Eye on the Ball: Striving to be as good as he can

From a small island and a little country club, young Jake Card continued a streak that very few clubs in America can match. He joined two former members of Gardiner’s Bay Country Club by qualifying for the United States Amateur Championship.

Rick Southwick qualified three times for the U.S. Amateur and one time for the U.S. Mid Amateur. In 1991, he defeated the tournament favorite, Phil Mickelson. A few years later, Gary Blados qualified for three U.S. Amateur Championships. Not bad when you consider that of all the fine players on Long Island, only three qualifiers for this event are selected each year.

As a senior golfer, Jay Sessa qualified for the U.S. Senior Amateur and won Player of the Year for Long Island three years in a row.  As junior golfers, Chris Holmes qualified for the National Junior Championship, and last year Brian Feinstein played at the Masters in the “Drive, Chip and Putt Championship.”

In the past few years, Jake, a recent graduate from High Point University in North Carolina, has performed unbelievably well in every golf event he entered. The biggest event of them all, of course, is the U.S. Amateur, and for that tournament, he qualified as number one from Long Island.

The tournament was held this past weekend at the difficult and demanding Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. The first two rounds saw 360 qualifiers from all over the world hoping to get into the low 64 players to be entered in the match play segment of the event.

Caddying for Jake was none other than our highway superintendent, his father, Jay Card Jr. Jay has proved to be one of the finest players at Gardiner’s Bay for many years and I’m sure it was a welcome addition for Jake to have him on his bag.

Unfortunately, Jake shot a disappointing 75 for the first round and knew he would have his work cut out for him.

The next day, he played about as well as he could play, but the last I heard, putting is still part of the game. On this particular day, the putts all lipped out. With that, he still managed to have one of the best rounds of the day, shooting a 70. I followed the live scoring on my computer and I noticed that in that round, of the 360 best amateurs in the world, only five players beat Jake by more than two strokes.

Sadly, the 75/70 was still three strokes too high to make the match play portion of the tournament. In golf, in order to win, the putts have to be dropping. Golf pros like to say, “There are only a few days when the putts are dropping and you have to make sure that you are playing golf on those days.”

Jake will have to be patient and hope he is playing in the right event when they start dropping. I would be surprised if he didn’t have professional golf in his future. If he decides to go that route, he has all the ingredients to make it a success.

One day I asked Jake one of my favorite questions: “Why are you playing golf?”

I loved his answer: “Because I would like to see just how good I can get.”

Losing is no fun; it takes a lot out of you. I hope Jake understands that he wasn’t just playing against the guys on Shelter Island, he was playing against the best golfers on the planet. To win, everything must go right on those days.

He knows that he needs every advantage he can get. Few things mean much by themselves, but when you are playing, all the little stuff could add up to close to a 5- percent advantage. That would mean on a fine round of 70, that score becomes a 66 or 67, and over four rounds you save 14 shots. Do you think that would make a difference in winning a tournament?

Some of those things are like good shoes and spikes, gloves, well-fitting clothes, golf balls, knowing the rules, good vision, fitting clubs, good instruction, excellent practice habits, conditioning, food and drink, proper rest and, most of all, keeping your mind fresh and creative.

Jake is bright and up on all this stuff. His clubs are measured professionally to his swing speed and body build. He always has full spikes in his shoes and the best ball for his game. He practices to produce all types of shots and knows the precise distance of all of his clubs. He has a personal trainer for strength and to keep him on a nutritional diet.

Although playing and practicing is a full-time job, every golfer has to be careful not to burn out.

Jake works hard in every department to become a better player. This year he made the decision to be a caddie at the beautiful National Golf Links of America in Southampton. This has always been my favorite course. Jake had the opportunity to make a living there and play this great golf course many times. The National gave him the opportunity to practice reading greens on a course that has the most difficult greens anywhere. For most players, golf is played for fun. For Jake and the many professionals around the world that are constantly striving to become better players, it is a job, and a damn tough one at that.

Congratulations, Jake, and remember, we’ll be watching you.