Coming to Stanford, especially as a kid who grew up in Palo
Alto in awe of the Stanford culture, was a dream that didn’t seem achievable
until I got that acceptance letter in the mail. As an accomplished local junior
golfer, I felt that I would be ready to take the next step into college golf
with the ability I already had. I felt that this innate skill would manifest in
low scores, good tournaments, and a regular starting position in our lineup.
However, it
didn’t take long for me to realize that such a mindset was inherently flawed.
After only qualifying for one event in our fall season, I finally decided to
make a change, particularly in how I viewed the process of getting better.
After much consideration, it became clear that my success in local junior golf
had given me this perception that I had to constantly prove myself. I felt that
if I didn’t play well, people would start believing that I wasn’t good, that I
didn’t have what it takes, and maybe even that I wouldn’t ever get better.
Only when I
threw this idea of proving myself out the window did I start to see noticeable
change. Rather than trying to show everyone what I was capable of, I fell in
love with the idea of improving, of honing my skills. It was at this point that
I began to realize that I could look up to my teammates who already knew how to
work diligently toward success.
As I began
to shift the focus of my practice, I started to realize the importance of
having an extremely sharp short game in college golf. When assessing the skills
of some of our upperclassmen, such as David Chung and Andrew Yun, I noticed
that they had an incredible creativity and an uncanny ability to get up and
down. Obviously, this idea was extremely intruiging because it led to the
result that I wanted for myself: lower scores. I noticed that Patrick Rodgers
knew how to practice diligently and get the most out of the time he spent out
on our practice facility.
My
experience thus far at Stanford has undoubtedly transitioned to one of learning
and has led me to strive for improvement in every facet of my golf game. I
believe that my experience up to this point is one that many incoming college
golfers can hopefully learn from. If there’s one thing I’ve learned since
starting college, it’s that discipline is a talent in and of itself. Many
people know what the right things are to work on to get better, but too few
actually implement them.
Many talented junior golfers are excited yet
apprehensive about the college golf experience. Whether it’s the worry of
balancing school and golf, the worry of making the lineup right away, or just
about whether or not the school is the right fit, I would encourage all
incoming freshman to throw these worries out the window. Embrace the experience
of learning from the guys who have it figured out, and figure out how you can
translate what they do into a formula that works for you.
