Jake Birdwell, Minnesota's top-ranked high school golfer, is upping his putting game
SPRING LAKE PARK, Minn. — Don't let the average hacker hear this statement from Spring Lake Park High School senior golfer Jake Birdwell.
"I probably hit my driver like 330-340ish, 330 stock probably," Birdwell said.
The top-ranked high school golfer in Minnesota can bomb it. He won the individual state championship last season. But the reason for his recent ascent is a focus on the weakest part of his game.
"Two years ago I kind of made the change to shift my practice mainly towards putting because I used to just bang balls. I mean, that's the fun part," he said. "I used to just do that, but now I gotta take it a little more seriously, even if it's not that much fun to practice putting, it's what will be best for me, especially in college."
Birdwell is headed to perennial Big Ten golf power Illinois next year. He seeks continual improvement that will hopefully lead to a pro career.
"Recently I've been trying to focus on like not much of score goals and place goals," he said. "Just work on like confidence goals and try to trust in the process, and like trust my swing more than like shooting for a score or shooting to win or to play other people. Just play my own game and play myself and we'll see where that takes me."
With that said, leaving high school with back-to-back individual state titles is the mission.
"I'm planning on that," he said. "But, mean, just gotta trust my game and we'll see where that goes."
