Bowling Green State University Athletics
Jacin' His Dreams and Walkin' the Links
November 11, 2007 | Men's Golf
Nov. 11, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Four years ago, Jace Walker had a decision to make - continue playing hockey with his friends in Canada or play golf at Bowling Green State University, where he knew no one. When Walker talks today about the decision to come to BG today, he does so without a hint of regret.
"It was a bit of a chance to take but the payoff has been awesome," Walker said. "I've got friends from all over the country I never would have known of."
The St. Thomas, Ontario native knew from the moment he met with men's golf coach Garry Winger he wanted to make BG his new home. Winger, a native of Ontario himself, convinced Walker BG was a good fit for a kid from Canada.
"I'd heard the horror stories about guys [from Canada] who went down south to play about how different things are," Walker said. "[Winger] told me how things in BG were similar to home, and he was right."
Still, giving up hockey was not an easy choice.
"I miss hockey dearly but I love golf," Walker said.
Looking back on Walker's career as a Falcon, most would say choosing golf was the right decision. Over the past two years Walker has averaged fewer than 75 strokes per round, breaking or shooting par 23 times. Last year, Walker finished 11th at the MAC Championships and earned MAC Golfer of the Week honors twice.
While he's a thriving on the links now, things seemed less promising in his first year, when Walker averaged more than 79 strokes per round and struggled with consistency. While he says he hits the ball just as well now as he did then, his mental approach has made all the difference.
"My freshman year I didn't play very well - I was bad," Walker said. "I made mistakes I couldn't afford to make. It's just consistency."
After committing himself to making better decisions and staying disciplined on the course, Walker has lowered his average each year. Now in his final season for the Falcons, Walker is looking at opportunities to continue his golfing career. Admittedly, he's not ready to compete on a professional level but he knows he still has room to improve.
"As long as you're still playing and keep improving you've got a chance [to play professionally]," Walker said. "As long as I keep improving, I'll keep playing."
While he enjoys the personal success, Walker will not hesitate to stress what he's most proud of in his time at BG - the team's forward strides.
After struggling early in his BG career, the Falcons have improved vastly, best evidenced by the team's co-championship at the Purdue Midwest Shootout to start the year. The Falcons beat the likes of Arizona, Purdue and Western Illinois, all NCAA Tournament teams last spring, en route to the win.
"The program is really starting to take off, and now we're in the process of doing something to keep up with the bigger schools," Walker said. "We've been on a gradual rise since I've been here."
Even though he won't be around next year, Walker is still excited about the chance's of next year's team.
"It's been good to be a part of helping the program's quality go up," Walker said. "I think we'll surprise a lot of people next year."
