After coming into his freshman year with a new coach and spending his senior season injured, graduate student and golf player William Meyers is ready to finish out his time with the university in a strong way.

When Meyers began his career, he was the only American on the team. This year, the team is all American players. Meyers elaborated on how learning from foreign players affected him.

“When I first got on the team, I remember I was the only American on the team, so first I had to adjust to foreign language and stuff,” said Meyers. “The two or three really good guys, Lawrence Allan and Paul Obermann, kind of took me under their wing, and they were all playing really good golf at the time. So, they kind of showed me the path, and then my sophomore year, I had a really good year.”

After a successful sophomore year, Meyers was unable to replicate his successes the next year, but shared that he was still able to learn a lot from that time.

“It was me and Joris, but I had played a little bit better, from the previous year, so I was kind of the captain,” said Meyers. “I did not play very good that year and it was kind of a good learning point, because I thought I had it all figured out and I really didn’t, and then, as I kept going on and on, I kept learning new things from other guys I played golf with, and kept learning more and more about golf.”

After spending his senior year redshirted due to catching the West Nile virus, with a broken thumb also prolonging his absence, Meyers has returned for his last year of eligibility as a graduate student.

Meyers shared how those setbacks delayed some of his plans post-graduation.

“Originally, I thought I would graduate and then go and try to play pro, but then I took a year and a half off unexpectedly, so that kind of halted plans a little bit,” said Meyers. “I’ve been back the past few months working really hard at it, trying to make up for the lost time.”

While his absence postponed his plans, Meyers explained what his options are after this season.

“I’m not sure exactly what I’m going to do yet, if I’ll finish grad school and then go pro, or maybe if I have a really good season or semester, I’ll just go pro this summer,” said Meyers. “Just going to have to see how things fall in place.”

Jake Narro, head golf coach at the university, explained that while the physicality of golf is not demanding, the mental side of the game can be.

“Golf is a calm game, and also there’s a lot of time in between the physical act,” shared Narro. “The physical activity of hitting a golf ball takes two seconds, and then you’ve got plenty of time between the next shot to think negatively. Your thoughts could start, and for 10 hours to be able to hold your concentration for that long, is quite a challenge.”

As Meyers got older and received more responsibility as the team’s captain, his role also changed on the team. He shared what helps him aid younger players with the mental side of the game.

“When you’re out on the course and you hit one ball way left and one ball way right, and another one you hit it different, and when you’re on the course and you have to hit it over water or around a tree or something, you kind of have to go through that experience to know what it feels like, like what’s going through your mind, what it feels like on your body,” commented Meyers.

Narro shared that he thinks the example Meyers sets encourages the rest of the team to strive to be better, and also elaborated on the other ways the veteran player contributes.

“William brings first of all his maturity, and second of all definitely his work ethic,” shared Narro. “His example that he sets, and he’s a veteran, he’s our best player. So when you get your best player to be all in, the rest of the team kind of falls in line a little bit.”