Tufts golf coach Bob Sheldon earned this year's McCullough Award, annually given to a college golf coach in New England for commitment to the sport and for contributions to players, coaches and local and regional golf committees.
Sheldon accepted the award at a reception on Oct. 16, just before the golf team concluded its fall season with a 29th−place finish at the two−day New England Championships.
The award, named for the late University of Hartford golf coach Gordon McCullough, is awarded based on a poll of coaches in the region. Sheldon, who has coached golf at Tufts for 22 years and previously served as president and vice president of the New England Intercollegiate Golf Association, was surprised but honored to receive it.
"It means a lot," he said. "I'm a [men's] basketball coach at Tufts too, but I take the golf seriously. It's nice for the coaching fraternity in New England to see that I do take it seriously."
Sheldon is known around campus for his boisterous basketball coaching style, but he alters his approach when coaching golf.
"I can't scream at somebody to make a putt — they probably would miss it," Sheldon said. "With the golf it's more about working on their mental games. It's a short season, so we can't really work on the mechanics as much."
During matches, Sheldon goes from hole to hole giving his players advice on which clubs to use, since player−to−player interaction is not allowed. In addition, he tries to calm down players who are getting frustrated.
"He creates an atmosphere that's really conducive to playing your best," freshman Alex Zorniger said. "I have friends who play at other schools and it's a very stressful atmosphere, but it's not the same here."
Despite Sheldon's laid−back style on the course, his personality comes through just fine.
And he makes sure to give his golfers nicknames.
"John Wawer is ‘Grinder,' Harrison Odaniell is ‘Smiles,' Kenny Alperin is ‘The Snake,' and Mike McCarthy is ‘Murph,'" Zorniger said. "Before every round, coach Sheldon will introduce me to my opponents as ‘Big Al.'"
Sheldon also gave quite a speech when accepting the McCullough Award at The Irish Village Restaurant.
"I thanked some people, and then I took a couple shots at some of the other coaches," he said. "Just to let ‘em know Tufts is here."
"He thanked Wesleyan for bringing a team that everybody could always beat," Zorniger said. "And then we lost to Wesleyan [at New Englands]."
The team's fall season concluded with New Englands on Oct. 17 and 18, when the Jumbos placed 29th out of 34 teams. A trio of freshmen was impressive for Tufts: Wawer finished 32nd overall with a two−day score of 155, including a 75 (3−over) on Tuesday, while Odaniell and Zorniger each had two−day totals of 166.
The Jumbos struggled against some tough competition in their six fall tournaments. They placed seventh at NESCAC Qualifiers on Oct. 1−2, shy of the top−four finish needed to compete for the conference title in the spring.
Their best performance was a second−place effort at the Bison Invitational at Nichols College on Oct. 9. Tufts finished just eight strokes behind the winner, Endicott, and had some excellent individual showings. Sophomore Sebastian Vik shot a 78 — good for third overall, Odaniell tied for seventh with a 79 and Zorniger and Wawer tied for 12th with scores of 81.
For a squad consisting of four freshmen, five sophomores and one junior, the future is promising.
"We played three freshmen and two sophomores," Zorniger said. "I think we've got a nice core going forward."
Still, coach Sheldon believes the squad would be better with just one, small addition.
"I've played golf all my life," he said. "I think I'd be the number two or three man on this team."
