Adam Prudhomme
Beaver Sports
Prior to this season, Cal Uens had been the proverbial small fish in the big pond, lumped into a division where he faced golfers up to five years older than him.
Too often that left him on the outside looking in at the end of a tournament.
This year, the 14-year-old Napanee native was matched up with kids his own age and played like he was in a league of his own, winning seven of eight tournaments. He capped his season with a second-place individual finish at the peewee provincials, held last month at Port Perry’s Oak Ridge. He was just one stroke back of the winner, while his team finished third overall. He was feeling good heading into the tournament as he fired quite possibly the best round of his career in the practice round, checking in at 73.
Cal Uens.
“The year before I was at provincials but never really had a chance,” said Uens. “I got stronger and can hit it further. A lot of training and practicing.”
Uens says his ability to drive the ball with his irons was his biggest improvement from the previous year.
“A lot of practice and learning to control my temper,” he added when talking about his improved game play.
Matched up against older golfers, he experienced his share of growing pains. The lessons learned through those difficult years paid dividends this summer.
“I got a lot of nerves out playing against the older kids,” said Uens.
He also credited some tips and advice given to him by fellow Napanee Golf and Country Club member Josh Whalen. He followed Whalen to every hole while he was taking part in the Canadian Open.
Caden Holmes, another NGCC who is also making a name for himself on the junior circuit, helped Uens keep his game sharp as well by playing rounds with him throughout the summer.
The major tournaments now done for the year, Uens hopes to get in a few more rounds before the snow flies and then will look to pick back up where he left off next spring, when he’ll once again be facing some older competition as he looks to top his outstanding 2017.