MacDonald challenging himself on MJT Tour

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/06/2017 (2994 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MINNEDOSA — Zane MacDonald’s 10-foot par putt slid right of the hole on the 16th green.

Another bogey.

The 16-year-old wasn’t having the best of days on the greens Friday at his home track, Minnedosa Golf and Country Club.

Granted, the winds were blowing constantly at 40 kilometres an hour, sometimes gusting upwards of 70 km/h on the largely exposed back nine.

After striping a drive down the middle of the 377-yard 17th, MacDonald threw a short iron at the flag. The wind grabbed it — a typical sight on such a cool and wind-swept afternoon — and his approach shot came up 30 feet short.

Then bang!

With a heavy helping of speed, MacDonald rammed his long birdie try off the back of the cup, into the air and down into the hole for his second birdie of the day.

It was hardly the consolation prize the soon-to-be Grade 11 student was looking for, but he took it and headed to the 18th tee still grinding away. One more hole to play.

That mentality of pushing yourself hole after hole regardless of how you’re faring in your round is something MacDonald is learning to embrace more of this season.

Last year, MacDonald played on the Westman Junior Golf Tour, winning the 14- and 15-year-old crown 12 months after falling to Neepawa’s Braden Gillies in the final match.

He could have opted to return to play on the eight-stop regional circuit, albeit in the 16- to 18-year-old division. Instead, the five-foot-eight MacDonald, who finished 11th while representing Westman at last summer’s Power Smart Manitoba Games, elected to try his hand playing a handful of events on the Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour.

MacDonald feels the MJT tournaments provide him with a variety of greater challenges, including the golfers he is battling with.

“Westman is a little more laid back, I think, so the competition kind of varies,” he said. “There are some good golfers in it though and I just figured in MJT it’s a little higher-end competition.”

Playing full stroke-play events, rather than the Westman Tour’s match play format, is another thing MacDonald likes about the MJT loop.

“It makes you grind a little bit more,” he said of stroke play. “It’s tough sometimes but it teaches you the whole game and about course management.”

At the Portage la Prairie Golf Club in mid-May, MacDonald finished 10th in the juvenile boys’ division after rounds of 85 and 80 on the 6,311-yard, par-70 layout.

In his second event on June 17 and 18, he shot back-to-back rounds of 10-over 82 on the 6,470-yard Teulon Golf and Country Club. His 36-hole total of 164 was good enough for fifth place in his age division.

He’s planning to play in two more MJT events this summer, one at the Selkirk Golf and Country Club on July 24 and 25, with the other being held just north of Winnipeg at Bel Acres Golf and Country from Aug. 28 to 29.

And MacDonald has a distinct goal he wants to achieve when he tees it up.

“I think breaking 80 is a goal that’s easily reachable for me,” he said. “I should have broken 80 my second round at Teulon but probably some mental errors after a bad hole. I didn’t recoup and it led to another bad hole.”

When he’s playing up to his standard, MacDonald’s penetrating ball flight off the tee tends to be quite accurate. Accuracy is important for him because it allows for simpler shots into greens on par 4s and par 5s.

“For the most part I’m consistent off the tee, which kind of makes things easy on myself, and then usually my short game is decent,” he said.

However, MacDonald admitted his short game, in particular his putting, has been a bit suspect of late. He’s hoping to see it improve as he prepares to play in his first Golf Manitoba men’s junior championship, which is being held at Rossmere Country Club in Winnipeg from July 10 to 13.

As such, he’s skipping Neepawa Natives development camp on July 10 and 11. MacDonald was a sixth-round pick of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League club in 2016.

The forward spent last season playing in the Westman High School Hockey League with the Minnedosa Chancellors where he put up a team-high 18 goals and was second on the squad with 34 points, while adding 20 penalty minutes in 21 regular-season games. MacDonald added three markers and five helpers in two post-season contests — both losses to the Glenboro-Carberry-Baldur Wildcats.

He is nervous about junior provincials at Rossmere since he has never played in a 72-hole event, but said there have been a few butterflies when he teed ut up in Portage and Teulon.

“Even those MJTs I get pretty nervous when I show up because it is mostly (Winnipeg) kids that play those events so being rural you don’t know everybody but it’s good to get noticed,” MacDonald said.

Minnedosa head pro and general manager Deb Pritchard has certainly noticed MacDonald’s increased attention to his golf game, which includes regular lessons with well-known teaching pro Dave Scinocca.

“He’s a lot more committed to his practice,” Pritchard said. “He spends a lot of time on the range, on the putting green and playing a lot of extra rounds. He’s also a little bit more serious on the practice side versus just strictly playing than he was in the past.”

It helps too, that MacDonald works at Minnedosa. He is in his second year in the pro shop and fourth overall at the club, and wouldn’t have it any other way.

“In the summertime, this is where I spend almost every day because if I’m not working I’m golfing and if I’m not golfing I’m working,” MacDonald said.

Pritchard views MacDonald’s constant presence at the course as helping his determination to improve his game.

“The nice thing in working at a golf course — and working for someone that’s been down the junior competitive road before — I understand the scheduling and working around some of the events,” Pritchard said. “We are very flexible with the schedule, so he can take as much or as little time off as he needs to play competitively and we try and encourage that.

“Also being here, he’s around the atmosphere all the time so it can certainly help in having that drive to be out there to succeed.”

As much as MacDonald loves hockey, and will try to earn a roster spot with the Yellowhead Chiefs of the Manitoba AAA Midget Hockey League next season, golf is his sport of choosing when there’s no snow on the ground.

“I love both sports, but when it comes to summertime that’s kind of when I put hockey on hold and I prefer golf,” MacDonald said.

If he doesn’t make the Chiefs and returns to play with the Chancellors, he’s OK with that and realizes his athletic focus will likely shift to golf and trying earn a post-secondary scholarship with his play on the links.

Regardless, MacDonald is going to keep grinding to try and achieve all of his goals.

» nliewicki@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @liewicks