Daily Pilot Prep Athlete of the Week, Kelly Hunt: Golf gumshoe (or)

On the Case.

Barry Faulkner

Kelly Hunt, golf detective, has worked the same case for more than

a decade.

Her assignment: Dissect her own swing every 24 hours, never resting until

any offending flaw has been cornered, then rehabilitated at the

correctional facility otherwise known as the driving range.

“I want to get a (golf) scholarship to Stanford and I want to try to make

it on the LPGA,” the Newport Harbor High sophomore said. “That’s been my

lifelong dream since I was 5 years old.”

Now 16, Hunt is driven daily by her dream, often rising early to hit

balls before school and frequently following her weekday rounds for the

Sailors’ girls team by repeatedly ripping round white reminders into the

darkness.

“If it works, great,” said the Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week, who

captured medalist honors in each of the Sailors’ first 11 outings (most half matches) and last week amassed three birdies and seven pars over 27

holes at some of the toughest courses in Orange County. “But if not, I

just keep doing it until it does work.”

Hunt, inspired to tackle the game after watching “some guy named Jack

Nicklaus” on television, said she became serious about golf when she was

13.

“Since then, it’s been tons and tons of work,” said Hunt, whose only

interruption in her daily golf routine came the summer before eighth

grade, when she took a two-week trip to Yellowstone with a friend.

“I did take a putter,” she said sheepishly. “I’m the type of person who,

if I don’t hit golf balls at least once a day, my game becomes a complete

disaster. It’s almost impossible for me not to golf. It’s addicting.”

Hunt said she spends evenings being social, but when asked about other

interests, cited a part-time job at Big Canyon Country Club. Her favorite

movie? “Caddyshack,” of course.

“It’s not unusual for Kelly to spend all day at the golf course,” said

Newport Harbor Coach Jim Warren, who marvels at Hunt’s consistency and

distance off the tee.

“She has a lot of talent, and she stays mentally focused,” Warren said of

his No. 1 player.

Hunt was also the Tars’ top player last fall, when she finished third at

Sea View League Finals, was 45th in the Southern Section, and finished in

the top 30 at the SCGA Finals.

“She hits the ball tremendously long off the tee, out around 250 yards,

and she’s very good with her short game. She does a lot of work on her

putting and she’s spent the last six months to a year concentrating on

her short game, which has made a lot of difference.”

Hunt makes a difference for the Sailors, who were unbeaten through

Thursday’s matches. Hunt’s nine-hole average entering this week was 42,

according to Warren.

She shot 5-over 41 at Big Canyon, 4-over 40 at Yorba Linda Country Club

and 6-over 42 at Western Hills Country Club last week.

Hunt won her first junior tournament last summer, the Mental Health

Awareness Championship at Mesa Verde Country Club, and also won a

long-drive contest at Western Hills.

She plans to intensify her junior tournament schedule, upon which most

college coaches make decisions about prospective recruits.

She believes, however, high school golf is a more pressurized

environment, which is helping her hone the mental portion of her game.

“I like the team aspect of (high school golf), but there is more

pressure, because you’re being counted on to do well for your teammates,”

Hunt said. “I’ve overcome my fear of feeling like all the pressure is put

on me, being the No. 1 player, but it does wear on you.”

But the game, including the self-imposed practice regimen with which she

pursues perfection, never gets old.

“My passion never goes away,” she said. “It’s kind of fun to figure out

what I’m doing wrong, when I’m not playing well.”

Hunt, a member at Old Ranch Country Club in Seal Beach, said she is well

beyond getting strange looks or comments from patrons about her

time-consuming vigilance on the range.

“By now, most people know why I’m there,” she said. “They know I’m just

trying to fix my game.”