Tompkins Weekly

Interview with Lansing High School Golf Standout Nic Whittaker



By Tim Donnelly
ESPN Ithaca

 

Recently on ESPN Ithaca’s Between the Lines, host Tim Donnelly spoke with Lansing High School Golfer Nic Whittaker. Whittaker recently helped his Bobcats team win the IAC Large School Championship. Here is a snippet of that conversation; to hear the full interview, visit ESPN Ithaca’s on-demand PodCenter at ESPNIthaca.com.

 

Tim Donnelly: You won medalist honors for the third straight season at the Class C Sectional tournament. What is it like going into a season knowing that you have to achieve so much, or reach a certain point, just to match what you did the year before?

 

Nic Whittaker: It’s a little intimidating, but each year you’ve got to think you are going to get a little bit better in some aspect of the game and you’ve got to be confident in yourself that even if you don’t achieve what you did last year, if you play better, you’ll have a better all-around year…but coming into sectionals and IACs after winning a few seasons in a row, it just more like you want to have fun with the guys that you’re around ‘cause, for me, it was my senior year and I’ve been around my teammates for a while and some of the other kids from other schools. Even if I didn’t win, I know I’d had good competition and a good time, but it definitely wracks your nerves a little bit know that you had the expectation to live up to.

TD: This is a little bit of a tough interview for me because I am a casual golfer, and when I see people that play really well, I get frustrated, because I can’t figure it out. It’s one of those games that is extremely frustrating. When you look at your career, being a senior like you just mentioned, what is one way you think you developed or improved from your freshmen year or maybe the first time you won some of these awards to now?

 

NW: Throughout high school, the main part of my game that has developed has been the mental aspect, keeping my composure throughout the round. When I was a freshman I used to get really frustrated with myself and it kinda mentally just killed me. Then, as I got older, I started to realize that if I kept my composure and didn’t take everything so seriously mentally that I’d be able to hit better recovery shots.

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Between the Lines with Tim Donnelly can be heard weekdays 4-6 p.m. on ESPN Ithaca (1160 AM/107.1 FM) and at ESPNIthaca.com.

 

 

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