Tiger of the Week: Nick Burris
Sport: Golf
Year: Sophomore
Major: History
Hometown: Bloomington, Indiana
“Nick is a valuable member of this team. He exhibits quiet leadership that’s more role modeling than anything. I can’t recall anyone who’s improved more from his freshman to sophomore year than Nick has. He’s done it on his own by embracing a different philosophy on how to manage his game.”-Vince Lazar, men’s golf head coach
Burris put together an impressive performance on the green this past weekend, hitting a 152 in DePauw University’s first-place finish at the two-day Franklin Spring Invitational. Recently named North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Men’s Golfer of the Week, Burris will play a key role in helping the Tigers make a strong push for the NCAC Championship in April.
The DePauw: Looking back now as as sophomore, how would you sum up your first year of playing collegiate golf?
Nick Burris (NB): In college, I feel a lot of it depends on you and how much time you want to put work into it. It’s not as structured. You’re not always practicing with your team every day. You’re not always structured in the same way that you do this, you do this, you do this. It’s more you go there, you get a little more individual attention with Coach and work on more things that are more personalized. Now in my sophomore year, I feel like I’ve adjusted that better and know how to get the most out of that.
TDP: Coach Lazar said you changed your philosophy as a golfer over the past year. What did you specifically do to get ready for this year?
NB: I’ve always just sort of viewed golf as, you take it seriously, but at the end of the day, it’s a sport. You can’t get too mad about it. You just go out there and try to have fun. On the more technical side, I think I really just try to slow things down and focus on getting better targets. Like pre shot routines, I try to go through that every time.
TDP: What originally got you into the sport?
NB: That’d definitely be my family. Everybody on my dad’s side golfs, and everyone on my mom’s side pretty much golfs too. So I started really young, and that’s just because I was surrounded by it. I just grew up playing with my dad all the time, and I played with his brothers... It’s really just a big family thing. And then just got into tournaments young and stuck with it.
TDP: What’s been the biggest challenge you’ve faced as a golfer?
NB: It’s hard to point it at a straight aspect of my game because sometimes, that varies time to time. I don’t let too much bother me. I think the mental side of the game is one of my stronger parts. I’m really keeping my emotions in check. You can’t get too high, you can’t get too low, because golf, every round’s inevitably going to have highs and lows. It’s about consistency.
TDP: How do you handle playing on an entirely new course?
NB: If we don’t have a practice round, there are some things I do similarly, no matter what course it is. Like, it’s always better to be below the hole than above it. And a lot of times we have yardage books or rangefinders, so just knowing your yardages is the biggest thing. The biggest challenge is that you’re going to miss, you’re going to have misses every round. It’s just a matter of missing in the right spot. If you can go up knowing where you can miss, then it becomes a lot easier to avoid the high numbers by going in hazards and stuff like that.
TDP: Going off of that, what would be your dream course to play on?
NB: That’s tough. There are a lot that could make my list. But I have this fascination with Scottsdale, Arizona, so TPC Scottsdale or something out in that Phoenix area. I’d really enjoy that.
Burris and the rest of the men’s golf team are back in action on Mar. 23-25 in the Camp Lejeune Intercollegiate Championship in Jacksonville, North Carolina.