Elston’s back in the swing
As redshirt seasons go, Lani Elston’s was a wash.
Spokane’s former two-time U.S. Junior Golf Association All-American and four-time high school all-stater for Ferris made the most of the extra off-course hours she inherited after arriving at the University of Arizona for the 2002-03 school year.
Having just transferred from the University of Idaho, where she had been named to the All-Big West Conference first team as a freshman, Elston used her down time to better acquaint herself with her new school, her new classes and the city of Tucson’s vast array of wonderful golf courses.
But her year-long hiatus from competition proved to be a disaster for her golf game.
“It’s hard to talk about it,” Elston said when asked to evaluate her redshirt season during a telephone interview from Tucson, “because, in my mind, I still think that year of not competing really hurt me.
“When I came back in the fall, it had been almost 15 months since I had played in a real tournament. I’d never had a break like that in my life, and it took me a good seven months after that to get acclimated to competing again.”
By the time she returned to competition as a redshirt sophomore during fall 2003, Elston was fighting a swing she hardly recognized and shooting scores she hadn’t posted since her days as a junior golfer. But as the season unwound and she grew accustomed to the pressures of competitive golf once again, Elston retooled her swing and regained her confidence.
She shot a season-low round of 3-under-par 69 in the late-season PING/Arizona State Invitational, where she finished 12th, and then wowed her coach, Greg Allen, and her teammates with a fifth-place finish in the Pacific-10 Conference Tournament at Saticoy Country Club in Somis, Calif.
After spending last summer at home working with Indian Canyon Golf Course head professional Gary Lindeblad, Elston has continued her solid play this spring and expects to be a contender again in the 2005 Pac-10 Tournament that starts Monday at Ruby Hills Golf Club in Pleasanton, Calif.
“As a golfer, you’ve got to be out there competing every week to keep that competitive edge,” explained Allen, who is in his seventh season as Arizona’s women’s coach, “and toward the end of last year, Lani was just getting used to being back in tournament action.
“This year, she’s turned into a real consistent player for us, and if she has another great week at the Pac-10s next week, she’ll definitely be on the second-team all-conference team this time around.”
Elston has played recently as the Wildcats’ No. 2 player behind junior Cassandra Kirkland and ranks second on the team with a scoring average of 74.95. In Arizona’s nine tournaments, she has finished in the top 10 once and the top 20 on two other occasions, posting a low round of 4-under 68.
“I’m going into the Pac-10s very confident,” said Elston, whose Wildcats are seeded No. 4 behind UCLA, Arizona State and Washington. “My finish last year helps, because now I know I can put together a good tournament. I know I can do it, because I’ve done it before. I’m really quite relaxed.”
Elston also seems comfortable with her personal life, having become engaged to Andrew Marshall last winter after a teammate set up the couple on a blind golf date.
“We met at the driving range at Randolph Park and just hit it off,” Elston explained. “It’s been perfect – like a dream – since then.”
Marshall, who was also an accomplished junior golfer, played at the University of Texas at Arlington and is helping Elston with her game.
“We’ve been going to the range a lot,” Elston said. “He watches to make sure I’m doing what I want and what Gary and I worked on over the summer. He knows what to look for, and he’s also worked with me on my chipping.
“We have chipping contests all the time. I don’t like to lose, but he’s very good and still beats me.”
Allen marvels at Elston’s seemingly endless pursuit of golf perfection.
“She’s such a workhorse,” he said. “She practices longer than anybody I’ve ever been around. We’ll have a team workout in the afternoon, and then in the evening she’ll go to a lighted driving range with her fiancé and practice some more.”
When asked what separates Elston, who ranks No. 3 in the nation in greens hit in regulation with a percentage of .731, from the elite players in college golf, Allen points to her conservative approach – especially to putting.
“She’s one of the leaders in the country as far as hitting fairways and hitting greens,” Allen said, “but then she averages 34 or 35 putts. We’re trying to get her to be a little more aggressive and to not be content to two-putt from 15 or 20 feet. … We need to see her making a lot more birdies.”
“I know I need to be more aggressive,” Elston said. “I have some of the best ball-striking stats in the country, and I need to use that more to my advantage. I need to start getting closer to pins so I can allow myself to make more putts.
“You see (LPGA) Tour players and they make so many putts. I need to make more, too, but I think that comes with being able to spend more time on the putting green.”
Elston spends close to five hours a day studying. She is majoring in piano, with a minor in theatre sound design.
She still hopes to qualify for the LPGA Tour once she finishes school, and is looking forward to a reduced class load next spring.
“When you’re going to school, you have pretty much zero time to practice, compared to what I had in junior golf,” Elston said. “I know when I regain that time again, I’ll be able to work a lot harder and be more focused.
“Music is a wonderful major, but the four or five hours you put into that each day makes it hard to put enough time into golf. If I take less credit hours next spring, my golf should flourish. The worst case scenario is I’ll improve just a little bit, and who knows where that will take me?”
Allen thinks he does.
“Once she starts getting a little more aggressive with her putting and starts making a few birdies,” he said, “she is going to be one of the premier players in college golf.”