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Ace in the Hole: NICK PUMFORD Record-Setting Saginaw District Champ from St. Charles and Kimberley Oaks Aims for PGA Success By Mike Thompson Is small but power-packed golfer Nick Pumford really the first strong PGA Tour prospect in the history of the Saginaw area? Consider this:
The 12th hole is a tight little par-4, but it’s still listed at 310 yards. Nick teed off with his 3-wood, because he would have knocked his driver beyond the putting surface. It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s Nick Pumford’s golf ball! Onlookers were dropping their jaws, especially the old schoolers. Legendary ten-time District champ Ron Stelter, still spry and now shooting lower than his age at 76, said 22-year-old Nick reduced and humbled the old course into “a pitch and putt.” Nobody ever had shot a round as low as 66 in a District event. Nick Pumford did it the first day, then again on the second, and cruised home with a 68. That’s 200 total, 13 under par. The previous top District performance was way back in 1963, when Mr. Stelter (Nick still addresses elders as “Mr.”) traversed the Saginaw Country Club with a two-round score of 137, or 5 under par. Considering that golf equipment was far less advanced at the time, this accomplishment nearly a half-century ago still should stand side-by-side in District lore with what Nick achieved a few weekends ago. The difference is that Ron Stelter was 30 years old at the time, had started a family, and was committed to his career as a local educator, golf coach and high school sports referee. Nick Pumford, a pair of generations later, has the freedom to pursue a career as a competitive PGA Tour professional. Asked to assess his strengths and weaknesses, Nick says, “My strengths are my mental game, and my distance for my size. I can poke it out there beyond 300 yards, despite being only 6-foot tall and 155 pounds soaking wet. My putting and my wedge shots, that’s something I really need to improve on for being a professional, the short game from 100 yards and in.” In other words, although Nick is too modest to say it, he could have done even better than 13-under par during those three rounds at the Saginaw Country Club.
District Entry Shows Local Respect Nick was back home for the District after completing his career at the University of Michigan, where he was a three-time team MVP and co-captained the squad to a third-place finish in this spring’s NCAA tournament. He had a scholarship to U-M because at St. Charles High School, he made the All-State Super Team of the six best golfers, regardless of the size of the school. Some golfers with Nick’s achievements may have considered the District to be an event below their status. Yes, the players are really good, but few have the opportunity to devote daily attention to their golf games. This is why the winning scores through the years usually have been over par, even on courses far shorter than those challenged by touring pros. Nick didn’t hesitate to enter, although in turning pro, this will have been his final time. “I grew up caddying for my Dad (Alan Pumford) in the tournament, and my Uncle Matt won it twice, so it’s a big tournament for me,” Nick says. “In the grand scheme of things, it’s close to my heart. This is the Saginaw area, and everyone here has been so important to me.” Nick’s decision to enter turned into a family affair that even he could not have imagined. Uncle Matt emerged as the runnerup at 208 (nobody else did better than 216), and Dad recorded a best-ever finish in 13th place at 229. Another uncle, Roger Pumford, was 22nd at 233. Even his older brother, Ryan Pumford, made the field after giving up golf for baseball a good number of years ago.
Taught First By His Family Uncle Matt, Uncle Roger and Dad have only themselves to blame for young Nick waxing them in the District competition. They were his main three childhood teachers. “Actually, you know how kids are, sometimes the last person they will listen to is their father,” Alan Pumford says with a big laugh. “So instead of trying to tell Nick, sometimes I would tell Uncle Matt or Uncle Roger to talk to him.” A diaper-clad Tiger Woods is said to have sat in a high chair while his father, Earl Woods, bashed golf balls into a net. Alan Pumford took a somewhat different approach. He gave little Nick a baseball glove in the backyard, and then hit short wedge pop-up shots for Nick to catch. Nick got his first chance on the golf course when he was 8. He eventually would ride his bicycle to Kimberley Oaks Golf Course, which he recalls precisely as a 4-minute trip, and spend the day. Often he played rounds with older kids, and he also devoted countless hours to chipping and putting at the practice green. Kimberley Oaks Owner Rick Shkreli and his wife, Maria, who died last year, and Director of Golf Sander Shkreli “were like a second family” for Nick, Alan Pumford said. Without being asked, Maria would serve up a daily grilled cheese sandwich, which remains a staple of Nick’s diet to this day. Furthermore, Kimberley Oaks is longer and more difficult than most of Saginaw County’s public layouts. “That helped Nick to become a better player,” his father says. The Shkreli brothers are plenty familiar with what Nick can do. He was a high schooler, back in his 135-pound era before he “put on more weight and muscle,” but he still gained the ability to drive the green on the 320-yard first hole. “He was 14 to 15 years old, out-driving me by 100 yards,” Rick Shkreli recalls.. “When he was 15, I told him I would play him a hole for a grilled cheese, and I won the hole. Right away, he doubled the bet (two grilled cheeses!) and then he birdied the very next hole. He’s always been a quiet and shy and modest kid, but he’s still a competitor.” Sander Shkreli still treasures summer Saturday mornings, especially with Nick in town, “when we’ll have 5, 6, 7 Pumfords out here at 6:30 in the morning. Even the grandmother (Darlene Pumford) can play. You would have a hard time finding another family like that.” Nick began to participate in American Junior Golf Association regional events in locales such as Chicago, Indianapolis, and Columbus. His mother, Sharon, usually was his escort. He learned that he could hold his own against youngsters from the warm-weather states, who theoretically are often superior because they enjoy 12-month golf seasons. This was a major advancement.
PGA Tour Slots Are Tough To Achieve As he approaches a pro career, Nick Pumford is aware of the challenges. Barely more than 100 pros qualify annually for PGA Tour cards, compared for example to more than 1,500 athletes on National Football League squads and 750 in Major League Baseball. Beyond that, athletes in team sports receive salaries. A golfer earns zilch unless he performs in the top half of the tournament field during any given week, making the cut after 36 holes. One reason for Nick’s confidence is that in addition to hitting the ball long, he usually hits it straight, unlike some of his peers. He isn’t prone to duck hooks or banana slices. A harsh cynic may note that his Saginaw Country Club performance came on a landlocked course that is shorter even than those played by woman pros. Still, in three full days, Nick struck nary a single shot that ended up bouncing along Benton Drive or soaring into the nearby yards of Golfside. “It’s a matter of good technique that will hold up under pressure,” Nick says. “I can hit it out there past a lot of guys who are weight room buffs. The key to having power, but still with control, is creating lag with your hands and that good angle with your wrists, in order to explode into the ball.” “At the same time, I’m an avid watcher of PGA Tour on television, checking all the statistics and how each guy approaches each hole. For example, you might see somebody like Tiger Woods take out a 2-iron for his tee shot to get the ball in play. I try to learn from how those guys think.” Then comes the short game. For all of his endless practice at Kimberley Oaks and his success at U-M, Nick still wasn’t fully satisfied with his putting. He obtained a so-called long putter two years ago and now chokes down with his hands overlapping on the grip, so that his hands may function more as one unit. He’s pleased with his improvement as a result, and those greens at the Country Club can be prepared as fast or even faster than some on the PGA Tour.
It’s Time To Round Up Investors To qualify for the PGA Tour, Nick Pumford will have to go out on golf’s mini-tours, which are the equivalent of minor league baseball. The expense is about $50,000 per year, so he now will seek to round up investors to contribute sums such as $500 or $1,000. He’s also earning some cash this summer working on the golf staff at Barton Hills Country Club in Ann Arbor. If he does well in pro competition, he can pay off the investors and maybe even tack on some bonuses, and he’ll be on his own. Still, it may not be in the cards for Nick to get a PTA Tour card. Saginaw Township’s Steve Brady, mid-Michigan’s most successful pro, tried over and over but fell short, missing by a single stroke in 1991. Brady’s success came as a multiple champion in statewide tournaments such as the Michigan Open and the Michigan PGA, and he has made his living as a club professional. This region was able to support Dan Pohl as a touring pro for a number of years, but he’s from all the way up in Mount Pleasant. With his U-M bachelor’s degree in sports management, Nick knows he always can fall back on the parachute of club professional and teacher. For now, though, he never will know how he would fare in full-time competition unless he tries. “Now that school is finished, this is my time to devote myself completely to competitive golf,” Nick Pumford says. “This is the opportunity.” Rick and Sander Shkreli at Kimberley Oaks have launched a “Nick Pumford Special” for sponsor support, donating a portion of greens fees from golfers who use a coupon that appears in this edition of Review Magazine. “Saginaw County has had a lot of good golfers through the years, but Nick is a great one,” Sander Shkreli says. “He has been improving every year, he comes from a great family of golfers, and he has a great head on his shoulders. He’s going to go a long way and make the whole Saginaw Valley proud.” Besides, with grilled cheese sandwiches rather than filet mignon, Nick Pumford will know how to stay on a budget.
Footnote: Three Tips From Nick Can you beat it? Not only is Review Magazine a free paper, but here are three free tips from Nick Pumford, boiled down to layman’s terms: (1) Check your alignment. Sometimes we hit it crooked because we aim crooked. (2) Don’t try to swing so hard. Power is created by the speed of the hands, not how hard we swing. (3) To stop slicing, imagine we’re hitting the golf ball to the second baseman. This image can help prevent the clubface from going outside of the ball.
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A
driver for his tee shot, and then a 4-iron to the green on the par-5
first hole at the Saginaw Country Club. Those were the clubs that
Nick used in one of his three record-setting rounds to capture the
55th Annual Saginaw District Golf Association Championship. That’s
not a bad display of power, considering that the Country Club’s opening
hole is 558 yards long.