Polar Bear of the Week: Andrew Flynn ’27
October 18, 2024
Two weekends ago, golfer Andrew Flynn ’27 finished in first place and earned medalist honors with a score of 71, a top ten score all-time for a Bowdoin golfer at the Colby-Bates-Bowdoin (CBB) Championship. Hosted by Colby College in Waterville on October 6 and 7, Flynn’s performance boosted the Polar Bears into first place against Colby and Bates College. With a cumulative team score of 292, the Polar Bears claimed the CBB crown. The trophy allowed Bowdoin to wrap up its fall season with a win, as Flynn and his teammates begin offseason training and look towards NESCAC championships in the spring.
Golf is nothing new for Flynn who started playing golf at the age of three and began competing as a teenager.
“I think my dad would just put me out in the middle of the fairway car, and I would just play from 100 yards. So I’ve really been playing my whole life, but I didn’t really play super competitively until I was towards high-school age, maybe middle school a bit,” Flynn said.
After high school, a few factors led Flynn to Bowdoin’s golf team: Coach Jay Durfee, Bowdoin’s campus and the Brunswick golf course.
“I got to meet [Durfee], and then I got to come visit the school. Obviously, it was a beautiful campus. I also got to see the [golf] course when I visited, and it was really nice to see how close it was to campus. And it was a nice course, so those things drew me in,“ Flynn said.
Flynn believes his putting skills were key to his performance over the weekend at the CBB tournament that led to his individual win and contributed to the team’s victory.
“Specifically with the CBB, my putting significantly improved. I didn’t have great ball striking, especially towards the end of the season,” Flynn said. “But in the CBB, I putted really well, which helped me to shoot 71.”
Flynn also explained how his putting proved to be a point of improvement and practice throughout the season.
“I’ve been working on it a bit because [putting] is just a really important part of the game. And then we got [to the greens at the CBB] a little early, and they were slower than what we were used to, so it was important to practice putting a lot before we got out there,” Flynn said. “Once I got out there, I got off to a hot start and just kept playing well from there.”
Now that the fall season—and the warm weather—has ended, Flynn plans to work with the new indoor golf simulator on campus during the long winter off-season to improve his swing.
“During the winter, you get six months, maybe a little less, off. So you can really work on your swing a lot—I started swinging a little bit poorly towards the end of the season. So I’m excited—once we get our simulator—to work it out and hopefully be back and better for the spring,” Flynn said.
All this will be in preparation for the NESCAC championships this coming spring, a major event for the golf team. The championships will be held by Williams College at the Taconic Golf Club and will be the first 54-hole NESCAC championship the team participates in.
“In the spring, I think our big goal is always to win NESCACs, because that’s really the important tournament every year. If we win that, we get to go to the NCAA, which is always the goal, so we always just have that tournament crossed off on our calendar,” Flynn said.
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