University of Tennessee Athletics
Catching Up with David Holmes
September 11, 2009 | Men's Golf
Sept. 11, 2009
BY CHRIS WHITE
UTSports.com
David Holmes enters his senior season with the Tennessee men's golf team coming off a year in which he shot a career best average round of 72.67.
Before leaving for the Vols' first tournament of the year Friday at the Carpet Capital Collegiate in Rocky Face, Ga., Holmes sat down for this Q&A.
Last year you earned All- America honors at the NCAA Championships. What kind of work have you been doing over the summer to keep improving your game?
I've been working really hard on my short game, kind of the same stuff I did all last season to try to kind of model this season after last season. I haven't really changed anything. I've been working with my swing coach and our Tennessee coaches to try to get better mentally with short game and stuff like that.
What is the best part of your game and what do you need to work on?
I'm kind of an all-around player. I don't have one really good strength or one really bad weakness, it's kind of all around. I would say my mental game has kind of where I've made my stride. I've been working with Joe Whitney some on making good decisions and stuff like that. I think making one or two better decisions around is where I got that shot.
You're from Knoxville, was coming to Tennessee a foregone conclusion for you or were you recruited elsewhere?
I wouldn't say conclusion, it was more of a hope, I guess. I knew that I wanted to come here, then I came on a visit here and then I visited some other places and this was by far the best one that I could have chosen from. And, Tennessee football is a big reason I came too. I wanted to go to a school with big football and this was the biggest one.
In competitive play, what is one of the best shots you've ever had and what's one of the worst?
I would say at SEC's last year, on a really tough par-4 uphill, it's about 460 yards into the wind, it's one of the harder holes down at Sea Island where we play, and I hit a bad drive off to the right. It was about about 250 uphill into the wind with the back pin and I remember hitting a 3 wood this year to about 2 feet and making birdie, so that's one of the best shots I've ever hit under pressure. One of the worst shots... I've hit a lot of bad shots. I don't even know where to start, I've missed some short putts here and there that hurt pretty bad.
Who is your favorite golfer and why?
Freddie Couples, for sure. He just kind of a cool, calm relaxed kind of guy. He's really fun to watch, he's got a cool swagger to him. He's done a lot of cool things in his career, he's a veteran out there.
Where does golf play in to your future? Is this your last year of playing competitively?
Just for school. I have an extra semester of school left, so I don't know if I'm going to turn pro when I graduate or if I'm going to turn pro this summer. We'll have to see how the year plays out, but I'm definitely going to end up turning pro and doing the Hooters and Nationwide (Tours) and all that kind of stuff and see where it goes.
When you hit a bad shot and get angry, are you a club thrower?
I was when I was a kid, for sure. I figured out in college you can't do that. First of all you'll lose a stroke, and that's a bad thing, you can't have that kind of bad habit. There are times I want to, but I've figured out that's not a good idea. Once you throw one or two clubs, it screws the rest of your round up, so I figured out that holding back those club throwing feelings was a better way to go.
How do you deal with a bad shot, then?
I'll give a little bit of a reaction to myself, but I tend to be pretty calm out there. Freshman year, I was a lot worse than I am now, so I've kind of matured a little bit. So I just hit a bad shot and say, 'OK, here's what I did wrong' and think about it for a few seconds, but then it's off to the next shot. You put it behind you and don't even think about it or let it affect your round at all.
Who or what got you in to golf?
Neither one of my parents played, and no one in my family actually played. They would take me out to the golf course when I was a little kid, and I would hack around and I enjoyed it. Then some of my buddies started playing at the par-3 course at Concord (Park). I started playing when I was 10 or 11, and started really loving it and enjoying it. I started taking lessons with Randy Wiley when I was 11 and he got me really excited about it and I've been working with him for 10 years. I would say him, my friends and my parents a little bit. I just had a natural knack for golf, I guess.
Your season starts Friday in Dalton, how excited are you about that?
Very excited. It's one of the better fields we play all year. It's an unbelievable golf course, it's really nice. Our team is really excited about this year. I've been here for four years, and I think this is the best team we've ever had so we're definitely shooting for a win. We're pretty excited about it.
Players Mentioned
