Taking his first swings, Wyndham Clark turned heads at a local driving range when, hitting the ball impressively, he made it through one bucket of balls . . . and eagerly asked for a second. He was 3 years old.
He made his first hole-in-one at age 6.
In his first three years at Valor Christian High School, Clark won one individual Class 4A state title — in 2009 as a sophomore — and finished second as a freshman and as a junior. Significantly, as a perfectionist in a sport invented to torture perfectionists, he considers those individual runner-up finishes disappointing and underachieving. But he was instrumental in two Valor Christian team titles, in 2009 and 2010.
After making his mark as one of the country’s top young golfers, Clark is headed for powerhouse Oklahoma State University next year.
That is the resume of a prodigy.
“The sky’s the limit for Wyndham,” Clark’s individual coach, Erik Billinger, said. “He’s ridiculous good — the best I’ve ever seen at this age. He’ll be a multiple winner on the (PGA) tour. That’s how good he is.”
When he goes after his second individual state title in the Class 4A state championship Monday and Tuesday at Pelican Lakes Golf and Country Club in Windsor, Clark will be hoping to finish his high school career with a flourish.
“It’s still a big deal to me,” said Clark, 17. “Going into high school, I wanted to win four state championships, both individually and as a team. . . . Unfortunately, I got second twice, and that was pretty frustrating. But this is bigger than just me. It’s helping my team and the school, and it’s to honor and glorify God.”
Hitting a plateau
After virtually immersing himself in golf the past two years at Valor, Clark will take a slightly different approach as a senior. After the state championship, he will play in a junior event at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla., primarily because that will be his home course as a collegian.
Then, he will all but shut down his golf game for the winter to play basketball for Valor Christian. He started at guard for the Eagles as a freshman — when the school, in its first year, didn’t have a senior class — then didn’t play the past two seasons to concentrate on golf.
“I’ll be practicing, but I won’t be playing in any tournaments until probably March,” Clark said. “I’ll take a good break. The last two winters, I really wanted to work on my golf game.
“My freshman year, I kind of had a coming-out party nationally, and I could see that I could go somewhere in golf and get a college scholarship and schools were looking at me. So I told my dad then that I wanted to pursue this and concentrate on golf. I thought taking off the winter would be detrimental to my game.”
Instead, Clark felt he hit a bit of a plateau during that two-year immersion period. He was best known for his short game and scoring touch, and he hoped to tweak his swing to add to his image as a ball-striker. But he didn’t like his progress and earlier this year changed to Billinger, a 32-year-old teaching professional at Highlands Ranch Golf Club who played at the University of Denver.
“He’s a perfectionist, and that can go both ways,” Billinger said. “That’s why he is great, and that’s also why he’s his own worst enemy. That’s a trait you have to have in a golfer, but you have to be careful that you don’t beat yourself up too much.”
Breaking up the routine
In line with an adjusted outlook, plus with the encouragement of the Oklahoma State staff, Clark decided that rejoining the basketball team for his senior season might be rejuvenating.
“I don’t think I’ll be a starting guy because I’m so out of it and we have better players now,” Clark said. “But if I’m a sixth man or seventh man and come off the bench and play minutes, that will be great.
“I think part of the reason my last two summers weren’t very good was that I put too much into it. It was like the harder I practiced, the worse I played. In some sports, like basketball, if you practice hard, you’re going to get the results, most of the time. But in golf, it’s so mental.
“I practiced so hard and played bad, which I didn’t quite get. I found out the hard way that I had the wrong perspective and I needed to be humbled a little bit and needed to have an outlet too.
“I’ve figured out that when I’m not playing good, or even when I’m playing good, it helps to take breaks and go do something else, like fishing or hunting or hanging out with friends or playing basketball.”
Clark was the medalist, with a 67, as the Eagles won their 4A regional last week at Foothills Golf Club. Valor competes in the Cheyenne Mountain Invite today at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs as the final warm-up before next week’s state championship.
Terry Frei: 303-954-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com
Stellar prep career — medalist, two runner-up finishes
Valor Christian senior golfer Wyndham Clark’s results in his three previous Class 4A state tournaments.
• 2008 (freshman): At Yampa Valley Golf Club: Shot 66-76 — 142, finishing second by six shots to D’Evelyn’s Brandon Beeg.
• 2009 (sophomore): At Highlands Ranch Golf Club: Shot 69-67 — 136, finishing first, two ahead of Montrose’s Drew Trujillo.
• 2010 (junior): At The Club at Flying Horse: Shot 67-71 — 138, finishing second by one shot to D’Evelyn’s John Ahern.
