Sometimes changing one's perspective can make all the difference in the world. Certainly, this seems to be the case with the 1996 Yale men's golf team.
Ever since returning from Scotland, the men's golf team has been on a tear. One weekend they dusted off the Princeton Tigers and the Harvard Crimson to win the H-Y-P championship, and they come back the next week to win the 19-team Yale Invitational.
Leading this charge has been Brian Pierce, SM '96, whose heroic exploits have been key to the Elis' success. In the H-Y-Ps the senior shot a 73 to win the title, and he took second in the Yale Invitational, losing the championship by a stroke in a playoff.
The H-Y-P championship was his first career victory, and despite this personal accomplishment, Pierce's focus was on the team. "That victory meant a lot to me just because it helped our team beat Harvard and Princeton. And that's pretty big because right now they are our two biggest rivals," he said.
Pierce's hot streak can be credited not to a magic grip or a new ball, but to good old fashioned practice. Pierce said that he owes much of his success to the trip abroad. "The trip to Scotland helped a lot. I mean, we were playing 36 holes of golf each and every day. I really think that has a lot ot do with how the team is playing right now," he said.
Despite his recent successes, Pierce is not ready to rest on his laurels. When asked about his goals for the rest of the season, he responded with a short list. "Very simply...to help my team win the Ivy title next week. To help my team qualify for Nationals the next week. And as well as we're playing right now, I'd like to help the team do well at Regionals," he said.
Despite the fact that golf is thought to be very much an individual sport, Pierce's focus never really leaves the team. He has the remarkable ability to mention "the team" in response to almost every question. "Sure, golf is an individual sport, but it's not at Yale. The only championships that mean anything here are for the team," he said.
This season the Bulldogs have torn apart each and every opponent, and, more imporantly, played consistently each week. In a game where consistency on the links distinguishes the great golfers from the good golfers, Yale is definitely feeling the effects of training over spring break on some of Europe's toughest courses. If current trends can show us anything, Pierce and his buddies might soon well have a championship that means a lot.
-by Charles Riely
Copyright 1996, The Yale Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.
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