If you are truly doing it right, golf is a grind. There are no days off during the season, and Miles takes it about as serious as a player can. He practices, he works out, he practices, he works out, over, and over, and over again. Lessons, rounds, practice, it's non-stop. The message is clear - it all leads up to the post-season round, the rest are practice rounds. That's an "easier said than done comment" because each round matters to a golfer.
During the summer, Miles was playing very well, but soon after the season started, he developed a bad habit which truly hurt his game. Last year it was the pull-hook, this year it was the left hook - his arms and swing path progressively got worse and worse. Although he was continuing to post decent scores, the effort needed to produce them was incredibly difficult. Hitting a fairway seemed impossible.
As professional golfer Lee Trevino put it...
Left usually means trouble.
Despite lessons and practice, improvement was not noticeable. Matt knows SO much about the game of golf and knew if Miles had a shot at making it through the region tournament, he needed a serious swing change which is risky during the season. It was necessary.
We sought the help of Olde Stone's golf professional Atticus Bellen (whose wife works at SWHS and all students adore). Our coach, Jim, went to the first lesson which was incredibly kind because he believes in Miles and wanted to help him as best he could. Making this adjustment, although small, would not be easy because it felt super unnatural.
Two lessons and two rounds - the first one at Mineral Mounds where I'm fairly certain he started on the hardest hole EVER in the state of Kentucky. Not the best day but manageable and he powered through with an 84. The second tournament was on our home course, Franklin Country Club. It was literally the worst round he's shot, probably since elementary school, posting a 91. He was in tears and barely functioning when the round ended. It was all I could do to keep it together as passionate as he is and as much time as he has put into this sport he hates loves.
Was the swing change a mistake? Would he be able to bounce back? He was destroyed mentally. Region - four weeks away. We had a long discussion that night with him and about all of these matches being practice to get better, despite the score. Coach Jim called him after the round and told him he is his biggest cheerleader and didn't care about his score at all. He wanted Miles to know he was working through a significant swing change, and he totally supported him ❤️.
We played at Maywood the next day in Bardstown. Karson joined us and always brings him good luck. Coach wanted Miles to come a little earlier so they could spend more time on the range working out his swing.
He played an incredible round of golf, even got an eagle on the hole above. It lifted his spirits. A few more lessons and practice rounds at Indian Hills Country Club, two tournaments at Bowling Green Country Club, and he was feeling good about his game again. Thank goodness!
Tournaments at BGCC, we have a love/hate relationship with this course. It was nice to him at the Van Meter Cup and BGIT.
I'm honestly not sure that Miles has a bigger fan or more supportive teammate than Connor Baer. This kid is genuine to the core. I can say that about our entire team, but I have noticed it a lot this season with these two. No matter how Connor or Miles are doing, they manage to keep each other motivated and focused. Connor has the ability to relax and keep his composure, despite how great or discouraging his round is going, while also lifting his teammate up (which is an extra special skill in golf, in my opinion). Thanks CB!!!
I cannot wait to see this group compete next year as SENIORS!
The team likes to fuel up at Cane's. They ate here after their last practice round at Indian Hills. We had a team pasta party at our house on Monday night. To spice things up a little bit, I had a three-part competition for the boys (a quiz, a chipping, and putting contest) with the winner receiving a gift card from Cane's!
Focused on the quiz - the last part of the competition to win the gift card! Brady Patterson took the prize by one point!
Every 10 years, the college that I work for goes through an accreditation process through SACSCOC. As luck would have it, the visit landed during the same week at the Region tournament meaning that I could not attend the biggest tournament of the year and here in BG at Indian Hills CC (ugh!!!). Fortunately, he had a huge support system there - Matt, his Uncle Ben, his Aunt Shannon and both sets of grandparents. The best fan club around.
I was sick to my stomach all day yesterday. The tournament had live scoring which allowed me to follow along. Miles's tee time was set for 10AM. Nervous wreck me was pacing all over my campus. I could not calm my nerves at all. For me the hardest part of yesterday was knowing how hard Miles has worked all season long. I know this is true for many of the golfers out there competing. In the end, all of us parents want to see our kids hard work pay off when it counts.
Miles played his best, had some tough shots, breaks, and putts but powered through. My boss was kind enough to let me leave a little early and actually encouraged it so I took off to IHCC around 2:30PM. I didn't see any of the round but was able to be there when he got finished. Matt had told me that the course was playing super hard, and that the pin placement was extra difficult. He'd told me initially that he thought a 77 and under would make the cut. However, the way the course was playing, it took an 81 to make it to Semi-State at Calvert City Country Club.
Please send us all the good vibes you can next Tuesday as he competes at Semi-State!
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