News

As the saying goes, when it rains, it pours. For the Montcalm Community College Centurions golf team lately, it is that way both figuratively and literally. 

The Centurions, headed by Doug Harkema, saw two meets be postponed due to inclement weather, which has also wreaked havoc on the team’s practice times. MCC was able to participate in two other scheduled meets, however, the team’s overall performance was — pun intended — a little wet, according to Harkema. 

“We basically had a score of 75 and then a bunch in the 80s. Scores in the 80s are not competitive at this level,” Harkema said after the team tied for fourth at the Glen Oaks Community College Invitational, April 9, and tied for fifth at the Grand Rapids Community College Invitational, April 13. 

At Glen Oaks, MCC finished with a +24, with Marian-Ancilla winning with a +15, followed by Trine and GRCC, which both tied with a +22 score. MCC tied with Schoolcraft College for fourth place.  

Individually, Ryder Lee of Schoolcraft College took first place shooting an even par. MCC sophomore Mason Blair (Holt, Mich.) finished tied for second shooting +1. MCC freshman Landon Elder (Louisville, Ky.) shot +4 to finished tied for eighth place and Centurions’ sophomore Kenny Mitchell (Cedar Springs, Mich.) finished tied for 18th place, shooting +6. 

It was more of the same struggles at the GRCC meet, as MCC tied with Oakland Community College for fifth place, both shooting +47 overall. The invitational was won by Marian-Ancilla, which scored +33. 

Individually, Blair was the top Centurions player, tying for third place with a +5 score, one stroke behind first-place Carson Osborn of GRCC. MCC freshman Spencer Denney (Battle Creek, Mich.) followed Blair, finishing 21st with a score of +12. 

“I felt like we really struggled that day. We got off to a really good start. Front nine was really solid,” Harkema said. “But our back nine was not very good. I’m not happy with our back nine scoring. But that’s golf. It happens, especially this early in the season, when we really only had two tournaments. But we didn’t shoot where we should have and that was a little disappointing to me.” 

With a young team this year, with only Blair and Mitchell returning from last year’s team, Harkema has had to put more time into preparing his players for the mental side of the game rather than focusing on their techniques. Harkema stresses consistency in each of his player’s games, but he knows they still have to overcome the stress and frustrations they put on themselves when it comes to competing. 

“They need to learn they can bring in solid scores even when things aren’t going their way,” Harkema said. “A lot of that goes to not letting your mind race after a bad shot and not letting it muck you up. You control one shot at a time. But it’s hard, mentally, to forget what happened in the past. They need to learn to stay in the moment.” 

Harkema was hoping he could get his players out of their funk right away with the next meet, however, the Jackson College Invitational, which was scheduled for Friday, April 17, was cancelled due to weather. Since then, the continuing wet weather has also put a damper on the team’s practices leading up to their back-to-back meets, Sunday, April 19, at Marian University Ancilla College (make-up date from the April 3 postponement), and Monday, April 20, at the Muskegon Community College Invitational. Both meets are 10 a.m. tee-off times. 

Harkema said these back-to-back meets will be a good measuring stick for his team, as they not only play 36 rounds of golf in two days, traveling from Plymouth, Indiana, to Muskegon between meets, but will also likely see much colder weather on Sunday and Monday (it is expected to be in the 40s). 

“We’re three weeks out from our regional tournament. We’re shooting to qualify for nationals again, so these next two meets will give us a good tune-up for that,” Harkema said. “At regionals, we play 54 holes in two days, so that’s how I’ll approach it with the team, as being a good tune-up for us.” 

As far as the weather goes, Harkema is hoping his players use that as motivation and a challenge to do well. 

“I want them to be motivated when they hear another player complain about the weather,” he said. “I want them to look at it as ‘go time.’” 

Harkema believes these next two tournaments will test his players’ mental toughness but believes that is a good thing for his maturing team. 

“Mentally speaking, it’s a very fragile time for us right now. But we’re only two tournaments in. It’s not the end of the world,” Harkema said. “The game never changes. You just have to be committed to strategy.” 

The most crucial part of that strategy, he said, is being able to forget the one bad shot or bad hole and be able to refocus on the next. 

“I feel like when they have a bad hole, a few of them either start chasing, or they’re afraid of doing that again, and those are never good spots to be in as a golfer,” Harkema said. “Once you can hit the ball and play the game, that’s when you see the big improvement, when you can just play a different way mentally. They don’t have a caddie and I can’t be with everyone on the course all the time, so they need to get themselves more ready to go. I don’t think we’re that far away from that.” 

Harkema pointed out Blair’s ability to shake off a bad back-nine play in the GRCC meet, where he was +8 with three holes to go, which epitomizes what he wants his players to do during the times they may be struggling.  

“He chipped in on the 16th hole for a birdie, pitched in on a par 5 for a three-shot and parred the last hole to finish out well,” Harkema said of Blair. “He’s learned good things come with patience instead of pushing it, and that’s what our other guys need to learn, too.”