Weiss thrives under pressure
“I focus better,” said Weiss, 19, who is playing her first year on the Saskatchewan Golf Association’s women’s order of merit tour. “I don’t know what it is about tournaments, but I get psyched, I focus more, and I really play. I like competition.”
Weiss has spent many years in competition while golfing in junior women tournaments.
Weiss started playing following her father, Larry, around the golf course — first the Royal Regina Golf Club, then the Emerald Park Golf and Country Club (now Aspen Links Country Club). Crystal also grew up playing many different courses around the province, so in the future playing a new course wouldn’t be a challenge.
Weiss began playing in tournaments when she was 14, starting with local tournaments. The next year she played in her first Saskatchewan junior women’s championship in Yorkton.
“I placed sixth and was really happy with that,” said Weiss. “Then the next year I moved up a spot, and every year got better.”
Weiss made the Saskatchewan junior women’s team in her last two years of junior eligibilty and played in the Canadian junior championships in New Brunswick, and then London, Ont. However New Brunswick wasn’t her first national experience — she played in the Canadian junior women’s championship a year earlier in Moose Jaw, entering as an individual.
“It was just about the experience at that time,” said Weiss.
Experience has helped Weiss. As a junior, she played in seven to 10 tournaments per season. She also spends a great deal of time practising and playing. For the past four years, she has trained with golf coach Garth Zummack beginning each year in January.
With all of the commitment, Weiss has put into her golf game, it wasn’t even a question to her as to whether she would carry on competing after junior golf.
“I always planned on moving on and playing with the women, because I’ve worked really hard,” said Weiss. “I’ve put a lot of effort into my game, so I wasn’t just going to stop after juniors.”
Weiss has taken it a bit easier this season after her competitive and busy summer last year. Weiss, going into her second year as an Arts student at the University of Regina, also works at Shoppers Drug Mart, which is flexible with her golfing schedule.
This season, Weiss has played in the P.A. Ladies Northern tournament, and is playing in the Saskatchewan amateur women’s championship this week at the Melfort Golf and Country Club. Weiss hopes that is followed by an appearance in the Canadian women’s amateur championship, July 28-Aug. 1, in Winnipeg.
There are differences between the junior women’s and women’s amateur tournaments. Most importantly, there is much more competition and more players in the women’s tournaments, and now women can have caddies. For Weiss, this has been Larry, as he has been golfing with Crystal since she first started playing.
“We have some work to do,” they both said, laughing, on how the partnership is working so far.
“I mostly just pull the clubs and keep quiet, unless she asks me for an opinion,” said Larry. “But golf has been great for her . . . she’s really enjoying it and looking forward to playing more with the ladies.”
While Zummack has brought Crystal’s swing to where it’s at now, Larry has helped with the mental development that Crystal is so competent in.
“She’s made a lot of progress,” said Larry. “But it’s one step at a time, in a long process . . . the mental aspect of her game improves every year.”
In addition to her ability to perform under pressure, Crystal has always excelled at putting – the short game, of course, is key in tournament play.
Weiss has reached her goals in the past — making the Saskatchewan junior women’s team when she was 17, and excelling in tournaments. She recalled the first time she played match play in the Junior girls Lobstick in Waskesiu, and the rush of adrenaline in winning on the last hole. Now that Weiss is playing in a new category, she has new goals.
One of the goals was to play her best in Melfort at the Saskatchewan women’s amateur.
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