NSR caught up with Sterling College’s, New Zealand golfing star, Liam Todd. Liam shares his US college experiences including his opinions of settling into college, making friends, his golfing pre season and his achievements thus far.
“It’s going very well so far! Is definitely a nice change up and am enjoying it a lot! ”
My experience has been really nice! It was really easy to settle in, as everyone at the college was very kind and inviting. We have a very international team as we have a player from both Norway and Britain and another that was born in Columbia but moved to Florida when he was fairly young, so its nice to meet people from all around the globe! We all get along really well which helps a lot to play well together away at tournaments!
What have been your greatest achievements thus far?
In terms of achievements I’d have to say that shooting a -4 68 in my second round at the first tournament of the semester would be a good one! The team also had a tournament win in our second tournament, which I believe we won by 22 shots off memory. I’ve had a couple of top 10 finishes individually as well, which has been nice!
Pre-Season training
For our pre-season training we had a lot of team workouts, we mostly did workouts such as yoga to keep everyone flexible and mobile, we also did some running around the track as well. It was nothing too intense but it definitely kept everyone in good shape to perform well!
To what extent has your golfing game improved since being in the US?
I feel like my golfing has definitely improved whilst being in the US! Working under a structured practice and being around all the guys at practice definitely helped to get better. I feel like I can shoot under par before every round I go play now which is a confidence I don’t think I really had before I left, my swings feels a lot more solid and efficient too.
Finally, share with us your biggest challenges that you have faced so far
The biggest challenge would definitely be keeping up on your classwork when you’re away at tournaments. We play 5 tournaments every semester so that’s a lot of time we spend away from the classroom. So I’d have to say catching up and staying on top of classwork while were in golf season would be the biggest challenge!