To the untrained eye, it’s difficult to distinguish what separates Nick Grimbilas from the rest of the pack on the golf course. To a PGA professional, the Bishop Brady senior’s pure talent was evident from the start.
“You can certainly see it with the sound the club and ball when they make contact. You can hear it. You can see it in the ball flight and how it comes off the club. And then you see it in aspects of the short game,” said Bishop Brady coach Phil Davis, who also serves as the head golf professional at Beaver Meadow.
“It seems like every putt he makes from 12 feet and in goes in the hole. That’s just something that you have or you don’t have. Since I’ve known Nick as a freshman in high school, it’s just always kind of gone in the hole for him.”
Grimbilas, who picked up the clubs for the first time at the young age of 4, made his final season with the Green Giants his best yet.
A four-year starter for the golf team, Grimbilas capped off his career by leading Brady to a 16-5 record. He was a First Team All-State selection in Division III, was voted as the Player of the Year and delivered in big way to claim the individual title, beating out 27 other golfers with a 1-under par 71 during the state tournament at Laconia Country Club on Oct. 12.
“He’s never really been an individual. He’s always been about the team,” Davis said. “Obviously our teams were successful because of how good he was, but he never made it about himself. So as a senior for him to win the state championship and finally break through and beat some really good players is certainly good for him.”
It was also a season of tremendous growth for Grimbilas, both on and off the course.
As a captain for the Giants, Grimbilas elevated the players around him, all while raising his own game and returning to the form he displayed when he placed third at the Division II individual tournament as a sophomore.
“My sophomore year I had a great season, but last year I had a lot of pressure on me. … I kind of didn’t work as hard as the year before and the results showed,” Grimbilas said. “This year I put a lot more effort in. I went to the range every day before the state tournament and I thought I was a lot more prepared.”
Over the course of the season, Grimbilas was the medalist of the match nine times. Using the Stableford scoring format, which awards points based on the number of strokes at each hole, Grimbilas produced an average score of 24.92 (37.4 stroke play average), the second highest mark in Division III behind Derryfield’s Colin McCaigue at 25.42.
“He was consistent this season and he certainly produced in every single match,” Davis said. “He’s been kind of our consistent staple on Bishop Brady golf for the last four years. So not only has his body of work this year been fantastic, but he’s been our MVP for four years, our captain for four years and has had the lowest stroke average for four years.”
(Jay McAree can be reached at jmcaree@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @JayMcAree.)