"IF YOU LIKE GOLF"
weekly online golf column
by
Stan Crawley

October 7, 2003

After enjoying a successful career at The Baylor School, Josh Nelms headed to Middle Tennessee State University last fall with high expectations.

The first year in Murfreesboro, however, was a disappointment. Nelms didn't play well, and the MTSU coaching staff told him he needed to change his golf swing.

MTSU head coach Johnny Moore recommended the swing change, and assistant Blue Raider coach Whit Turbow started working with Nelms.

"I didn't argue with them because I knew I had an unorthodox swing,'' Nelms said. "I knew they were right. I knew some things had to change for me to be able to compete in college.''

Still working on the change, Nelms was inconsistent with his play this past summer in local and national tournaments. He gained some confidence the last few weeks of the summer while playing rounds at Creeks Bend with former MTSU teammate Patrick Williams, and that play has carried over to his sophomore season in Murfreesboro.

Behind a strong effort from Nelms, MTSU won the ULM/Fred Marx Intercollegiate last week in Monroe, La. It was the Blue Raiders' first tournament victory since winning the Ohio Valley Conference Championship in 2000. The Blue Raiders shot a 54-hole score of 889 on the par 72 Bayou DeSiard Country Club course.

"This was a great win for our program on a very difficult golf course," coach Moore said. "Josh Nelms had a great final round score of (2-under) 70. All five guys came down here and felt like they could win. We are getting better every time out and I like our progress."

Nelms, who was 3-under on the par 5s for the tournament, led the Blue Raiders with a 220 to record his best finish ever with a tie for third.

"I'm hitting a ton more fairways with my driver than ever,'' Nelms said. "That was a real tight course, and I hit nine or 10 fairways every day. It's so much easier to score when you're hitting it out of the fairway.''

Nelms has played nine rounds this fall at MTSU with four of them under par. His scoring average is 73.1.

"When I was playing with Patrick late in the summer I was under par for almost a whole week at Creeks Bend,'' Nelms said. "I decided to start playing with confidence, not worrying about something not working before each shot. The confidence is working up here so far, I guess.''

Nelms' father, Central High boys basketball coach Bill Nelms, traveled to Louisiana last week to watch the tournament.

"Josh is doing really well,'' Bill said. "He learned a lot last year and seems to be playing with a lot more confidence. He is coming along pretty well.''

Josh Nelms and the Blue Raiders are in Tulsa, Okla., this week for the Shangri La Shootout.

"We were real excited about winning in Louisiana,'' Nelms said. "We knew we were good, that we just had to finish rounds. I'm having a lot more fun this year, that's for sure. We have a lot of guys who love to play. We had some bad apples last year.

"And it sure is more fun being in the last group of the day in tournaments when everything matters, when you grind on every shot, when more people are watching. That sure is more fun than being in the first group in the morning. That's not fun.''

(E-mail Stan Crawley at wscrawley@earthlink.net)

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