Jack Geyer walked off the course defeated.
He squandered the lead he held entering the final round of the state championship golf tournament and finished third as a junior. He departed the 18th green questioning what happened, where it went wrong, replaying moments throughout the round in his head trying to pinpoint the source. Few answers came to mind.
A year later, now a senior, he returned to the same course with the same goal in mind and a new sense of confidence. This time, in his final high school golf tournament, he scooped up his ball from his final hole with a sense of elation that comes with being a winner.
Geyer now admits he needed the experience of losing before learning how to win. This victory gave the C. Milton Wright senior the title he longed for after coming up just short the two years prior and was the culmination of a golf dream that began when Geyer was 5 years old.
“It was a really good tournament for me to lose,” he said. Most would call that a contradiction. To a competitive golfer, it makes perfect sense. “It just taught me so much.”
Geyer found golf — or perhaps more accurately, golf found Geyer — before he could even properly swing a club. His father played weekly and took his son on regular golf vacations. On one trip, Geyer asked if he could swing a club. Later, he started playing a few holes. Shots eventually traveled farther and with more accuracy. He was hooked.
“It wasn’t one of those things where overnight you were getting better,” he said. “It took years. My skills would develop, then there were times where I’d get knocked back down again and I have to restart and rebuild.”
He started as a baseball, basketball and soccer player, but golf swallowed all of his attention by the time he reached high school. He lost interest in soccer. Baseball began negatively affecting his golf swing. A hip injury from basketball ended Geyer’s hoops aspirations.
Finally, only golf. And he flourished with more time to commit to the course.
Geyer committed in May to play at Loyola, which he credits to success in junior tour events in addition to the high school circuit. Geyer has traveled everywhere from New Jersey to Florida to showcase his talents.
But each fall belonged to C. Milton Wright. Geyer reached the state tournament all four years, finishing 11th as a freshman then third as a sophomore. He knew his junior year offered a realistic shot at capturing the crown and opened the tournament blazing.
His lead slowly faded. Mistakes compounded and the competition on Geyer’s tail took advantage. Dejection rather than jubilation consumed him moments after his round ended.
“It was gnawing at me the rest of the year,” Geyer said. “Going into senior year, it’s just something that you always replay in your head. It’s something you won’t forget. But I think it was a benefit.”
Geyer’s biggest takeaway from the experience wasn’t physical. There was no swing technique tweak or club alteration needed to ensure a different result the next year. It was mental — how to hold a lead and prevent the weight that brings from becoming too heavy to bear.
“Sometimes it doesn’t even come down to golf,” he said. “Just figuring out how to maintain a lead and stay ahead of everyone else. That’s a big skill to have, and junior year gave me some insight.”
Geyer played with a new belief in his abilities when he returned to the University of Maryland Golf Course this fall. He’d been here three times before now, played each of these holes and hit all of the shots the difficult course demands.
His lead narrowed down the stretch, but he’d been in this spot before. He knew how to handle his shrinking gap and prevent it from becoming disastrous. This time, he stayed ahead, walked off the 18th green victorious and finally obtained the emotion that eluded him a year ago. He said of the moment, “It was just relieving.
Jack Geyer walked off the course a state champion.
Leave A Comment