Development of Student-Athletes Steers Puetz, SMCC Men’s Golf

Arizona is a golf paradise, an oasis of fairways and sand traps dotting nearly every part of the state. The temperature permits year-round competition, particularly for the bold during the summer, and the Phoenix Open represents one of the rowdiest events on the PGA Tour.

Amidst that backdrop is one of the nation's premier golf programs, the men's golf team at South Mountain Community College. The 2019 NJCAA Division II National Champions, the Cougars had won all four of their spring tournaments before the Corona Virus forced the cancelation of the season.

Success is not unfamiliar to SMCC men's golf. The squad has captured the NJCAA Division II National Championship in 2004, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2019.

Head coach Aaron Puetz started as an assistant coach in 2014 and has been a part of three of those titles. After playing professionally for six years, Puetz gave private lessons for two years before an invitation from then-head coach Andy Walker offered him a new perspective on the game.

"Within about 30 minutes, I knew I wanted to coach at the collegiate level to stay in golf," Puetz explained.

He joined, and the team quickly won National Championships in 2015 and 2016. The 2017 and 2018 seasons represented re-building years for the program, and when Walker left for Lynn University in the summer of 2018, Puetz stepped up to take over the program. Both coaches won a 2019 National Championships (Lynn University competes in NCAA Division II Athletics) on the same day.

A former touring professional, Puetz has enjoyed giving back to the game that has provided him so much.

"There are a lot of things I enjoy about coaching and playing golf, but the biggest thing is helping our student-athletes develop into young men and women," Puetz said. "It is not just about golf, but also in the classroom and as professionals ready to enter the workforce. A lot of our student-athletes are young and raw, so we get the opportunity to work with them as they mature and develop. It is the coolest and most rewarding thing I do."

Sophomores Matthew Halvorson and Johnathan Walters have both enjoyed their time working with Coach Puetz. Both spoke warmly of working with him not just as golfers, but as students and young men.

"Working with Coach Puetz has been my favorite part of playing at South Mountain Community College," Walters said. "He has been a mentor, leader and friend. College kids struggle with different things, and he made sure he was always available. He wants us to grow as individuals and creates a family atmosphere."

"I have learned a lot about the mindset and mental aspects of golf, and that comes from Coach Puetz," Halvorson added. "At my first tournament of the 2019 spring tournament, I was very nervous, and he could tell. He stuck with me for all 18 holes that day, and I shot five-under for the round."

Walters will be attending the UNLV, and Halvorson is headed to the University of Nebraska-Omaha to continue their collegiate careers. Both have professional aspirations as they start their NCAA Division I careers.

"I have been waiting for time to jump up to the next level and make a name for myself," Walters said. "I am overjoyed to prove the doubters wrong and am excited to compete at the highest level. It is four months away, and I cannot wait!"

"I am very excited to become a Maverick," Halvorson said. "I have been talking with my future teammates and enjoying getting to know them. Their home course is one of the nicest in Omaha, and I like the coaches."

This year's team had a tough start to their fall season. Things began to turn around at an event hosted by Ottawa University, an NAIA institution in Surprise, Ariz., in late September.

The Cougars were the only two-year school in the field. After a solid first day where they trailed the hosts by four, SMCC had a sensational second round where it finished 12 strokes better than Ottawa. That lead would hold up over the final day, and the Cougars won the tournament by five.

Individually, Gabriel Salvanera was dominant at the event. He trailed by one after a first-day, four-under 68 at the Eagles Nest Golf Course in Goodyear, Ariz. On the second day, he fired a seven-under 65 and followed that up with a six-under 66 to finish 17-under for the tournament and capture individual medalist honors.

That victory gave the squad a boost of confidence and reminded them of what South Mountain Community College men's golf represents.

"We started in the fall with 11 guys, nine of whom were new, and we needed time to build and establish culture and trust," Puetz said. "We struggled early, but that late success in the fall made us work harder in the winter."

In the spring, the squad won events hosted by Scottsdale Community College, Chandler-Gilbert Community College, Mesa Community College and Eastern Arizona. Individually, Walters fired a 10-under to earn Individual Medalist honors at the CGCC event, while freshman Ryan Macpherson won the MCC tournament.

While Halvorson and Coach Puetz chose Tiger Woods as their favorite golfer, Walters went with Ricky Fowler. One thing they could agree on was a dream course they hope to play at some point in their lives: Augusta National Golf Course, home of The Masters in Augusta, Ga.

Coach Puetz finally won tickets to attend the event before its postponement due to the Corona Virus outbreak. Still, it has just been postponed, not canceled, and when The Masters announces a fall date, he fully expects to stroll down Magnolia Lane and cross Ray's Creek finally.

In fact, Puetz and the team watched Woods' triumphant 2019 victory at Augusta together.

"We happened to play on Master's Sunday at a tournament hosted by Chandler-Gilbert Community College. The team huddled in the van and watched it on our phones. It is one of my fondest memories of that season," Puetz said.

For Halvorson and Walters, they understand the challenges it will take to see their name on the leaderboard one day.

"To get to the professional level, you have to be the one percent of the one percent. I know that is a small margin, so I have to work to improve every day, " Walters said. "One thing that I will have to adjust to is that the professional tournaments are four-day events, while the collegiate tournaments are mostly two days. I will need to work on putting together four rounds. Professionals create a mindset that they are the best ones out there, and as I continue to work, time is ticking down until I can develop that as well."

"Max Homa, a former PGA Tour professional,  came out to practice this spring, and after talking with him, I feel I am not that far off. It is just the little things that you have to work on to improve. As junior golfers, we shave five or six strokes off a year. At this level, we are talking about fractions of a stroke, so it is about tightening up specific parts of the game and mastering the mental aspect. "

The Cougars will return to the course sometime soon, and they will do so as the defending National Champions and the No. 1 team in the nation. Those accolades are nice, but they aren't what South Mountain Community College men's golf is all about at the end of the day. Or a round.

"I love hearing from players who have moved on and how the life skills we worked on at this level translated throughout their life," Puetz said. "One of the coolest things is getting calls from former student-athletes who have great experiences at the next level and writing letters of recommendation for work outside the golf world. Having a lifelong trust and relationship is the best feeling in the world."

"Playing at South Mountain Community College has been the greatest stepping stone I could have ever asked for," Walters concluded. "Coach Puetz has helped show me that I have that the talent to play at the next level and make it a career. He never doubted me, and I know we will be friends who still talk regularly 30 years down the road. Any player who gets a chance to play for him is lucky, and I got two years."