Pressure and some serious surgery forced first-year Red Deer College Queens golfer Jamieson Smeaton to back off from the game of golf.
The surgery corrected the physical issue but she has to be her own doctor of sorts to correct the pressure problem.
“It was more myself that was putting any pressure on me,” she admitted. “I got too into my head and it just wasn’t fun anymore. Even when I was going out and playing for fun I would put too much pressure on myself to be the best I could be and I just wasn’t getting the results and wasn’t enjoying it.”
RDC Golf Coach Scott Bergdahl added, “It’s hard to imagine her not having fun with the game of golf because she looks like she’s having fun with everyday life. I mean that’s half the battle to the game of golf itself.”
But since coming to Red Deer College from Lethbridge, the 20-year-old student enrolled in Bachelor of Education program, has turned things around in regard to her golf game.
At the recent provincial championship she shared a silver medal finish with her teammates at the same time claiming the silver individual medal.
Her skill from tee to green is the reason for her game coming back but there is still some work to do when it comes the scoring zone around the green after being off for so long.
“Yeah you definitely lose your feel. It’s tough, I’ve never been a good putter and I can see after taking two years off it’s been tough to get back into it.”
Bergdahl agrees with that assessment and has her working in some drills in order to get the touch around the green back in time for the National Championship in Quebec.
“Just doing some repetitious drills to actually become comfortable on the greens and around the greens,” said the ACAC Golf Coach of the Year. “But realistically it’s more so her confidence and believing that she is truly as good as what we see she is.”
Like most golfers it seems to be players start playing the best when the season north of the 49th parallel is close to ending and Jamieson said she’s no different as she has seen her scores drop closer to where she wants them to be with a big tournament on the doorstep.
“It’s such a short season and you’re finally getting into the groove of things and it’s done and then you have to wait for the next season to try it all over and it just seems you’re back at square one.”
Both the Kings and Queens teams are expected to do well in Quebec according to their coach who thinks the Kings will place high and the Queens could be in the top six in the country which would be a satisfactory result.
Jamieson has decided to not think too much about the road she’s traveled to get here and has taken a positive approach to what might transpire on the grass at the Royal Golf Club of Quebec.
“When I play bad I have to remember you know you took two years off you can’t expect to come out and play as good as you did in previous years but I just try to look at the next step and you can’t get too down on yourself. Just know that you’re good enough to be there.”
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