ALLENDALE, Mich. — Grand Valley golfer Charles DeLong currently holds the school record for wins in a season and his career, but he credits his success to his mindset.
"I think the biggest difference that has gotten me to be a more consistent player and winning events is just the confidence going into them. Expecting to win, expecting to play well. In the past I've gone into tournaments wanting to play well but now it's almost an expectation. It's a little bit of extra motivation and when you play with that confidence you tend to play better," said DeLong.
His last three years with the Lakers have been great from the start and that helped grow his confidence.
"Coming in freshman year I had won my first event so I knew I was able to win at this level. But once you start doing it consistently it's like okay I'm here and I can compete with these guys. I can win and I'm doing to win," said DeLong.
Charles shot a career low 65 this year and has won six tournaments this season, including the GLIAC championship in match play last weekend. Now they turn their attention to the Midwest regional in Minnesota starting May 11th.
"We come in here and we practice and it's all because we love to compete. I'm excited to just be with the team. I love this group of guys and we're really excited to compete," said DeLong.
The Lakers were regional runner-ups last year, DeLong won the individual competition but fell should at the national championship. Head Coach Gary Bissell says they're added depth at their 4th and 5th spot will hopefully make the difference this year.
"It's much better than it's been in the past. We're getting even or under par scores out of those four and five spot which we never really had a whole lot in the past. and the exciting part is that our four and five spot are both held by freshmen right now so you think about the amount of growth that's likely to take place in the next few years, it's exciting for the future. They're performing like more mature, older, upperclassmen rather than just freshmen so for them to be in the spot they're in already makes it really exciting for the future," said Bissell.
The Lakers will spend the next week at their indoor facility and playing at the Meadows when the weather allows, but DeLong says that his mindset is just as import as his physical game.
"They say that if you go in trying to make the cut, you'll probably end up right around that cut. But if you go in trying to win you'll likely find yourself near the top of the leaderboard so that's kinda been mine and our mentality all season. Go in and try to win a tournament, if it happens it happens. I think that's the best mindset we can have going into regionals with as well. We're not going to go I just trying to get through because then we'll probably find ourselves right on that line but if we go in and try to play our best golf then I think things will take care of themselves," said DeLong.
