UTC Golfer John Houk leads the Mocs in career scoring as the team prepares for late-season run
photo by GoMocs.com
The past year has been one of transformation for University of Tennessee at Chattanooga golfer John Houk, both on and off the golf course.
The changes have resulted in continue improvement in the fifth-year senior’s results, but that’s only part of the story. The biggest advances have transpired in ways not evident to the casual observer.
Houk, who joined the Mocs in the fall of 2022 after three sterling years at Tennessee Wesleyan University where he was a two-time NAIA All-American, doesn’t fit the mold of a stoic golfer on the course who hides his feelings. Instead, his temperament during competition is an open book, the range of his emotions fully on display throughout his round as sort of a pressure-release valve.
But while remaining true to his persona, Houk recognized something needed to change in order to take the next step forward both in life and his career.
“My approach on the golf course has completely changed over the past year,” said Houk, a four-time state tournament participant while at McMinn Central. “Golf used to be my identity and how I played affected my life outside of it. I’ve learned to trust that God is in control and to put my identity in Him. It has freed me up during tournaments and, in my opinion, it is the main reason for my success this year.”
After earning All-Southern Conference and PING All-East Region honors his junior year including an impressive round of 62 in winning the Wofford Invitational with a final score of 17-under and finishing second in last summer’s Tennessee State Amateur, Houk was looking to improve during his final campaign at UTC.
Houk has risen to the top of the career scoring list with an average of 70.30, currently 0.84 shots better than former Moc and current PGA Tour member Stephan Jaeger, winner of last weekend’s Texas Children’s Houston Open. He was winner of the SoCon’s monthly award this week on the heels of a pair of second-place finishes in UTC’s last two tournaments to go along with two other top-five placements.
“John has bought into doing what it takes in his preparation to take that next jump in his career,” UTC coach Blaine Woodruff said. “He’s also taking care of his body like never before and he’s seeing that pay off this past month. I discussed with him about how Tiger (Woods) never talked about winning, but instead wanted to be in contention to put himself in the position to win. John is now understanding that if he does that enough, he’s going to win.
“It’s all about perspective. He still wants to play on the Tour someday and he still wants to win every tournament. But for the first time, his life isn’t totally consumed by how he plays.”
The shift in his priorities has enabled Houk to better embrace his final season at the collegiate level.
“My maturity has definitely allowed me to enjoy the game more,” Houk said. “I realize there are bigger things going on than golf and having that perspective has changed the game for me. I’ve learned to do a better job of playing for my teammates and trying to push them each day like they do for me. With my college career approaching its end, I’m focusing on trying to make an impact that’s bigger than the score on my scorecard.”
Make no mistake – the likeable Houk has not suppressed his fiery disposition that fuels his competitive edge. It is simply a matter of leaving the results on the golf course.
“Being such an emotional player on the course has its advantages and disadvantages,” Houk said. “I would love to say that I want to win more than anybody on the golf course, which has helped me in practice to prepare to get my game where it needs to be. But it can also lead me to focusing on the end result of each tournament too much. Both Coach Blaine and Coach (Nick) Robinson have helped me focus on using my competitive side to my advantage, using it to stay disciplined and relentless.”
The Mocs travel next week to Columbia, Mo. for the Tiger Collegiate Invitational which starts on Monday with 36 holes, followed by 18 on Tuesday. One of the unique occurrences during Monday’s round will be a during the peak of the upcoming solar eclipse as The Club at Old Hawthorne is squarely in the path.
“The tournament officials told us they would suspend play for five minutes during the period of darkness, and they told us not to look up,” Woodruff said. “So, we’ve got to make sure we stay disciplined there and don’t try to take a peek.”
Joining Houk in the rotation will be fellow seniors Samuel Espinosa and Paul Conroy along with junior Garrett Engle and freshman Ward Harris. Braedon Wear, also a junior, will be competing as an individual.
After failing to qualify for the past three events, Engle’s return to the lineup is an encouraging sign to Woodruff.
“Garrett’s confidence is rising and he ended up blitzing everybody during the qualifier,” Woodruff said. “I’m excited for him because he was a big part of our success last year. He's got postseason experience, and has played at the highest level in the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Junior. He's a guy that I feel like, if we're at our best, it includes him at his best. I'm really excited to get him back in the lineup this week and see what happens.”
With the exception of a disappointing 20th place result at The Prestige event in California, the Mocs other seven tournaments have resulted in a pair of wins, four runner-up finishes and a fourth-place showing.
“One thing that we haven't done this spring is to put together three really good rounds,” Woodruff said. “I don't know how many events where we've had the lowest round of the day twice, but then the other round was middle the pack just enough for us to finish second or third. I want to see if we can put three good rounds together and see what that leads to. If we get beat doing that, I’m okay with it.”
The tournament in Missouri is the beginning of a critical three-week stretch for UTC. The Mocs will travel to Santa Cruz, Cal. to compete three days in the prestigious Western Intercollegiate that will be televised on The Golf Channel starting April 15, then go to Reynolds Plantation in Eatonton, Ga. the following week for the SoCon tournament beginning April 23.
“We’re playing three in a row, which I think is good for our team,” Woodruff said. “They need to do a good job of taking care of their bodies and making sure they rest mentally in between events, but our group is good at playing a lot of golf. So, I actually think it's probably a good thing for us, especially if we start getting on a roll and build some momentum.”
Houk also believes his teammates are up to the challenge the next three weeks presents.
“As a team, we need to do a better job at focusing on what we can control in the next few weeks,” Houk said. “I have seen every single one of my teammate’s games get better from last year to this season. It’s not a question that we are a better team than we were this time last year. Our success towards the end of last year was not a surprise - it was a result of a lot of hard work from my guys. The special thing about this group is how we deal with adversity and rely on each other through it. As long as we continue to do that we can compete with any team in the country.”
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Paul Payne can be emailed at paulpayne6249@gmail.com