January 30, 2003
| Senior captain Shuan Helmle sat down with AggieAthletics.com to discuss the upcoming spring season for the Men's Golf team, along with his personal growth as a golfer, and the importance of team chemistry when playing team golf. Heading into the spring give some analysis on where the team is now and the goals it has for the rest of the season.
Our main goal is to win the national championship. We definitely have the depth and we are moving in the right direction. We had a great fall and for the spring we are just trying to get off to a good start. We leave for Hawaii in two weeks. We are gearing up for that, and we are trying to take it one tournament at a time. Throughout the spring we face our district teams a lot, so we definitely have to do good against them. Our first goal is to get to regionals, then from there to nationals. Right now we are in good position, and we determine our own destiny. If we play good golf we should be fine.
What aspect of your game is really solid right now, and what part do you put in extra work for?
As far as lacking goes it has to be my short game, as far as chipping and bunker play. Putting is by far my strongest part of my game along with my ball strike. If I can just get that short game going and bunker play, and get up and down when I need to in those situations I should be in great shape. Run us through a day of an Aggie Golfer.
If it is on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday my alarm goes off at 5:30 and I am at Netum Steed at 6:00 a.m. I workout until 7:15, come back, grab some breakfast, go to class, get out at 11:00 a.m. Then I am at the golf course at noon, there until dark, go to study hall, come back home, maybe socialize, watch a little T.V. with my roommates, and do it all again the next day. Describe the chemistry of the team and how important it is to have good chemistry on an NCAA golf team.
It is extremely important. Coach Higgins did a great job at the end of the fall. He took us to a ropes course where we developed a good sense of team unity. The guys that travel, we already had a good solid bond formed, but the guys that are at home don't get to experience that when they aren't on the road, but it is good to have that now back at home. We are starting to develop relationships as far as getting to know each other off the golf course and I think that is very important. What is the most exciting aspect of team golf at the NCAA level?
Just being in the hotels, traveling with the team, helping each other out. Golf is an individual sport, but it is great to be able to play as a team and to pull for one another and to have guys pull you up when your down and for you to pull them up when they are down. Team play is something you only get to experience once, and this is my last semester to do it and I am ready to get everything out of it I can this last semester. You transferred from Sam Houston State, discuss the experience of playing golf for Sam and how it prepared you for golf at A&M.
It was good. I always knew I would play golf at A&M. To be honest with you, I didn't have the skills to play when I was a freshman out of high school. I took up golf late, and not a lot of people in my community played. I got to Sam and it was just will that got me here, and I was just determined. I recommitted myself to practicing and got a lot better. No one in my hometown would probably believe that I am here right now. Is there one course in the area that you can step on at anytime and shoot lights out?
I would say Briarcrest more than Pebble Creek. I tend to play a lot better at Briarcrest than Pebble Creek. I have a lot more confidence there and the greens are a little better. It works to my advantage when I can hit the greens and rely on my putting. In your years of playing golf, is there a course that you just can't figure out?
There is a golf course called DeerWood in Kingwood, TX. It is my favorite golf course to play for that reason. I love a challenge. The night before I play there I can see all the different holes that are going to challenge me, so I have to mentally prepare for them. What was your proudest moment in your golf career?
In Rhode Island this semester when we went to play in a tournament. Our team was competing for first. We were in the last group and we all had played great golf. I had started off so bad, I hit my first shot on the opening hole on the last day out of bounds, took double on the first and I bogeyed the second hole, then I came back and shot 71. Our whole team was gathered around the scoreboard and we had thought we had it won. Everyone was giving each other high fives and didn't want to say anything, we were kind of nervous about it. I believe Michigan State came in and beat us by one or two shots. But it was the fact that we were there and we tasted victory, yet we didn't get it. The fact that our whole team was with each other, it was a feeling that even though we lost, we didn't lose. It was neat because it gave us a little taste of what victory would be like. I have never been on a team that won. Individual winning is fun, but it is nothing like the team experience. Hopefully, this spring we will taste victory a lot. Soft or hard spikes?
Soft. Golf Cart or walking?
Cart. Custom ball marker or just use a quarter?
Quarter. |
