Quinn, McLaughlin Reflect on Their Princeton Golf Experience
4/20/2020
Until this spring, there was no reason for anyone involved with the program to think a Princeton golf season would end with a tournament other than ‘Ivy’ or ‘NCAA’ in the title.
Then came this spring, and then came an ending that no one foresaw and one that has nothing to do specifically with Princeton Golf, or with anything at Princeton.
That’s the thing about plans and schedules, that the outside world can have something to say about them. Nevertheless, Caden McLaughlin and Evan Quinn, the program’s two seniors, have continued to plan for their post-Princeton future, because even in uncertain times, that’s all any of us can do.
They can also look back on what they were able to achieve and experience in their time with the program, truncated or not. They’re able to leave Princeton as reigning Ivy League champions, and having played in an NCAA regional after waiting through the selection show to hear their school’s name called. They’ve been able to take an overseas trip through the program, to get a glimpse into life after Princeton, and to spend the better part of four years taking the trip just across Alexander Road to play at Springdale.
That part of their lives may have ended only recently, but the freshness of those memories hasn’t shallowed the appreciativeness with which they’re recalled.
“Being able to travel all over the country, and even all over the world for our international trip to play some of the best courses in the world, just through tournaments is extraordinary, (along with) the break trips that we went on,” Quinn said. “We checked off a bunch of courses in the top 10 in the world just through Princeton alumni, who are so generous and willing to host us at their course.”
Their senior year was one that included a fall break trip to Europe.
“We were in Portugal for a couple days, played two courses there,” Quinn said. “One that stood out was Oitavos Dunes, which is a really good course world ranking-wise and also very unique. Just the landscape was super cool. Then we were in Rome for a few days after that and played another two courses in Italy, one of which had just hosted a European Tour event.”
#WhereInTheWorldIsPrincetonGolf pic.twitter.com/jXdusmq0u6
— Princeton Golf Team (@princetongolf) October 29, 2019
Some memories were made far from campus, and some were made without leaving town.
“The team environment that I think Evan and I were able to create over the last two or three years, and really the bonds that I’ve created with my teammates will probably be the one thing I cherish most going forward and cherish right now,” McLaughlin said. “Princeton Golf is so special because of our alumni and the opportunities they allow us to have. Everything we do is because of our alumni and their support. I think I was able to play, because of Princeton Golf and the connections, eight of the top 10 courses in the U.S. in one calendar year. It’s something that I’ll never come close to doing again, most likely.”
Their freshman-year schedule included trips to Hawaii to play at the Princeville Makai Golf Club and to Washington to play at Chambers Bay, which was less than two years removed from hosting the U.S. Open.
“We’re very lucky to be able to obviously have a really, really competitive tournament schedule that brought us to a lot of really good courses,” Quinn said. “The Ivy League Championship, the three courses that we played were really good courses. Obviously I’m going to remember last year’s more than I am the previous two just because of the outcome. Playing in Hawaii was a really unique experience. Chambers Bay was a really cool experience because just a few years prior, I’d been watching Jordan Speith win the tournament there, and also a very unique course.”
The 10th at Chambers Bay. #GoodToBeATiger pic.twitter.com/diz2UM9GpN
— Princeton Golf Team (@princetongolf) April 2, 2017
Par-3 13th at Makai Club. Currently 3 groups on the tee, but no one seems to mind. #Hawaii pic.twitter.com/O5LRn6ukKX
— Princeton Golf Team (@princetongolf) October 30, 2016
There are, of course, realities beyond anyone’s control, a truth of which the current situation is a fresh reminder. Another is that golf is affected by weather. In recent years in particular, the program has gotten inventive with keeping golf games sharp year-round, from the Full Swing simulator in Dillon Gym and TrackMan units at Dillon and Springdale to the practice facility at Springdale that opened in 2019. They’ve also been able to use the nearby TPC Jasna Polana course, located in Princeton.
I think Princeton has been really good about making sure we’re at the forefront of not just the Ivy League in terms of facilities, but any program in the northeast.Senior Evan Quinn
“The indoor facility at Dillon is really nice, but at the end of the day, it’s even more helpful to see the ball in the air during the off months, and that’s what the indoor facility at Springdale has allowed us to do. We’re very lucky to have Springdale within walking distance. The reason I wanted to come to Princeton over any other school was because of the schedule that we played and because of the facilities. Those two things alone were pretty much what made me want to come to Princeton. Jasna is obviously such a great thing to have, a couple minutes away. It’s a really challenging course and I think it prepares us well for a lot of the tournaments that we play. The combination of having something super convenient and then something that helps us prepare really well, I think that’s really unique to Princeton.”
What hasn’t been unique to Princeton is the need to adjust academic plans, with instruction all over the country having moved online. For most Princeton seniors, the end of senior year means a thesis paper or project, and those have had to adjust as well.
Quinn, a mechanical and aerospace engineering major, has a project studying the installation of irrigation systems in a more cost-effective way using an approach that includes robotics and sustainability.
“We were very fortunate that we were right where we needed to be in our plan timing-wise,” Quinn said. “We’d gotten a lot of the manual building and physical building done, so while we still had some testing left to do, we were able to complete most of the assembly before everything was shut down. Now we’re just spending a little bit more time in detail writing the report, trying to give reasonable suggestions for what we would have done had we had the time and adding parts of the thesis that we would have liked to have included.”
For McLaughlin, an economics major, the post-Princeton plans included studying for the Securities Industry Essentials (SIE) exam, followed by the Series 63 exam for securities licensing. The current situation has disrupted the testing schedule, but the studies continue.
“Being at home, it’s given me more time to put into studying for that (SIE) exam,” McLaughlin said. “On the one hand, it’s hard to study for an exam when you don’t know when you’re actually going to take that exam. It’s impossible to plan in uncertain times.”
It is indeed a difficult time for plans with any degree of certainty, but Quinn’s and McLaughlin’s prep at Princeton, both on the course and off, has helped.
“Golf has taught me that you only have a certain amount of things that you can control, in life and on the golf course,” McLaughlin said. “You’ve really just got to roll with the punches once you decide to execute on a plan.”
