Chipping and Putting with Tim Schaetzel
10/6/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
What a difference a year can make.
No truer words have been spoken than for sophomore and Atlanta native Tim Schaetzel. Like any college freshman, leaving the comforts of home can always have some strange and uncomforting effects. It takes a little time to get used to not having the comforts of a home and the familiarities of your hometown. But what a difference a year can make.
Schaetzel would be the first to admit he did not have the easiest time adjusting to college life and the Michigan winter a year ago. He would even say that on the golf course he was a little wide-eyed at the competition level. However, he grinded his way through that first year and had a solid freshman season. Then things changed over the summer. He relaxed. He missed Ann Arbor. He looked forward to coming back. He was ready to play at the college level fully.
So far, it has shown. After revved up excitement hampered him a little in the opening tournament of the year, he has posted two straight top five finishes in his last two tournaments after shooting five of his last six rounds under par. Along the way, he set a new career-best with a four-under 67 in the first round of the Wolverine Intercollegiate at the U-M Golf Course, which paced him to a new career-best five-under 207 54-hole tournament total.
It appears the first year jitters have been removed as Schaetzel is relaxed and focused both on and off the golf course. He has found a rhythm that he is comfortable with at the moment, only because he is always striving to do better. What a difference a year can make.
Never one to shy way from conversation, Schaetzel sat down to talk about his season so far this season, the success of the Wolverines and his adjustments to college life.
On comparing last season to the start of this season
"The biggest difference is feeling much, much more settled off the golf course. Last year was so busy. I felt like I was just trying to get through everyday and get everything done without really thinking about everything else. Now I feel like I am in a little bit easier situation. I am used to the routine. I am used to playing on the college stage. I also worked all summer really hard on some mechanical things I needed to fix or improve and that has paid off. However, the biggest thing for me has been off the golf course."
On the start of his season
"The first weekend I was a little too excited to get out there. Like I said, I worked real hard all summer, I had had some pretty good scores and I felt like it was my chance to really go out there and shine. I tried to do a little too much. I tried to force things and things just kept going worse. So then I took a few weeks, worked hard, and got into my rhythm at school. I tried not to put too much pressure on myself and just go out there and have fun with it, and it seems to be paying off."
On his increasing confidence
"I have gotten much more confident because of the amount of work I put in this summer. I feel like I am hitting it straighter. I'm hitting it much more consistently. I feel like I have a lot more control around the greens. I am used to playing against other college players now which is a big change from last year. I don't feel so wide-eyed. But it is mainly the fact that I worked hard this summer and I feel like I am starting to hit it considerably better than last year."
On what he worked on this summer
"I started taking lessons from another teacher just to get another eye on my golf swing. I had seen my previous teacher in Atlanta for years. And he [the new teacher] pointed out a couple things to get me more on plane, to hit the ball more consistently and accurately and those changes have made all the difference in the world."
On his new mechanics helping him on Par 5s
"What it has mainly done is it has allowed me, especially when I get short clubs in my hand, to really attacks flag sticks. I know the ball will be going where I hit it and I can focus only on distance control. Since I know the ball is going to be straight and I take out one of the variables and just putting the work in on your wedge shots will really pay off. I am one of the shortest hitters on the team, Par 5s tend to favor the longest hitters, but because I am hitting the ball so straight right now and I am so precise with my wedges, I just feel like if I got less than 100 yards, I can put it inside 10 feet every time."
On the kind of game he plays
"I am more of a short hitter, keep it in the fairway. My motto is 'boring golf is good golf.' If I can just get it on the fairway most of the round, never get in any trouble, I don't have to go long, I know it will be pretty accurate, and I try to sink shots around the greens."
On the team's mental focus changing to contenders this season
"It's been a huge step. Getting yourself from just another player in the field to feeling like you are a contender is one of the hardest things you can do, at least on the golf course. I don't know about the other sports because I haven't played them in quite a while. On the golf course it's such a mental game because you don't have to be fast or athletic necessarily to play, you just have to be tough and willing to grind out things.
"Last year we hoped to play well, this year we know we can play well. Instead of the question of maybe we can go out there, all play well at the same time and feel like we can compete, it's more like we are getting to the next level and when we go out there and don't play our best we can still hang in there.
"Last year in the beginning of the season, we started out very slowly, we were in the very bottom of the fields, and we were playing poorly. For us when we walked off the course thinking we had played decently that day, we never seemed to be higher than the middle of the field. Now, this year, we finish in the middle of the field and we felt like it was a loss.
"That kind of mental step is huge. Even though the results have been remarkably different, when we play tournaments, when we step up there, we are not competing to finish seventh and call that a good round. We know that we are at least going to finish seventh. We have confidence when we stand on the tee as a team that we are the best team there and if we play to our potential, we'll win, and if we don't we can still find a way to compete."
On strength of the team
"First of all think this team can go all the way to the NCAA, we've got guys that can play. Christian (Vozza) is a State Am champion, he has already won a college tournament. I have had a couple of good tournaments so far. We have got eight or nine guys that can really contend to play in the starting lineup every week. So if someone is playing poorly, needs to go home and practice, we have somebody else ready to step in. So I feel like we are much deeper, and the regional is a very realistic goal for this team and getting to the NCAA Championships is obviously a realistic goal as well."
On the internal competition within the team
"The internal team competition is so much better this year than it was last year. Last year, one of the jokes was we had competition because we were all playing so poorly, we just tried to see who didn't play as bad. This year since we know that there are only five guys going to a tournament, if you want to play you better play well. That extra incentive gets you out to the range, it gets you on the practice green. It makes you think to make birdies out on the golf course, and get you focused on taking it lower and that kind of mentality feeds off of itself. So when you start having a little bit of success, the other guys know that they have to take it that much deeper. If somebody does start going the other way and needs a little chance to recharge, fix a few things, or just rest, then you've got a couple good freshmen we brought in that are ready to play, we have a couple guys that didn't play as well last year that are older and are playing great this year for us. So I think that is the largest reason for our success so far."
On how to stick to strategies and game plans on the golf course
"The best way I can explain it is to lead by example. The best way you can help your team is for you to play well. You want to always cheer on your teammates and you want to know that they are trying their best to help you and you are trying to help them. But once you get on the golf course, you can't do anything about them. They can't do anything about you. You have to just play every hole the best you can. So sticking to your game plan tends to be something that you, individually, have to do. Find your way to get a good game plan and then if you can come in with good numbers that in turn feeds the other guys to get confidence. The Wolverine (Intercollegiate) is the best example. We had a couple of guys go real low in the first round and after that everybody started going low because they started feeding off of that positive energy. So if you can create your type of game plan and stick to it, that can give the other guys more confidence."
On winter break between the fall and spring seasons
"I think the winter, while it may hurt for the first two weeks in spring, just getting back into a rhythm, I have always felt that winter gives me a chance to recharge. I work really hard in season and in summer. I practice, I don't even know how many hours a week, and by the end of the fall I am tired and I want to go out with my friends and kind of be a student. I know some of the other guys want to do the same thing. So we continue to practice, we'll work out, we'll go out and hit balls every day, but it wont be with the same intensity and I think that can really recharge a team and after the first few weeks, once you get your sea legs back under you, you can be that much more refreshed in the spring."
On if the winter is a golfer's offseason
"It is more like an offseason. In our sport there are so many individual things going on in the summer, kind of like in basketball, guys play on traveling teams and things like that. There has to be one season where you can kind of recharge your batteries and catch up and get ahead on grades, so we can think about just golf playing in the spring. It just offers you a chance to be well-rounded and I think most of the guys on the team are well-rounded. That can only help your golf if you feel good about things off the golf course."
On if he is ready for another winter
"I am much, much readier for the snow, I know what to expect. The biggest change, when March 1st comes around, I am not going to expect it to be warm [laughing]."
Contact: Tom Wywrot (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
