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