EDWARDSVILLE – Edwardsville golfer Parker Griffiths signed a letter of intent to play for Lewis and Clark Community College in Godfrey on the opening day for college recruits to play for their chosen schools in fall sports.
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Griffiths signed with the Trailblazers after enjoying a successful senior season, which saw the Tigers advance as a team to the IHSA sectionals at Sunset Hills Country Club.
Griffiths became interested in LCCC after a conversation between Edwardsville coach Adam Tyler and Blazers coach Gerald Mazur.
“My coach, Mr. Tyler, was talking to the coach (Mazur), and he said that he was interested in me,” Griffiths said, “and I thought it was a good fit for me. I liked it.”
Lewis and Clark was the only school Griffiths considered, and was the only school that made an offer to him. Griffiths is planning on majoring in history, with a goal of possibly being a history teacher one day.
Griffiths felt that he played good most of the season, but started to pick up his game in mid-season.
Griffiths goals are very simple.
“I hope to become a better player,” Griffiths said, “and they’ve got a good program, and help make me do that.”
Tyler feels that LCCC will be a great fit for Griffiths, and it’s also close to home.
“I think it’s a great fit for him,” Tyler said, “and it’s a place he’s been wanting to go to. I think at the beginning of the year, he said that if he could get into Lewis and Clark, or go someplace like that, stay close to home, two years to mature, and then, I look for him to go to a four-year school afterward.”
As far as a four-year school is concerned, neither Griffiths or Tyler are sure where Griffiths will go to. Tyler is confident that Griffiths will find the right school for him.
“I think he’ll do a great job of finding him a school after two years, I’m sure of it,” Tyler said. “But the neat thing about Parker, and what he’s doing right now, is that he still has a long way to go to maturing physically and becoming a better golfer. I think he’s only begun to scratch the surface of how good a golfer he’s going to be. I think that he’s not reached his potential for him, I think that’s something he will do in the next few years, and I think his best golf is definitely still ahead of him, which is very neat and exciting to see.”
And the fact that Griffiths hopes to become a history teacher is a very noble thing as well.
“Absolutely,” Tyler said. “And then, he’s the type of kid with the type of demeanor that he can get into coaching and teaching, and he’d be great at it. He can teach a lot, and he’s taught me a lot over the past couple of years of being a golf coach. So it’s kind of like, as I said a second ago, he’s a great kid that’s got a very high ceiling, and he’s got a ton of potential.
When asked to describe his game, Tyler came up with one word – and it isn’t necessarily a bad thing in this case.
“He’s very even-keeled,” Tyler said, “he puts the ball in the fairway, it’s very boring golf; he puts the ball on the fairway, he puts the ball on the green, and he two-putts. He’s a very boring golfer. I do think that when he does mature a little bit, gets stronger, you’re going to notice the ball, he starts to hit the ball a little bit further, he starts to take a little bit of control of his swing, and takes ownership of his swing a little bit more, and figures out how his game will fit into that college level, I think he’ll become a little bit of a different player. But in high school, he was a very boring golfer. Fairways, greens and two-putt for pars.”
Not that boring golf is a bad thing, mind you.
“Absolutely not,” Tyler said with a smile and a laugh. “It’s a golf coach’s dream to have a very boring golfer. I love it.”
As far as Griffiths’ future in golf, he’s hoping to go to a four-year school.
“I hope that I can go to a four-year college after Lewis and Clark,” Griffiths said.
And Tyler feels that Griffiths potential is limitless.
“No, it’s very exciting,” Tyler said. I’m incredibly excited to see where he’s going to be at four years from now, because he’s the type of kid that I do not believe he’s even begun to scratch the surface of how good he’s going to be.”
