Jack’s aiming for the pinnacle

GAINING a scholarship to play golf at university in America is one thing, but once you’ve earned your degree and that opportunity ends, what do you do next?

For the likes of Tiger Woods it was simple, you go straight onto the PGA Tour and start winning Majors.

For the rest, the mere mortals amongst us, the task ahead isn’t quite so simple, nor is it easy.

And that’s what Dungannon’s Jack Madden is finding out as he takes his first, fledgling steps in the pro ranks after graduating from Arkansas Stage University in late Spring.

The 23-year-old enjoyed five years in America, first at Oklahoma City University before moving to Jonesboro, where he was a regular for the ‘Red Wolves’ men’s golf team.

But now, having moved across State to Fayetteville where his girlfriend Abigail Edwards is based at the University of Arkansas, Jack is planning for a future on the fairways away from the USA’s collegiate system where all he had to think about was his game.

Now, he has logistics to take into account – travel plans, accommodation, etc – but with a hugely supportive family behind him, a lot of that additional stress is being taken out of his hands as dad Paul, mum Edel and brother Danny have taken on a lot of the organisational side of things.

That means Jack’s main focus can remain on his game, which he will need to be in top shape for if he’s going to carve a career out of it on ‘Tour’ – which ever ‘Tour’ that may be.

“It’s been a big change, coming out of the university system after five years and moving four and a half hours across state, joining a new golf club, The Blessings Club, which I had to semi-interview for,” he explained.

“It’s different, travelling by yourself, having to organise things, but my family is helping me out very well. My brother is doing a fair bit of the administrative work and my mum is helping him too. They are handling the bookings and making sure the organisation is there so I can play the golf really.

“What I was always told is that there’s a lot more goes into professional golf than just playing golf and if you can keep it to all you have to do is turn up on the tee on time, it’ll make things a little bit easier.”

Since leaving Arkansas State, he’s had a taste of the cut-throat nature of professional golf where everyone is good, exceptional in fact; where nothing but your best will do round in and round out.

“Everyone is a very, very good golfer who is capable of shooting 65 on their day, there are no hacks!,” he observed. “In professional golf, your worst score has to be 70/71 on tournament week. I found if you’re averaging in and around 70, that will keep you going.

“Your worst score during a tournament has to be around that but you also need to be capable of throwing in 66s and 67s, it’s a different calibre.

“You also have to be able to build scores. For example, at my last tournament, I pared the first and then got five birdies in a row to lead and I kind of just hung around there. It would be really beneficial to be able to push on to 8, 9 or 10 under-par, rather than just hanging around because if you can put a really low one in there, it takes the pressure off and you can relax.

“But that’s the biggest thing I’ve noticed, there are no bad players and the ones who will move forward are the ones who can do that.”

He certainly discovered that during his Challenge Tour debut in France where he led on -3 after nine holes of his maiden professional event before missing the cut, which has given him an insight into the mental toughness needed to succeed on tour.

And it’s a lesson he’s learned, having led the opening round of the DP World Tour [formerly European Tour] Q-School in England a couple of weeks ago with five birdies in a row propelling him up the leaderboard.

“It’s the self-belief that you know you’re good enough,” he explained. “Even if you’re coming down the last five or six holes and you need four or five birdies, to know you can do that and believe you can.

“I’ve done that in amateur golf but [at the DP Tour Q-School] it was the first time in a professional environment that I’ve seen that I’m capable of doing things like that, which is nice to know that you have it in your locker.

“It means you’re not feeling under pressure, you’re not having to change your game or approach, you can let things happen. If you go out to shoot 65, usually it’s not going to happen. You need to let it happen, so that is the main thing I’ve learned so far.”

His maiden Challenge Tour performance may have acted as a wake-up call for the Tyrone man, who missed out on a DP Tour card by just six shots just two weeks ago. And next week he will take part in the Korn Ferry Tour Q-School in Texas where there is also the chance to earn a place on the main PGA Tour. And, he has also secured a place in the Asian Tour’s Q-School in January in Thailand, but he’s hoping not to need that.

“There’s four stages of qualifying for the Korn Ferry Tour [one step below the main PGA Tour] and they are actually giving out PGA Tour cards this year, so you need to get through the four stages to achieve that,” he explained.

“You just need to take a shot at a time and see where you end up and my game is in a good place and I’ve learned a lot over the last few weeks in Kansas and England, so it should all work out rightly.

“Hopefully I’ll get the Korn Ferry Q-School sorted, which has 10 PGA Tour cards on offer, so if I can do that or even get on the Korn Ferry Tour I wouldn’t be going to Thailand.

“If I don’t get on that, then the plan is to go to Thailand in the middle of January because it gives me options but I’d rather stay in America because there are more opportunities throughout the course of the year. That would be the plan, to stay there as long as I can.”

Regardless how the next few weeks pan out, Jack is playing the long game. He knows players like Woods, Rory McIlroy, and Ludvig Aberg are the exception, rather than the rule. He realises a patient approach is needed and it’s one he’s prepared to take in order to make his dreams become reality.

“The plan is to get onto one of the pro tours,” Jack confirmed. “I know I’ve played year two golf already and if I can lower my average by about two shots per round I’ll be getting better results.

“But there’s absolutely no pressure on me. We [as a family] sat down when I decided to turn professional and looked at it as a a long-term project because I’m not one of those exceptional players who’s going to go straight onto Tour from college, which some people think is going to magically happen.

“There are players who average around 72 in college, like I mainly did, but to be a PGA Tour player you need to average 69 on any golf course, so I’m in absolutely no rush.

“We have a good process set in place. We took the summer to get our feet wet, as they say, and now I know what I need to do to get to a certain level and it’s only a matter of time because we’re putting the right kind of work in.

“It’s about being patient with it and keep doing the good things and I’ll come out on the right side of it eventually.”