Porch's golf game headed south

The golf hook was set early for Ryan Porch.

The Glacier sophomore and 2010 Class AA state runner-up still remembers his first time on a golf course.

He was only a fifth grader when he and his mom played the Cameron Nine one day at Buffalo Hill Golf Course.

Right then and there, Ryan was into it.

"I liked it. I've been attracted to it ever since. It's something I'm good at. I like being on the golf course," Ryan said.

"It's a time to relax. I can go out with my parents (mom Sherri and dad Roger) and friends and laugh and joke around," he said.

"I am attached to it. I just love being out there," he said.

"It's a pretty exciting sport - to me, anyway," he added.

That said, it's been months since Porch has been on any of the three local courses to which he has memberships. He and his family have been too busy skiing.

That doesn't seem to have slowed his golf game, though.

In mid-December, Porch won the Golfweek Junior Tour Championship in Scottsdale, Ariz.

There were 45 kids in his 14-15 year-old age group and another 45 in the 16-19 year-old age group. He beat them all, shooting 145 over 36 holes.

"I wanted to (win), but it wasn't in my expectations. I just wanted to be in the Top 10," he said.

"I was actually really surprised. The last time I played was mid-October. We rarely practice. Sometimes, I'll hit balls," he smiled.

The victory earned Porch one of 200 invitations to this weekend's Golfweek West Coast Junior Invitational. Ryan and his parents are flying today to Scottsdale.

Should he place in the Top 15 he will receive one American Junior Golf Association exemption. A Top 10 finish means two exemptions, Top Five is three and a win would make him fully exempt.

"There's some really good players. I'm excited, more than nervous," he said.

"I just want to play my best. I want to be in that top 15, but likely it'll be top 25," he said.

Glacier golf coach Rob Logsdon couldn't be prouder.

"The first thing that comes to me with Ryan is he genuinely cares a lot about his teammates, his friends, his family and little kids. He's especially good with kids," the coach said.

"If (Ryan) sees our son out at a football game, the first thing he does is walk up to Cooper and find out how he's doing," the coach said.

"He's earned this. He works as hard as anybody. He's very committed to golf and to getting better," the coach said.

The success hasn't come without some sacrifices.

Porch says he gave up football in seventh grade and basketball in the eighth grade - to concentrate on golf.

"He was a pretty good little athlete. He was a good football and basketball player. But it's been all golf for him," Logsdon said.

"He studies (golf). He reads instruction books, mental preparation books. That kid probably knows more about new equipment than anybody. If I was going to ask somebody what kind of clubs to get, I'd ask Ryan," he said.

"Ryan has a huge amount of talent and he works his tail off. He's got a huge upside. He's got a lot of potential. He's got a good swing, very mechanically sound. What that will lead to in the future ... he's getting outside the state some and seeing some success. I see him getting some of his school or all of his school paid for," the coach said.

Porch himself is hoping for a Division I school - somewhere warm.

"I want year-round golf," he said.

"I'm good - not anywhere close to great - but I have a lot of years to practice to get there. I'm a pretty good putter. I'd say I have a pretty good short game and I'm good with the wedges," Porch said.

Tee-shots present more of a problem, he said.

"I just tend to block the shots off the fairway. I just get really excited off the tee," he said.

Porch also admits that he went through a period where he struggled with his temper.

By his own admission, he had a tendency to slam things.

"I've never broken a club, but I've hit them on the ground before," he said.

"I've learned to control and I've gotten a lot better," he said.

Logsdon says Porch's temper hasn't been any worse than any other high school athlete.

But the coach is all the prouder because of the difficulty Porch went through on the golf course before his freshman year.

"He was playing super well going into the high school season, but he fell flat in the fall," the coach said.

"He would really go into a shell when he didn't play well. If he had a bad hole, it would turn into a series of bad holes and a bad round," Logsdon said.

"A lot of kids would have struggled to recover from that, but he put his head down and talked to me and to his dad and his uncles. He's done everything we've asked. He's been working on it for a year and a half now. He knows he's going to make a bad swing now and then.

"Now he shakes it off and he goes to the next hole. He realizes he has a whole round or another day to come back.

"He's a tough little competitor. He likes competing, but he's a fun kid to play with. He's talkative. He likes to socialize with the other kids," Logsdon said.

"He's a good student. He's nice to other people. He's polite and he treats people with respect. That's the kind of kid you want representing you."