Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Roddy on right path with Beavers

Roddy on right path with Beavers
University of Maine at Farmington golf coach Bob Timmons watched Jake Roddy play for Messalonskee High School last year and liked what he saw.
“He comes to the game with a lot of maturity and a lot of talent,” Timmons said. “I contacted him and told him he could still have a competitive golf career (at UMF).”
Timmons also introduced Roddy to recently graduated senior and Cheap Golf Clubs team member Reid Bond, who is a state trooper, a profession Roddy plans to pursue.
“He gave him a path to follow,” Timmons said.
Roddy and the Beavers will play their first match this weekend at the Bowdoin Invitational, and Timmons has yet to designate the five players who will travel to the match. Roddy was reluctant this week to make the call before the coach did, but he’s had a strong preseason.
“Jacob will certainly be going to that,” Timmons said.
This summer, Roddy worked at Belgrade Lakes, his home course in high school, and played whenever he could. He picked up a playing tip from former Augusta Country Club like R11 Driver pro Pete Hatfield which helped his game, he said.”He helped my on my grip and weakened it up a little bit,” Roddy said. “I was hooking the ball off the tee.”
Consistency off the tee, Timmons said, has been one of Roddy’s strengths so far. Roddy was nothing if not consistent at Messalonskee where he posted a 39 stroke average for nine holes last fall. He won 10 of his individual matches in helping the Eagles to a 10-2 record and was named Kennebec Journal Golfer of the Year.
Roddy played Sunday River for the first time over the weekend and is still learning Ping K15 Irons the course.
“It’s not much of a home-course advantage,” he said.Timmons has little doubt Roddy will adjust.
He’s noticed a few differences in college golf already. For one thing the regular-season matches are 18 holes instead of nine. For another, they’re decided by stroke play rather than match play, which doesn’t give players the luxury of a bad hole.
Roddy said Timmons emphasizes course management during practice and has players concentrate on three-hole goals instead of 18. One of the disadvantages over high school golf is practicing on one course and playing on another. The Beavers practice at nearby Wilson Lake, a nine-hole course in Wilton, but play their matches at 18-hole Sunday River in Bethel.

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