Owen Quinn SUBMITTED PHOTO

HOLDEN One year removed from Wachusett Regional High, Holdens 2016 graduate Owen Quinn has learned valuable lessons in the game of golf, many from his coaches and teammates on the Lehigh University golf team, but some much closer to home.

Quinn, a two-year golf team captain and three-year team MVP for the Mountaineers averaged just 38.9 strokes per nine holes over his four year high school career and was recognized across the region as one of the top up-and-coming golfers. His dad, Fran, most know, has been a professional golfer for decades and has achieved impressive results while on tour. He has competed in the PGA Tour, Web.Com Tour, Asian Tour, Nationwide Tour and the Champions Tour. What better way to learn the nuances of golf than to have home-grown advice coupled with that of the skilled coaches and teammates at a Division 1 school?

My dad has pretty much taught me everything you could be taught about the game of golf from just the basics of a golf swing to the attitude on the course and course management, said Quinn. Ive learned a lot of course management and attitude by carrying for him both in the US Open (2014 US Open in Pinehurst, North Carolina) and other tournaments and you see how professional golfers go about their business in tournament play. I learned so much from him not even teaching me, just watching him. Hes really been my biggest supporter and has always cheered me on.

My mindset to golf has been changed since I began to play at Lehigh because you have to realize that every shots not life or death. You hit a bad shot and its like whatever you go and find it and you hit it again. Its changed my attitude some in that respect and I think its made me a better player.

When I caddie for my dad and see him and other Tour players, you never see guys getting super mad at one bad shot and if they are, theyre probably not very good. You just have to realize that youre not going to hit every shot perfectly. Making your notso good shots playable is what you have to do and Ive focused more on that. I have to keep moving forward when I make a bad shot because its not the end of the world.

If you hit a lot of bad shots, it can be frustrating but you have to keep telling yourself that youre going to hit a good one. My dad always says that if I miss a putt for birdie from fifteen feet, it doesnt matter. Youre going to have another putt in ten minutes. Thats the attitude you have to have. You can have the strongest mental game but if you dont have a good golf swing, you cant be that good. But if you have the best golf swing in the world but you have the wrong mental attitude, you have no chance also.

Quinn became a fast learner upon his arrival at Lehigh and realized that the competition was going to be intense and undeniably challenging, but hard work and his aptitude to learn from others paved the way. He competed in all 22 rounds and ranked third on the Mountain Hawks with a 75.36 stroke average while leading his team in two tournaments. He tied for the team lead with three individual rounds in the 60s and capped the season off with a blistering 67 in the final round of the Patriot League Championship where he tied for thirteenth place overall at 214. And just for good measure, Quinn, a business and economics major, was named to the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll as a follow-up to his National Honor Society membership at WRHS.

Owens just a great kid. He has a very positive attitude and hes always thinking about his teammates and encouraging them if theyve had a tough round, said Lehigh head golf coach Henry DAlberto. His family background and the fact that hes been around the game of golf his whole life helps a lot. I think thats one big reason that hes made the transition to Division 1 golf so well. Hell be a co-captain as a sophomore and hes earned it. Hes just a very special kid.

Once you go to a Division 1 college, everybodys a good player and the competitions great, remarked Quinn of the big step up into the top tier of college golf. It wasnt too intimidating because I feel like a lot of the tournaments I play in during the summer are against younger junior players who all went on to college and it kind of prepared me for that. It was more of an adjustment to the time put in with practice time and just the mindset of a team nature thats looking to win tournaments. Its a different mindset but at the end of the day, youre still playing golf.

Quinn has been active in area tournaments this summer including the Worcester County Amateur where he finished fourth, the Quimet Memorial and US Amateur Qualifier, the latter of which he shot 75-74 and just missed the cut. Besides tournaments he is committed to practice and can be found on courses nearly seven days a week.

If were going to want to play at the level of competition that we do, were going to have to practice every day, he said. But its enjoyable. Its a lot of work, but its good work.

It will be days, not weeks now, before Quinn heads back to Pennsylvania coal country to rejoin teammates and coaches at Lehigh. He is laserfocused on helping his team in fall and spring golf and when leaving central Mass, he is less likely to hear the question asked of him time and again by well-meaning friends and acquaintances, that being what the future looks like in terms of possibly making a career of the sport he loves.

I would love to follow in my dads footsteps, he said. Im going to have to start playing a little better if I want to do that but I have some time. Im only going to be a sophomore but before too much longer I should have a better idea if thats reasonable or not. Ive fortunately been able to see what it does take to make it out there. I know exactly what I need to do if I was ever going to make it. I just need to put in the time and put in the work and hopefully someday itll happen.

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Quinn reflects on first year in Division 1 golf | The Landmark - The Landmark