Confident Macdonald Ready As CU Men Set For NCAA West Regional
May 04, 2018 | Men's Golf, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — It wasn't that long ago that Colorado golfer Ross Macdonald found himself questioning his ability in the game he loves.
"It was hard," Macdonald said. "I went through probably three or four months of struggling, the most I've ever struggled with golf. It was uncomfortable, to say the least. I wasn't comfortable with what I was working on, I wasn't comfortable with the way I was playing … It was just incredibly frustrating."
There even came a time, he admits, when "I wondered if golf was for me. That was really difficult because it is a game I really, really love to play."
But with the help of CU's coaches and his family, Macdonald faced down the tough times and emerged with his game — and confidence — intact.
The result has been nothing short of outstanding. The redshirt sophomore two weeks ago fired four straight rounds in the 60s to finish with a 12-under par 272 and finish tied with senior teammate Yannik Paul for second place in the Pac-12 championships.
It was by far his best showing as a collegiate golfer, and an indication that enduring the difficult time paid major dividends.
"I think it was necessary to go through that period," said Macdonald, who played his high school golf at Denver's Valor Christian. "I think every good golfer goes through that at one point in their career. You learn that you're going to have times when you face adversity and you need to learn how to get through it. It made me stronger and helped me learn where I needed to go to get better and where I don't need to go. Even though it was the hardest time in my life, it was also probably one of the most beneficial things that could happen to me."
It's hard to argue with the outcome. After not playing for the team all spring, Macdonald caught fire over the last month, putting together three straight top-10 finishes as an individual. That was enough to earn the sixth and final spot on the Buffs team that traveled to Rolling Hills in California for the Pac-12s.
There, he shot 69-69-67-67—272 to help CU to a second-place finish, just four strokes behind USC. It was Colorado's highest conference tournament finish since 2009, when the Buffs finished second in the Big 12; and Macdonald and Paul became the Buffs' highest conference tournament finishers since 1994, when Bobby Kalinowski won his second of back-to-back Big Eight titles.
"It was incredible — a little bit surreal," Macdonald said. "I really believe it was a breakthrough moment for me. I've always done very well in-state, but I've never had that breakthrough moment. I felt like it was that first time where I've come out on a big stage nationwide, in that big of a tournament, and competed at a high level against some of the best amateurs in the world. The Pac-12 Conference is loaded with talent and I felt like I was up there."
It's not as if Macdonald hasn't played well before on a big stage. He is a two-time winner of the Colorado Golf Association Junior Stroke Play competition, and last summer he won the CGA's Western Chapter Championship in Grand Junction. He also had a solid freshman season with the Buffs, recording a pair of top-10 finishes in 2015-16 while finishing with the seventh-best stroke average for a freshman (74.44) in program history.
Macdonald then decided to redshirt after his freshman year to work on his game and also get a little ahead in school. The strategy didn't seem to affect his performance, as he won the CGA Western Chapter title last summer.
But last fall, he started to feel some hitches in his game and it began to play with his mind.
"I let it get in my way when I had a bad hole or hit a bad shot," he said. "I would get frustrated and people around me could tell I was frustrated. That just carried over. I would make a mistake and then I would follow up with another one."
Macdonald then began spending more and more time working on his swing and technical details — to the point, he said, that the over-analyzation harmed instead of helped his game.
"I tried to make substantial changes which now I don't think were necessary," he said. "The way I went about it was uncomfortable, to say the least. But I finally figured out you don't need to make substantial changes when you get to this level. You just need to do what works for you."
CU head coach Roy Edwards and assistant coach Pat Grady helped guide Macdonald to that realization.
"Ross is one of the hardest workers we have," Edwards said. "But every player who's a really hard worker, one of their faults can be they get really technical and really exacting. Golf's not that way. There's a little bit of a leap of faith you have to have in golf. We just brought that to his attention so his hard work was a little more effective."
Macdonald said Edwards has a "reminder" that he uses periodically that is a major help.
"Whenever I go through those times where I get a little too mechanical, Roy will ask me, 'Are you playing golf or are you playing golf swing? There's a big difference,'" Macdonald said with a laugh. "I'll say, 'OK, I'm playing golf swing,' and he'll look at me and say, 'OK, let's play golf.'"
Now, Edwards said, Macdonald is playing the game without overthinking the process.
"Golf is an athletic move," Edwards said. "To play well, you have to let your body react with your eye-hand coordination and trust your work. When you think about things too much you can't be an athlete and react. It's like the Major League pitcher who is thinking about where his arm and body and hips and elbow and release point need to be. Next thing you know he's throwing into the dugout at 65 mph. But when he's not thinking of all those things and reacting, he's firing a strike in there at 100 mph. That's what it's like a little bit for golfers who play 'golf swing' and not golf."
Macdonald has certainly been playing golf down the stretch, a streak he hopes to continue next week when the Buffs travel to Stockton, Calif., for the NCAA West Regional. It will be CU's sixth straight regional appearance.
His coaches believe that if he can continue the mindset he had in the Pac-12 tournament, he and his Buffs teammates will be in good position to contend for a top-five finish and advance at the NCAA Finals.
"What was amazing about Ross at the Pac-12s — and this might sound weird — is that he didn't do anything anything spectacular," assistant coach Pat Grady said. "He just placed the ball in the right spot and didn't make big mistakes. That's the biggest compliment I can give him. He did nothing spectacular, nothing he can't do on a regular basis — and he finished second. It looked like a professional out there, just moving from hole to hole."
Macdonald said he and his teammates are taking plenty of confidence into the regionals.
"Golf is all confidence," he said. "If you have a lot of it, it makes the game a lot easier. It doesn't matter how hard the course is, doesn't matter how windy it is, you're able to compete at a high level. That's been the biggest thing for me, playing my game and being confident while doing it. After the Pac-12s, I think all of us feel like we can go out and compete at a high level."
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
Players Mentioned
