UNDERWOOD VERY COOL CUSTOMER ON THE LINKS
Despite taking up game late, Dracut senior area standout
DRACUT >> Before two years ago, Colin Underwood had never played a competitive round of golf.
Today, the Dracut High senior is a two-time team MVP, and a returning Merrimack Valley Allconference and a Sun All-star selection.
Underwood, 4-1-1 on the season, has a 1-under par 35 round to his credit this fall.
While he’s done great on the links the past two years, his competitive juices have always seemed to get going on the ice rinks.
Last hockey season, Underwood was part of the powerful Dracut/tyngsboro first line, scoring 20 goals and 18 assists and helping the team reach the second round of the state tournament.
Hockey was always his No. 1 competitive and best sport, but it appears as if the two maybe even par with one another. He went from not playing golf to being one of the league and area’s best players.
“Colin decided to come out for the golf team for his sophomore year and he was an impact player right from the very first day,” said Dracut head coach Carol Whiting. “I said to him, ‘Where were you last year’? That first year he started playing in the middle of our lineup right away. He was playing so well he moved into either the number one or two slot and by the second half of the season he was primarily our number one player.”
When Underwood was 5 years old, his father, Anthony, started to teach him the game. The two played at local golf courses quite a bit for several years just for some fun family time together.
Although Underwood was pretty good, he ended up putting the clubs away for several years to concentrate on baseball. Then after COVID took out his freshman year, he decided to start digging for those clubs and try out for the DHS team.
“I really didn’t know what to expect and I was really nervous,” he said. “I didn’t realize that I’d be on varsity. I thought I’d be on the JV team because I didn’t really know how the team was. On the first practice, I shot a 45 and was thinking that was pretty good and there could be a chance that I make it to varsity. All throughout that season, I just kept getting better and better.”
A big part of his improvement came after teaching himself how to take a better swing to avoid slicing the ball.
“All of my shots were going way to the right. I just kept practicing every single day and working on my swing at the driving range,” he said. “I worked by myself for a long time to get my swing just right. My
dad helped me of course, but I never took lessons or anything like that. I started golfing a lot more my junior year compared to my sophomore year. I got a membership at Mt. Pleasant and pretty much played every single day over the spring, summer and fall and went with my friend Ryan Adams, who plays at Chelmsford High.
“I watched a lot of videos and just practiced every day to fix my swing. I just kept doing different swings until my ball didn’t slice anymore. I just needed to figure out a consistent swing.”
That fixed swing has earned him some impressive scores and accomplishments. Last year the twosport captain and honor roll student finished with a 5-7-2 record and had an average
score of two-over par.
At the Division 2 Central Mass. Championship Meet, he placed fourth out of 62 golfers and went on to the state championships and finished in a tie for 25th with an 18-hole score of 78.
“Colin’s just a magician out there. He can get himself out of trouble and still save par when you think this hole is going to be a bogey or a bust and he saves par and I’m just amazed at some of the things that he can do,” said Whiting. “He’s just a fierce competitor. He plays with a lot of passion, which is kind of uncommon in athlete’s his age. He doesn’t get frazzled on the golf course ever. He’s a quiet and unassuming kid, but I’m really impressed with his positive attitude and his self confidence.”
Underwood hopes to continue to play in college and has been talking to the Salem State and Merrimack coaches.