One of the best things to have as a golfer is composure. There are always going to be bad shots in a round, but it’s the linkster who keeps their head and focuses on the next shot who will likely card a good score.
The Steinert High golf team had just such a fellow in Colin St. John.
“His composure is … you don’t even know he’s alive half the time,” Spartans coach Darren Doherty said. “He’s not an animated kid. He’s quiet, very stoic. I don’t think anything really bothers him in life or on the golf course.”
The result of that on the golf course is evident, especially this season when St. John averaged just under 39 strokes per match and finished Top 10 in the Mercer County and NJSIAA Central-South Group III tournaments.
A man of few words, St. John put his valuable mindset into perspective; saying: “I try not to get mad at bad shots. It just makes the next ones worse, really.”
Couple that calmness with talent and you get a pretty good golfer, which St. John proved to be this year.
A late starter, Colin began playing recreationally as a freshman with his neighbor and former Steinert golfer Anthony Verde.
“He played a lot, so I went out with him a few times a week,” St. John said. “He’d ask me to go out, so I finally did it; it was really just for fun at first.”
A multisport athlete, Colin already had a hockey and soccer background, and he played both sports upon arriving at Steinert. Golf got wiped out his freshman year due to Covid-19, but St. John continued to play and made the Spartans team as a sophomore.
In an abbreviated 2021 season he averaged a 42, which is respectable for a first-time varsity golfer. After breaking 40 just once in his first 12 outings, St. John carded 37 and 38 his last two matches of the season.
“I started playing a lot that year,” he said. “And it started taking off.”
Last year, despite breaking 40 five times in 11 contests, Colin was up and down en route to a slightly improved 41.5 average. After shooting in the 30s four of his first five matches, St. John followed with scores of 44, 47, 42, 45 and 49 before carding a 37. He ended the year with a 44, and it didn’t look like things had improved to start this season when St. John opened with a 47.
“We had a rough day the first day against Princeton,” Doherty said. “It was 40 degrees and heavy winds, and we were playing on the East course in the back at Mercer Oaks. It was a tough day for the whole team all around.”
Colin was not happy, but he knew the best way to cure his woes.
“After the first match I started practicing a little more because that was a bad one,” he said. “So it was just a lot more practice after that and my consistency was better.”
After shooting a 41 in match two, St. John exploded. He reeled off eight straight scores between 36 and 38, and broke 40 in 11 of his last 13 matches. His average dropped from a 44 after the first two matches to 38.9 for the season.
Mixed in was a 74 in the Mercer County Tournament, at which he finished in a three-way tie for eighth, and a 78 in the Central-South Jersey Tournament at River Winds Country Club in West Deptford. That score put him in a three-way tie for 10th, and was third best among Colonial Valley Conference golfers.
“It was a good round,” he said. “I played really well on the front nine and shot one-under. The back nine I had a lot more bogeys and shot seven over. It could have been better but overall it was pretty good.”
Asked if the back nine was more challenging, St. John just said “I had a few bad holes, I didn’t think it was necessarily tougher. Just a few missed shots. My goal was actually 80, I just wanted to play better than last year and I did.”
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When asked to assess St. John, Doherty found it difficult to find a weakness.
“He does everything well,” the coach said. “He drives the ball extremely long. He hits the ball straight. His biggest area of improvement this year is around the green. Putting and chipping have probably shaved about three strokes off his average. He’s really improved there.
“We get to see him finish on the ninth hole. He usually gets up and down, he’s on the green in two, and will usually get at least a two putt and sometimes a birdie.”
St. John was in full agreement with his coach, saying “I think the short game helps a lot lowering your scores. Everything else has been pretty consistent. Making more putts and chips really helps. My putting was definitely a lot worse. I just practiced more. It was a lot of repetition.”
Colin’s emergence helped Steinert to another winning season after the Spartans had struggled for several years. They went 10-4 last year but graduated five regulars. This year, with St. John leading the way, Steinert went 10-5, finished ninth in the MCT (fourth among public schools) and qualified for the state sectionals.
“I think it’s more enjoyable when the team is doing well,” said St. John, who will major in business at The College of New Jersey. “It makes playing more purposeful knowing we can win the matches.”
St. John helped in last year’s emergence, but truly stepped up as the team leader this season.
“Last year we had a really outstanding season and a lot of depth,” Doherty said. “Coming back this year we knew we had a couple good guys. But I didn’t think going into the season we’d be able to qualify as a team for states.”
They did, however, as St. John got some help.
“Colin was big, and we had a first-time senior (Aidan Woodhead) who came out for the first time and did a great job, along with Nick Vernon,” Doherty said. “We got off to a good start, we beat Ewing and Robbinsville by one stroke, so without Colin’s scores you don’t win those.
“He really lifted the team and he took a lot of pressure off people. The other five guys that play on a regular basis kind of alternate having a good day. But he’s consistent, his consistency allows other guys to have a bad day here and there.”
Doherty then put it into perspective what it meant to have a standout No. 1 player; and he probably made Steinert baseball coach Brian Giallella a little jealous.
“It’s like a manager walking out there knowing you’re gonna get seven innings of three-hit ball out of your pitcher every time,” Doherty said. “It’s a big deal.”
But with his laid-back approach, St. John makes it look easy.