still “get out on my own, but be able to come home every weekend.”
“College is a huge transition,” she said. “It was really tough to come home from tournaments and not having my support network like before. College golf is so competitive. I never realized how competitive. If you shoot par, you’re near the bottom. You have to shoot under par to at least get top 20.
“It helped me realize, ‘You know you’re not the best.’ I need to work my butt off to get better and better.”
As a freshman last semester — college golf plays in the spring and fall — Galloway competed in all five events for the Texas and had two top-25 finishes. She had a 74.43 stroke average for her 14 rounds with a low round of 67 at the Las Vegas Intercollegiate.
Prior to college, she won the New Mexico West Texas Women’s Amateur, was runnerup at the North-South Junior Amateur and the Big I Trusted Choice, was a semifinalist in the USGA Women’s Public Links Championship and was a three-time participant in the USGA Girls Junior Championship. She also won the Albuquerque Women’s City Amateur Championship at age 15.
Galloway said NMSU coach Jackie Booth is retiring after this season, and assistant Danny Bowen will take over. “I’ve known him since I was in the eighth grade, and he really knows my golf game,” she said.
Bowen, a former Eldorado High and New Mexico State golf standout, said that Galloway “is a hard worker, extremely talented and one of the best players to come out of New Mexico in a long time.”