SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Women's golf junior Meghan Shain (MS) booked her schedule full this summer with golf tournaments all over the country. After posting the third-best average on the team last season, Shain hopes making a few small improvements will lead to an even better season for her junior year. SantaClaraBroncos.com (SCB) caught up with Shain to see how her summer training in Bakersfield, Calif. has been going.
SCB: Do you have any big plans this summer?
MS: All my plans for the summer basically revolve around golf. I have some amazing tournaments that I have already been to and some that I am very much looking forward in these next couple weeks.
MS: Normally it is anything inside because it is so hot here and we have horrible air quality. But my favorite thing to do is to get out and run the bluffs that we have. I usually do sprints up them and it is a killer leg workout.
SCB: Are you playing in any tournaments this summer?
MS: Basically one every week. I have already spent time in New York, Pennsylvania and Long Beach, Calif. I just got back from Los Angeles and I'm about to take off in a couple days to Washington. I will also be in South Carolina and Carmel, Calif. for tournaments later on. They really never stop, but it is amazing to get to travel and spend about a week in all these places. I've had some good tournaments already and so I am hoping to carry on my good play into these next couple weeks.
SCB: Is there anything you are trying to work on this summer before season starts up?
MS: I really just want to work on consistency in my game overall, so there are some small technical things that I am trying to clear up in my swing. Especially my putting; that is probably the thing that is the most inconsistent in my game, so spending a lot of time on putting drills and gaining some confidence with the putter. I just got new irons a couple weeks ago so trying to break them in really well before season starts. Another thing that I am working on is becoming a bit of a more aggressive player, to give myself some better opportunities to score on the course. Overall this summer everything has been going really well so not really one thing in particular to work on, just making everything more consistent and hopefully that will show some lower scores.
SCB: Have you set any goals for the up coming season yet?
MS: I always have a goal of lowering my average from the year before by about two strokes, so that is something that I am going to keep going into next year. Also, I would like to get my first collegiate win. I also hope for some more wins for the team, I feel we can make some huge strides this upcoming season and I am hoping to see Santa Clara on a lot of the leaderboards. We really want to make a splash this fall season and improve on our ranking. To put it simply, the goal is just to play good golf - sounds easy right? But everyone on the team is working hard this summer and playing well, so I think we can make a goal of going out there and winning a couple tournaments early in the season.
MS: I try to. My competitive side tends to take over, however, I have a hard time keeping it casual. But when I do get out there with friends it is always a good time and we are always pushing each other to be better, so it is hard work but it is fun work.
