china connections - Nazareth College

sports|news
Nazareth Golfer Gets
Her Head in the Game
by Joe Seil
Sometimes it happens when she’s eyeballing a treacherous
putt or before she blasts her way out of a green-side bunker.
As a senior on the Nazareth College golf team, Michelle
Van Slyke ’11 still needs to remind herself about the short
memory that is required for golfing success. It is her mental
makeup, she says, that simultaneously serves as her supreme ally and
most vexing nemesis.
“Putting the bad shots behind me and moving on,” she says.
“That has always been something I’ve struggled with and continue
to work on.”
That’s why one of Van Slyke’s proudest
golfing moments came at a tournament last
spring in less-than-ideal weather conditions
at the Gettysburg Invitational in Abbottstown,
Pa. Van Slyke overcame the cold and rainy
elements—not to mention a six-shot
deficit—to shoot a career-low round of 78
to win the tournament by three strokes.
Afterward, though, it was a comment
made by Van Slyke’s father, Jack, that
made the final result feel even better.
“He told me that my routine never
wavered from the first tee to the last
putt,” she recalls. “He didn’t know it
at the time, but that was the biggest
compliment he could have given me.”
Van Slyke says that Nazareth
Coach Marty Coddington
‘06G has been a big help
in improving her mental
approach while also fueling
her competitive fire. Her
focus has veered away
from the numbers on her
scorecard and centered on
clever course management.
“He’s helped me realize that sometimes
making par and bogey is okay,” Van Slyke
says. “Being on the course for five hours on
Saturday and five more on Sunday is a grueling
task and if your head is not in it, you
will not survive no matter what shape your
physical game is in.”
“She’s become a more c o n f i d e n t
player who is able to focus on her game
and no t w o r r y about what the
people she’s playing with are doing.”
marty coddington
“She’s come a long way with that,” Coddington says. “She doesn’t
let one mistake lead to another one. She’s become a more confident
player who is able to focus on her game and not worry about what the
people she’s playing with are doing.”
Van Slyke hopes to post more rounds with similarly low numbers
for the Golden Flyers in 2010–11, building on the foundation she laid
last season. In addition to winning at Gettysburg, she finished in a tie
for first at the William Smith Invitational, finished first at the Nazareth
Invitational at Irondequoit (thanks to a second-round 79), and won the
inaugural Empire 8 Conference Tournament at Cortland.
Van Slyke spent the summer playing regularly at her home course of
Cedar Lake near her hometown of New Hartford and hopes to have
her game fine-tuned enough to complete each round this season in
18 CONNECTIONS | WINTER 2010/2011 www.naz.edu