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Post by bogeyman on Apr 5, 2023 9:41:42 GMT -6
My personal journey with golf is a long and winding road and I'm finding as I near the end of that journey I'm far less critical of temporary failures and far more concerned with the process to progress. I believe Tom Shaw is the right coach for ACU (character, faith, experience and relationship wise) and his past experience as a college player, then professional, then coach and teacher will get and keep our program competitive. ACU's lack of financial support will always be a challenge for recruiting the very best HS golfers. Because of that we now have to recruit for 3 and 4 years down the road, in other words, develop players who will be good as juniors and seniors. That takes quite a bit of skill (and an equal amount of luck) to project how good a HS player will be in 3 years down the road and when you miss in a program like ACU it really hurts the overall product. Coach knew this year would be a challenge (that's why he went hard after a certain SEC senior who indicated he wanted a change) but I don't think he had any inkling that Grigsby and Heusel would have such difficult years, scoring wise. For these reasons I choose to be patient and let these young men develop even as I pull out my hair (not much left) as they finish last in these big-time tourneys. My fear is that our poor performances this year may reduce the number of quality tourneys that will invite us. We've played in three elite college tourneys this year (Cabo, at Mississippi St and next up-Ohio State).
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Post by bogeyman on Apr 5, 2023 9:57:16 GMT -6
Anecdotal story. In 1964 coach Williams of many times national championship U of Houston, recruited a young man from south Texas (whom I knew well, since we played at the same golf course). This player was the national freshman of the year in 1965 but coach Williams dismissed him from the team the very next year because of his inconsistent scores (and some off the course issues). He could do that because he had several golfers on his team just waiting for their chance to make the traveling squad. At our best we've had maybe 3 quality golfers whom a coach could count on with positions 4 & 5 left to chance. Last year we had Clouse, Osio, and Choe we could count on tourney after tourney and then in the WAC championship Heusel and Diomede came thru with flying colors. This week Mississippi St brought 11 players to the tourney (5 for the team championship and 6 who played as individuals) and all except one shot under par (if I'm remembering correctly) and they finished 3rd. We just aren't in that league.
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Post by bogeyman on Apr 10, 2023 9:35:53 GMT -6
Golf is in the middle of a 2 1/2 week rest before the final two tourneys of the season. The next tourney is the Robert Kepler Invitational in Columbus, Ohio on the Scarlet Course at Ohio State. This is one of the most challenging college courses in the nation, so I expect our young team to struggle again, which is a shame coming only one week before conference. Hopefully this short break will get the kids energized for the conference tourney in Nevada. There is a reason that most top pros take the week off (and some more than that) after a major. So much mental energy is expended in prep and playing of a hard tourney that they need rebound time. I hope that's not the case after playing the Scarlet course in Ohio and then flying to Nevada to play conference. The course we'll play again in Nevada is not a hard course so maybe that will have a positive effect on our guys. It will be interesting to see who represents us at conference. I'd suppose the lineup would be Heusel, Buisson, Hoyeau, Diomede and Jackson but frankly (since the year has been a bust) I'd be tempted to take Heusel and the 4 freshmen (Buisson, Hoyeau, Grigsby and Comegys) just to give them experience on a course they will play for the next 3 years. (Naw, I really wouldn't do that but the thought has entered my mind.) Diomede played the course well last year, so he deserves another shot at it this year. Just fun to do mental gymnastics.
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Post by bogeyman on Apr 20, 2023 12:33:27 GMT -6
Golf not taking #1 player Zane Heusel to Ohio State tourney. Last tourney before conference. Starts tomorrow.
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Post by bogeyman on Apr 21, 2023 8:13:54 GMT -6
Still on front nine. Diomede (-2), Hoyeau (-2), Buisson (-1), Comegys (E), Jackson (+2). ACU currently in 1st place.
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Post by bogeyman on Apr 21, 2023 8:29:42 GMT -6
Well that was short lived. We play #10 with a triple and 2 bogeys. We are now -1 and in 4th place.
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Post by bogeyman on Apr 21, 2023 8:41:02 GMT -6
The back nine on the Scarlet Course is a long, hard test of golf. Hoping the guys can hold on to their good start on the front nine. A little fall off would be normal. We've gone from -5 to +3 in 3 holes.
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Post by bogeyman on Apr 21, 2023 8:54:57 GMT -6
Interesting stats after 11 holes--we are in 1st place on par 3's at -2. We are tied for 1st place on par 5's at -6. We are tied for 1st place in #of birdies made at 11. But we are next to last on par 4's at +14. The par 3's are probably the hardest set of par 3's around with the shortest at 202 yds and the rest at 221, 221, 233. Whew!
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Post by bogeyman on Apr 21, 2023 9:39:20 GMT -6
I'm off to the course. The Cats are T6th right now at +6. Other teams are just entering the hardest stretch of the course (but our last 6 holes will be no bargain either). Would be nice to hold on to 6th but...
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Post by bogeyman on Apr 21, 2023 12:18:25 GMT -6
I see we finished in 7th today but only 2 shots from 4th. I think that's a good day.
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Post by bogeyman on Apr 22, 2023 17:30:39 GMT -6
Play called for darkness today. Will resume tomorrow. Cats in 14th place, up one today. Currently +9 for the round which is a good bit better than the disastrous +30 in the 2nd round. Charlie Jackson is surprising with a +2 1st round and currently Even on his final round with 6 holes to play tomorrow.
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Post by bogeyman on Apr 22, 2023 21:11:11 GMT -6
Golfstat was slow getting scores posted. After my last post several Cat golfers finished their rounds. Buisson has a hole left (his sscore won't count) and Diomede has 2 holes to finish. We are currently +8 for the round and in 14th place. Several teams ahead of us in the standings have lots of holes to play tomorrow. Conceivable we could gain a place or two.
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Post by bogeyman on Apr 22, 2023 21:13:52 GMT -6
Jackson finished with a 72, Hoyeau 76 and Comegys 75. Diomede is +2 with 2 holes to play.
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Post by bogeyman on Apr 23, 2023 11:24:16 GMT -6
We finish with a +9 for the round, tied for the 3rd best of the day. We have indeed moved up to 12th place, as I expected last night. Not sure why we tend to have one really bad round in each tourney. Maybe youth. This week is the conference tourney in Nevada. I'm hoping Heusel will be ready to go but I'm puzzled by his absence in Ohio. He may have an injury.
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Post by bogeyman on Apr 23, 2023 14:17:21 GMT -6
Only tourney winner Ohio State shoots better than ACU in the last round. Something to build on.
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