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If you ask Ethan Wempen, last season as a freshman with the Montcalm Community College Centurions men’s golf team couldn’t have gone any worse. 

“Honestly, that was probably the worst golf I’ve ever played. It was the most disappointing ever,” Wempen said. “I was frustrated. I didn’t know what was going on. I hit a wall.” 

Originally from Des Moines, Iowa, Wempen spent much of his high school career at Hartsburg High School before graduating from an online academy. While in Missouri, Wempen became a standout golfer and enjoyed more than a dozen championship golf courses at Lake of the Ozarks. It was there he honed his skill of golf, a sport he played since he was four years old. 

“My brother got me into it. I would watch him play and then I’d be hitting balls in the house until my mom kicked me outside,” chuckled Wempen, 19.  

Wempen admired his brother, Tyler, so much that he developed the same style of swing as him, an unconventional style he calls “mountain golf.” 

“I play very flat,” he said. “My wrists are flat at the top and my swing is completely flat. They say I have no power, but I beg to differ. The whole part of the game is smacking the ball and following it to the hole, and I think I do that pretty good.” 

Wempen saw success at the high school level, and from those accomplishments he got the attention of a few college recruiters. He said when MCC began recruiting him, it was Centurions assistant coach Zack Gascoyne who won him over. 

“A lot of the college recruiters were buttering me up, telling me I could be their No. 1 golfer. But coach Zack, he just told me he really sees me playing up at MCC,” Wempen said. “I listened to him. It was the most professional and non-professional call in my life.” 

After some time passed, Gascoyne and Wempen spoke again, and eventually Gascoyne sealed the deal. 

“His straight-forward talk was great,” Wempen said. 

Wempen joined the Centurions along with five other freshmen. The group helped reload head coach Doug Harkema’s team that was fresh off a conference championship and a trip to nationals, both firsts for the young program. Harkema knew he had a lot of great talent coming in, but he also knew he had to try and help his new players avoid the typical traps of undo pressure they put on themselves to perform at a high level.  

For Wempen, he learned that lesson the hard way. 

“It was all mental,” Wempen said, discussing his freshman season struggles. “People can help you as much as they can, but at some point, it’s on me. I think what I learned is that I have to be myself. I need to be my own version of me.” 

Harkema called Wempen “ultra-talented” and a wizard at the short game and putts. He continued to praise his now-sophomore, going as far as saying he could see Wempen becoming the No.1 player for the Centurions next season.  

“At the end of fall, he was our most consistent player. Then he hurt his back and was down for a month. By the time he got back, our season was almost over,” Harkema said. “I expect him to be a lot better this coming season. He will show up and compete. He knows now what’s in front of him.” 

Harkema calls Wempen one of his most unique players, both for his skills on the course and his character off it, pointing out he likes cooking fish for the team and enjoys his solitude when he goes fishing. 

Wempen, who said he has taken some time off of golfing to recharge, is using fishing as a therapeutic tool to clear himself mentally and to be able to approach the game of golf with a renewed outlook this next season. 

“I have positive and negative thoughts when it comes to golf right now,” said Wempen, who is spending his summer in Michigan. “I can’t be a picture-perfect golfer all the time. But I can be the version I want to be. Right now, fishing is helping me. Fishing is a big part of my life. It’s been a part of our family for a long time. If I can get into my waders and walk 10 miles in the water and having no service, that’s the best thing for me.” 

With first-year experience under his belt, Wempen can focus on his game without the distractions that typically come with newcomers at the collegiate level. Harkema said Wempen didn’t see as much high school competition his other teammates had, so there was a learning curve. Now, he said, it’s just about Wempen being comfortable on the course. 

“Really, I just want to see his best because it’s really good,” Harkema said. “Can we get to the point where that comes out? That’s the goal. He just needs to learn to be more stoic on the course. I felt like he got to that point by the end of last season.” 

Harkema describes Wempen as “happy-go-lucky” off the course, a great characteristic he believes his sophomore needs to express more while he’s competing. 

“His personality is awesome,” Harkema said. “I want to see that more on the course because he can take golf a little too seriously. I think it would bring out more of his best instead of him beating himself up. If he has that positiveness, it will help a ton. 

I hope he doesn’t feel he has to improve anything,” Harkema added. “I know how he plays. He just needs to let his talent come out. If that happens, his scores are pretty darn good. And that helps the team.” 

Wempen said he will ratchet up his practices by July and he knows he will find his hunger again. It will just take a different mindset. 

“I just have to be myself again,” he said. “I have to stick to that routine. It got me this far. If things go as planned, then I’m not too worried about it. I have to expect to just be myself and go play golf and have fun. I have the same expectations as last year. I just have to try and not think about it so much.”