Lachy Barker on fire in USA

In August, current Club Champion, Lachy Barker, moved to the USA on a golf scholarship to Iowa State University.  He has since represented his college in four events, his best finish outright 3rd in the most recent event, the best finish by anyone on his team this season.  He currently has the second best stroke average on his team.

Lachy was kind enough to write up the following about his time in the States.

Hi Everyone,

Seems like I have only been gone for a number of weeks but it has been months already as I have been settling into college and the hectic new lifestyle that I will need to embrace.

So far I have had the pleasure of getting to know all my new team mates, getting used to being back at school and playing 4 fall events for Iowa State.  Its been a blast but time has flown by.  My new schedule lacks a lot of the free time that I used to take for granted and this has been good for my time management and productivity, but I would love a bit more down time in my life which will come as winter approaches and golf is put on hold for a few months.  I will get the opportunity to enjoy the college experience as they say!  

As far as golf is concerned over here, I have played every event that the team has played as a ‘Freshman’ which is a good start.  There are 9 players on our squad and only 5 spots on the team, so there is pressure in everything you do way before tournament golf starts in order to make the team.  So far I have played 2 events in Wisconsin and 2 in Illinois.  I have had some decent results, finishing T14th in my first event, T30th in my second event, T6th in our 3rd event (played at Erin Hills, 2017 US Open venue) and 3rd in our final event.  It was great to see some improvement throughout the season and, apart from a 4 hole stretch of 5 over par in our second event, I was very pleased with my start to college golf.  Those are just results however and behind the scenes there is a lot of work going in.

A standard week consists of:

• 20 hours of scheduled golf practice
• Individual practise
• 3-4 strength & conditioning sessions
• Daily stretching
• A weekly massage
• Student athlete volunteering for the college
• A full class schedule
• Travelling/missing school when we have a tournament
• And as much socializing as I can manage

Its a lot to handle but I’m doing my best and enjoying the ride. 

I’m looking forward to the journey that is just getting started over here but in saying that can’t wait to get back home to Glenelg over Christmas to enjoy the Adelaide summer.

See you soon and good golfing!

Regards
Lachy

Click here to follow Lachy’s progress

Lachy, we wish you all the best and look forward to hearing from you upon your return!