Jay Green is looking forward to his senior year with the Alma boys golf team, and the Panthers are looking forward to seeing Green perform on the course for what he expects to be his best season.
It’s his fourth varsity season and the early indication is that it will be a great one. He has already broken a school record for nine holes with a 30.
Last year in the Division 3 state finals, Alma finished third as a team. Green was in a four-way tie for fifth with 73 and 77 for a 150. His brother Brett shot 73 and 75 for a 148. Both received all-state honors for their efforts.
Brett is now playing at Tiffin University in Ohio, where Jay will also be going next year.
“It was a dream come true,” Green said of his performance at last year’s state finals. “Last year, we finally made it.”
It was his best season of golf so far. He improved immensely from his sophomore to junior year.
“I’ve grown another few inches, so I’m hitting it a lot longer off the tee,” he said. He added that he’s improved “from learning from my brother, the mental aspect, and playing your way around the course.”
Green isn’t holding anything back in his goals for 2014. “I want to be Mr. Golf for the state of Michigan and the state champ,” he said.
He hopes to average around 72 for 18 holes. He wants to improve his putting. “I had around a 75 average last year,” he said. “I think three strokes [average] is very easy to do.”
The lowest scores in his high school career prior to this season were 34 for nine holes and 70 for 18. Green was confident he could beat those scores this season, and he wasted little time for nine holes.
In mid-April, he shot a 5-under-par 30 at Twin Brooks Golf Course in Chesaning in a TVC Central Jamboree. It was one of the first four matches―two 18-hole and two 9-hole– that he had played through April 22.
“I’m playing phenomenal,” he said. “It’s absolutely incredible how well I’m playing the beginning of this season.”
Green had three birdies and an eagle for his 30.
“I had 13 putts, which is amazing,” he said. “I hit eight of nine greens in regulation.”
Compared to previous early springs, “I’m mentally stronger,” Green said. “I’m confident on every single putt, on every single shot. It’s the mental aspect.”
Green was incredibly busy during the off-season. “[Golf] is all I do during the summer,” he said. “I’m out at the course anywhere from 8:30 or 9 a.m. to 10 at night. That’s my life in the summer. Last year I played 17 tournaments and won nine. They were all very good [tournaments].”
Green considers himself similar to his brother as a golfer. “We both hit very long off the tee,” he said. “We have good short games. I’m sure we can both improve on putting.”
When it comes to putting, “it’s being able to read the greens and having confidence over the putt and in yourself that you’re going to make the putt,” Green said.
His brother has graduated, but Jay still likes this team’s prospects. “We’re pretty young; there’s just myself and a sophomore [Cody Yates] who played last year,” Green said. “Only three of us have been on the varsity team. The next three will have to step it up if we want to [be] conference champs, district champions, regional champs.”
Green said that he and his brother have played golf together practically their entire lives, beginning at the age of 4 or 5. “We love playing together,” Jay said. “Golf is my passion.”
Golf may be his passion, but he also has other interests. He was the No. 1 singles player on the tennis team last fall and made it to the regional final, where he lost to the eventual state champion. He also played basketball. For four years, he was a three-sport athlete.
The individual aspect of tennis helps him prepare for golf, as far as Green is concerned. “It’s the individual game; you’re out there by yourself,” he said. “Even though it’s technically a team sport, you’re playing by yourself.”
Tiffin’s coach is what attracted both Greens to the school. “He’s an amazing guy, a likable guy,” Jay said. “He’s fun to be around. He wants to win.”
Green is getting an athletic/academic scholarship to attend Tiffin, a Division II school.
“I’ll play on the Michigan Players Junior Golf Tour,” Green said of his plans after his high school career ends. “We’ll play a bunch of tournaments this summer.”
Green has been able to work around the long winter. “You’re kind of rough going into the spring season,” he said. “I went down to Okemos to hit in an indoor golf dome.”