Wake Forest Athletics
Gold Rush Feature: Wanting More
3/7/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
This article was originally published in the Feb. 26 edition of Gold Rush.
For the Wake Forest women's golf team, success has been contagious.
The team's only senior, Natalie Sheary, has won three tournaments, including an ACC championship as a sophomore. Junior Cheyenne Woods also has a tournament title to her credit and finished last spring with the best single-season scoring average in Wake Forest history.
Then last May, Michelle Shin got in on the action in the most dramatic way possible. With a run of four birdies in six holes, the then-freshman rallied to win the ACC individual championship and lead the Deacons to the team title as well.
What comes next? With those winning experiences as their guide, anything is possible.
Shin's big focus is consistency. She had some great rounds as a freshman and entered the final day with a share of the lead in two tournaments, but she couldn't finish off either of them. Even during her ACC title-winning round, Shin made the turn at 4-over-par before her big comeback.
This fall, she improved in that regard, and has been rewarded with three top-15 finishes in five events so far. At her best tournament, the Mason Rudolph Challenge in September, she followed a spectacular 65 with two more sub-par rounds and finished second out of 93 competitors.
"This fall has just built my confidence level a little bit at a time," Shin said. "I'm getting to the point that I go into every tournament knowing I can be consistent."
Shin's confidence is bolstered by the physical changes she has seen in her swing. Last year after the ACC victory, coach Dianne Dailey said of Shin, "She's not the longest person on the team, but boy, is she the most accurate."
Now, Shin has kept her accuracy but added strength and length off the tee.
"I definitely put more work into my long game," Shin said. "I worked on some aspects of my swing, mostly technical tweaks, and I've really seen the difference."
Shin said the advent of the new Dianne Dailey Golf Center with its updated and upgraded practice facilities have made a major impact.
"There are so many different factors to help us with our game," Shin said. "We have the indoor putting green, the heaters in the swing bays, and the technology of watching ourselves on video has been a huge help."
The center's namesake said she has always admired Shin's work ethic.
"When we have practice and she has something specific to work on, you'll see her go off by herself instead of chatting with everybody," Dailey said. "She's a great player and a great young lady."
Even with that, Shin's also gregarious, and likes to keep the rest of the team loose when the time is right. She said she has learned over time when it's time to be funny and when it's time to buckle down.
"I started to love golf when it went from just playing to competing," Shin said. "I can be pretty goofy, but I'm a really competitive person, and the chance to compete in golf really attracted me to it when I was around 10 years old. Now, the golf course is sometimes the only place I can be completely calm and stay focused."
