Back to the game
For Jack Schultz, it’s good to be back on the golf course
GRAFTON – Jack Schultz graduated from the University of Michigan in 31⁄2 years with a degree in computer engineering. He’s intelligent and analytical. But he has a hard time articulating why he walked away from competitive golf three years after being named Big Ten freshman of the year.
He wasn’t burned out, at least not in the classic sense. Maybe he grew a little weary of the structured environment of college golf and the demanding practice regimen. Perhaps he was playing for the wrong reasons. Was there a little self-imposed pressure? Yes, maybe that was it.
He was paired in college tournaments with the likes of Brooks Koepka, Thomas Pieters and Luke Guthrie. Schultz was good, but he wasn’t quite on their level. Was it deflating? Yes, though he had no intention of ever turning pro.
Then there was his battle with the driver yips, when his knees shook as he stood over the ball, when he couldn’t draw back the club because he was so fearful of the result. On the last hole of his final college tournament, he hit 8-iron, 8-iron, 8-iron on a par-5 – and made a 20-foot birdie putt. But it was no fun to play that way.
Maybe it was all of those things. Maybe it was none of them.
Schultz, 26, of Whitefish Bay, still can’t put his finger on it.
“Golf was just something I did,” he says. “And so I did need a break from that. I can’t necessarily remember why I needed time.
There wasn’t one specific thing.”
In the summer of 2011, before his junior year at Michigan, he won the Wisconsin Match Play title and qualified for the U.S. Amateur Public Links and the U.S. Amateur at Erin Hills. He also tied for second at the State Amateur, missing a 4-foot putt on the last hole that would have forced a playoff, and afterward shed tears of … what? Frustration? Disappointment?
“I remember on the back nine I had the double miss,” he says, referring to not knowing whether his shots would veer left or right, a source of anxiety for elite players. “It was not great. I was nervous over my (final) putt and I distinctly remember I was like, ‘I’m just going to hit this so it’s done with.’ ” One year later, he was done. Schultz gave back his scholarship at Michigan his senior year, graduated and took a job in Chicago. Then … nothing. He played no competitive golf for three years.
“I don’t want to be completely negative about my attitude back then,” he says. “I don’t know how to explain it. I don’t want to keep saying it was the wrong attitude. I needed some time off. That’s what it ended up being.”
All of which makes his comeback story that much more fascinating.
Schultz eased back into competitive golf two years ago and has quickly rediscovered his old form. He leads the Wisconsin State Golf Association player of the year standings going into the 116th State Amateur, which begins Monday at the Oconomowoc Golf Club.
He opened the season by losing to Garrett Jones in a playoff at the Badgerland Invitational and then was low amateur at the Dairyland Open. Then he won the Ray Fischer Amateur Championship with a 15-underpar 273 total, won a State Am qualifier with a 4-under 68 at Oakwood Park and won the U.S. Amateur qualifier in Cedar Springs, Mich., chipping in on the final hole to earn medalist honors.
All quite incredible, given that Schultz hadn’t won a single thing in six years.
“Yeah, actually, I am surprised,” he says. “Winning, it’s been interesting to learn how to do it because I don’t think I had won in awhile. There’s a lot of good players and it’s tough to win.”
Schultz took a buyout from his job last year, moved back in with his parents in Whitefish Bay and is still figuring out his next move.
He credits the summer off and more time to work on his game for his resurgence. But he is still fighting through some of his old problems, such as when he struggled to an 83 in qualifying for the WSGA Match Play Championship.
“I had the wrong attitude, which I felt like I had in college, which I’m trying to get rid of,” he says. “It was a bad mentality.”
There are still times when he doesn’t feel comfortable with a driver in his hands, but he has learned to hit a controlled left-to-right fade. When he feels anxious he intentionally hits a big slice in order to take trouble on the left out of play.
He’s the leader in a year of resurgent golfers. Jones and Michael Bielawski, who won the WSGA Match Play title last month, both are reinstated amateurs and are ranked third and fourth, respectively, in the player of the year standings. Schultz will play with them in the first two rounds of the State Amateur.
“It’s going to be the older guys,” Schultz says. “That’s the main thing I like about being back – I know all the guys from growing up. It’s nice to see them again. It’s just fun to be back.”