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- Xavier golfer Zach Burton set the course record at prestigious Maketewah Country Club on Aug. 22.
- Xavier golfer Zach Burton capped a course record 62 with a tap-in par.
Xavier men’s golf coach Brian Arlinghaus, who is also the owner and operator of Cincinnati Sports Psychology, stresses the importance of the mental side of the game to all of his golfers.
That’s been a big part of senior Zach Burton’s development since he joined the Musketeers in 2021. It especially came into play Aug. 22, when Burton arrived at the 18th tee box at Maketewah Country Club needing a par to set the course record.
“The blood is flowing, everything’s pumping, the heart’s moving,” Burton said. “You actually learn to embrace that because it means you’re playing for something.”
The 18th hole, a par 3 that plays anywhere from 150 to 170 yards, is Burton’s favorite at Maketewah with the clubhouse looming in the background of the green. However, this was no ordinary practice round.
Though he wasn’t entirely sure what the previous course record was (63), there was a different feeling in the air. Teammates in his group treated him like a pitcher working on a perfect game in the eighth inning.
“You just kind of feel it at that point. I never asked (on the record). I was on the tee thinking about asking,” Burton said. “I’m just gonna play this hole and see how it goes.”
The stakes were high, but the shots sound routine. Burton plopped an 8-iron to 20 feet, rolled his birdie putt to within a foot, then tapped in for par to finish with a course-record of 62.
Simple enough.
Burton opened round with 29 on the front 9: ‘This might be something.’
Burton’s father, Jason, played high-level amateur golf and the senior has had a club in his hand since he was 3 years old. He’s lived the highs and lows of the game for nearly two decades and knows how magically everything can click on any given afternoon or fall apart.
He was red-hot as a senior at Hillard Davidson, winning the OCC Central Player of the Year award for the second time, but settled for a 13th-place tie at the OHSAA state tournament.
He got his first college win in October 2024 at The Indy at Forest Hills and is expected to be a senior leader for the Musketeers squad that was the Big East runner-up last season.
On Aug. 22, Burton opened his practice round with six birdies in seven holes. On the 480-yard, par 4 sixth hole, Burton ripped a six iron to 12 feet, then sunk his birdie putt. When the turn arrived, he had carded a front-9 score of 29.
“That was the first time I had done that. By then it was like, we might have something here,” Burton laughed.
By his own standards, Burton didn’t do “anything spectacular” on the back-9, but his par saves were momentous in turning in a bogey-free round. On 12, a 200-yard, par 3, he came up short of the green and into the bunker. He navigated the sand with a wedge shot to within eight feet of a tucked away pin in the back. He then knocked in a tricky downhill par putt that broke left to right.
Burton’s tee-shot on the 486-yard, par-4 15th was so bad it turned out good. It cleared the bunker off the right side of the fairway, then left him an opening through trees to get to the green with his 6-iron and two putt for par.
“Somedays, when you get to our skill level, you just kind of see it and it goes exactly how you plan it,” Burton said.
Down the stretch, his teammates in his group, Carson Bellish and Felix-Antoine Levasseur, were giving him the silent treatment.
Meanwhile, the teammates in the group in front of them had found out over text that Burton was on the verge of something really special. Adding to the abnormality of that afternoon, a group of Xavier players were waiting near the 18th green to see if Burton could pull it off.
If that didn’t raise Burton’s suspicions, when his birdie putt stopped less than a foot from the hole, Levasseur jokingly said, ‘you should probably mark that.’
“In my head, that meant this was probably for the course record,” Burton said.
When he tapped in for par, the celebration began, and Burton any speculation was cleared up.
“The guys that were in front of us ran onto the green and mobbed me, hugged me,” Burton said. “It was a special moment and one I’ll never forget.”
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