Just going by the numbers, Bow High senior Jake Mielcarz was an obvious choice for Monitor Golfer of the Season.
Mielcarz had the best finish at an individual division championship of any local golfer, taking fourth in Division III with a two-day total of 151 – 74 at Mount Washington Resort Golf Club in Bretton Woods and a 77 at Beaver Meadow Golf Club in Concord. That 74 at Mount Washington was the low score of the day for Bow at the D-III team championships, and the Falcons finished runner-up, the best team result for any local high school.
What made Mielcarz an even more obvious choice was his contributions beyond the numbers.
“It was really invaluable for our team and our younger players to have a leader like Jake,” Bow coach Matt Davis said. “We talk a lot about how it’s an individual game and you never know how your teammates are doing when you’re out on the course, so you just have to go with what you can control, and that can be kind of daunting. So for the team to see Jake grind it out when he’s in practice and maybe having a tough couple holes, and then to come back with a good stretch, I think that’s important for them to see and then they want to emulate it.
“We’ve talked about it. He had a lot of good teammates ahead of him and he wanted to emulate them, and they’re going to be doing the same thing with him long after he’s gone.”
Mielcarz didn’t start playing golf until the summer before his eighth grade year. But he loved it right away, improved quickly and then, like Davis said, had some pretty good role models to follow once he arrived at Bow as a freshman, including then-senior Doug Champagne, a two-time D-III individual champ.
“I wasn’t varsity at first as a freshman, but then I got up there and I was like the number six guy all season, and I was just trying to emulate Doug Champagne,” Mielcarz said. “I think that’s what made me play the way I did the past three years, especially this year. Looking up to him as a role model when he was a senior, I wanted to be like that when I was a senior.”
Mielcarz hasn’t enjoyed the same success as Champagne, who won four-straight high school team titles in addition to the two individual crowns. But Mielcarz killed it as a role model.
“He worked with a couple of our kids this year going up to the range and watching them hit the ball and kind of guiding them through some things, and then on the course he’ll talk to them about what they should be thinking about as they play,” Davis said. “He’s a great leader in the fact that he will be teaching vocally while he’s out there, but he’s also demonstrating.”
Mielcarz also had a pretty good role model who shares his name – great uncle Bob Mielcarz of Concord, who holds the record for most wins at the New Hampshire State Am with nine.
“Everybody always mentions that to me, and I want to play up to that level, and it is motivation, I want to keep it going,” Jake said. “But I’m also just me. I’m not Bob. You’ve got to give his success to him and not me.”
“Jake definitely knows the history that his uncle has in the state and he’s pretty frank in saying he knows how important the name is when we talk about golf in our state,” Davis said. “So living up to that tradition is important to him, but he also knows that he has to make his own way.”
That way will most likely include college golf. Mielcarz has been talking to some college coaches and is narrowing down his choices. His high school coach believes that no matter what school he chooses, Milecarz will find more success.
“Honestly, Jake has one of the best work ethics of any kid I’ve ever seen,” Davis said, “so I have no doubt that he’ll fit in playing college golf.”
(Tim O’Sullivan can be reached at 369-3341 or tosullivan@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @timosullivan20)