Good golf is ‘all mental,’ Pietrowski says

by Dennis Dalman

editor@thenewsleaders.com

One day last summer, after his 5-iron connected with a smack to the golf ball, 17-year-old Austin Pietrowski watched the ball sail into the air, in a high arc, then land bouncing and rolling toward hole number 8, which was 198 yards away.

He squinted, peering into the distance with stunned disbelief. Did the ball actually go into the hole? Could this be his first hole-in-one after years of golfing?

“I couldn’t believe it,” he recalled. “I watched from the tee box, but it seemed too good to be true. I was almost afraid to go up to hole number 8 for fear it just wouldn’t be true.”

But it was true, alright: Pietrowski had shot his first hole-in-one.

His mother was golfing with him on a Brainerd golf course that day.

“She let out a scream of joy,” he recalled. “And I was excited. Really excited. Later, we had lunch to celebrate.”

Pietrowski, the son of Becky and Greg Pietrowski of Sartell, is one of the finest golfers on the Sartell Sabre High School boys’ golf team. Now a senior, he’s been on the varsity team since ninth grade.

The Sabre golfers welcomed the start of the season on March 20 at Blackberry Ridge Golf Course, which is their home course. Their first competitive meet is set for Monday, April 10.

Among their competitors in the conference are Sauk Rapids-Rice, St. Cloud Tech and Apollo, Bemidji, Big Lake, Brainerd, Buffalo, Monticello, Moorhead and Willmar.

Pietrowski first golfed when he was only a toddler, on a course in the Twin Cities shortly before the family moved to Sartell. He rapidly became an avid golfer at the Saretll Golf Course, then became a regular at Blackberry Ridge Golf Course after it opened just north of the city. The Pietrowskis live within a stone’s throw of that course. Austin is also employed by Blackberry, working behind the clubhouse counter, checking in golfers, scheduling tee times and other tasks.

During the school year, he golfs – usually with fellow Sabre team members – four or five times a week. When he’s not golfing, he’s practicing on the driving range.

One of Pietrowski’s favorite golfing memories is winning a junior tournament on the Koronis Hills course near Paynesville when he was only 12. But his all-time favorite match was playing in the section meet last year.

“The first day was OK; I shot an 83,” he recalled. “I was really looking forward to going to state. Next day, I ended up shooting a 73, one over par, with a birdie on the last hole. Well, I missed going to state by one stroke. I was disappointed about that, but I was really happy about how well I played that second day. I think it’s the best I’ve ever played.”

Pietrowski figures he hits an average of 500 golf balls each week. That adds up to thousands upon thousands of golf balls since he first fell in love with the sport 15 years ago.

“I love golf because I’m really only competing against myself,” he said. “In golf, you’re competing against yourself always trying to improve and get better. The key to golf is all mental. Keeping a cool head. Strictly mental. It’s using mental concentration to master a game.”

Unlike some athletes, Pietrowski doesn’t carry any good-luck charms. Well, not really, although he does feel a loyalty to his ball marker – a quarter-sized marker he bought years ago at a tournament at Hazeltine, a marker embossed with “Hazeltine 2009” on its surface.

“I guess you could say that actually is my equivalent of a good-luck charm,” he said.

Besides golf, Pietrowski also enjoys trap-shooting. His favorite subjects are science and math. He plans to study engineering when he attends Iowa State University after graduation this year.

The other varsity boys’  golfers listed on the Minnesota State High School League’s roster are Alex Braun, Logan Hamak, Sean Lovitz,  Cymon Murtley, Derrick Olson, Isaac Murtley, TJ Raden, Nate Stoebe, Blake Webster and Michael Webster.