Shingler, a member at Evergreen Country Club in Haymarket, was the last mid-amateur to buck the trend, and he did so by taking out University of Virginia player Ji Soo Park 3 and 2 at The Virginian.
“ It was a difficult match,” Shingler said.“ Ji Soo was a great player, and I knew if I didn’ t play well that morning and afternoon for 36 holes, he would take the championship. He played pretty well. If I recall, he may have been disappointed in a couple of putts. But all in all, the point is, these college kids, they’ re playing good golf by the time the state amateur rolls around because they will have just finished up their seasons.
“ The mid-ams, a lot of us, we have jobs and families. We have a lot more going on, whereas the kids in school pretty much have to worry about their studying and playing golf. In that respect, they have a little bit of an advantage.”
With practice time limited, Shingler said he finds himself spending most of his time working on his short game before working his way into tournament mode.
“ Sometimes I’ ll spend all of my two or three hours in the shortgame area, without even touching an iron or a wood, hitting shots, or going out on the course to play at all,” he said.
For the mid-ams, non-VSGA player rankings events provide
a great opportunity to try to get one’ s game in order before the Amateur Championship begins. Case in point, Shingler engaged in a battle with Jacksonville State University’ s Thomas Lawton in the 2015 Fox Puss Invitational at Boonsboro Country Club in Lynchburg before falling short five holes into a sudden death playoff.
That experience paid off six weeks later when he finished second in stroke-play qualifying at Farmington.
“ We’ re fortunate,” Shingler said.“ Virginia has a lot of great opportunities. By the end of April, there’ s a tournament you can play in just about every week. I make sure I have a handful of tournaments that I’ ve played in before the state amateur starts.”
Interestingly enough, the 103rd playing of the Amateur will be at the home course of a college program, Virginia Tech. Though River Course hosted the Virginia-West Virginia Team Matches in 2014, the venue is the home of a VSGA championship event for the first time. That doesn’ t mean the
Jake Mondy, who grew up in Blacksburg, won two VSGA Amateur titles during his time as a player at Auburn University.
“ I make sure I have a handful of tournaments that I’ ve played in before the state amateur starts.”
— SCOTT SHINGLER staff at the Radford track doesn’ t have experience in hosting big-time events, as the NCAA East Regional was contested there in 2011.
“ There’ s not going to be a whole lot of difference, as far as my prep work goes,” said Mark Cote, River Course’ s director of golf course maintenance.“ I would say that the course is a little more mature right now. We’ re coming out of a couple of decent summers, so we have a lot more coverage in the turf. Right now, it’ s looking like it’ s going to be a pretty good conditioned course when they get here.”
As for the test River Course will provide, it couldn’ t be more different than what players faced in 2015 at Farmington, a shorter, tighter course where success was predicated on shot placement rather than pure power.
The longer hitters will have an advantage in Radford, for sure, but that won’ t give competitors a free pass to spray the ball everywhere off the tee. The rough, featuring a mix of bluegrass and fescue, is expected to be grown out to 2½-3 inches. The New River is in play on several holes, and there are areas of natural tall grass that won’ t be mown during the course of play.
Huge offered an assessment of the Hokies’ home track:
“ It really depends on how much they get the rough up. If they don’ t grow the rough up that much, I would put the advantage on the guys who can hit it the furthest. … It will be a ton different from Farmington.”
Chris Lang is the editor of Virginia Golfer magazine.
MONDY: SCOTT K. BROWN; SHINGLER: VSGA
18 V IRGINIA G OLFER | M AY / J UNE 2016 vsga. org