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Emeralds' Nagy a Hidden Gem No Longer
May 10, 2012
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
An opposing golf coach joked this spring that he'll always be able to say he beat Manistique's Michael Nagy – when Nagy was 12.
Other opposing coaches consider it a privilege to grant their players the opportunity to walk a match with the reigning Upper Peninsula champion.
What does Nagy mean to U.P. golf? His signing with the University of Tennessee last fall might be considered on par with a basketball player going to a power league like the Atlantic Coast Conference, or a football player heading to the Big 12.
All happen – but rarely, especially to U.P. athletes playing warm-weather sports. Plus, when Nagy signed in November, he guaranteed he’ll become only the second Division I athlete in any sport from Manistique High since Ron Rubick finished his football career at Michigan State in 1963.
“I thought it was a remarkable stat,” Nagy said. “It makes me want to do good and keep getting better.”
Nagy received a Second Half High 5 this week as he puts the finishing touches on a career that has included Upper Peninsula individual championships in 2009 and 2011 and a runner-up finish in 2010 when he fell in a two-hole tie-breaker.
Though the story of a star golfer emerging from the cold-weather north gets told on occasion, a feat like Nagy’s is rather uncommon.
Although high school season starts in mid-March, in Manistique it takes until the start of May for the weather to come around completely.
And while some bigger towns have indoor domes or other facilities where players can hit balls during the winter, Nagy’s indoor practice facility is a net in his garage, plus another smaller net he uses for chipping.
But this fall, he'll begin his college career with the Volunteers, who play in the Southeastern Conference and like many schools in the south fill most of the roster with players from states in warmer climates that allow for more play throughout the year.
“Mike is very hard-working, very humble. That would be the word for it,” Emeralds coach Deb Taylor said. “He has just blown everybody away when he plays. But he’s not the one to go bragging about it.”
Each Peninsula has its own MHSAA Finals for golf, meaning Nagy gets to see the best from the rest of the state only during summer events – the closest of which is a three-hour drive from home, with most more than six. He made trips about twice a month last summer, spending most of July playing in Wisconsin, and still had the kind of success that ranked him among the best in this state for his age group.
Golf isn’t the most popular sport among his Manistique friends. Nagy also played basketball – he set a school record this season with six 3-pointers in a game – but most of his course time spent with friends is low-key.
With golf teammates, he won’t give suggestions unless asked. But players on his and opposing teams no doubt benefit from his presence.
“A lot of coaches now say they are putting so and so with Mike today, (or) they want someone to golf with Mike,” Taylor said. “It makes them better players too. They want that competition.”
Although Nagy also has a job at his home course, Indian Lake in Manistique, he didn’t grow up in a golfing family by the traditional definition. His older brother was friends with Steve Larson, a Manistique grad who went on to become the 2006 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Year at Grand Valley State. At 11 or 12, following his brother and Larson, Nagy started giving the game a try.
“I just kinda got hooked on it,” he said.
A year later, Nagy began taking lessons from former Rock Mid-Peninsula standout Casey VanDamme – who also played collegiately, rose up the teaching ladder and became Tennessee’s assistant coach in 2009.
VanDamme told Volunteers’ head coach Jim Kelson about Nagy, and Kelson came to watch him play – and was sold.
Par at Indian Lakes is 36, and Nagy’s average the last four seasons usually has hovered around that mark. He’s at 35 for nine holes currently, and set a school record as a sophomore with a 31. Although he wasn’t sure if it is an 18-hole school record, Nagy shot a 66 in last year’s Mid-Peninsula Athletic Conference championship tournament at Gwinn’s Red Fox Run. He shot a 60 at last summer's Indian Lake's club championship to set that course's record.
He shot a 74 to win Wednesday’s Negaunee Kiwanis Invitational by five shots – the fourth time he’s won that tournament. He’ll go for his third MHSAA championship the first weekend in June – and then leave a legacy that could go unmatched for years to come. Click to read more about Nagy's dream playing partners and future plans.
PHOTO: Manistique's Michael Nagy has signed with the University of Tennessee and is set to become his high school's first Division I college athlete since 1961. (Photo courtesy of the Manistique Pioneer Tribune.)
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Cabrini's Logan To Tee Off in Finals First
By
Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half
June 9, 2016
ALLEN PARK – The summer of 2015 was a season of change for Katie Logan.
A senior-to-be at Allen Park Cabrini, she had played the game of golf since she was 3 years old and had been a solid player throughout high school. She’s played on the varsity golf team all four years – but she competes on the boys team.
Logan said she’d never come close to qualifying for the MHSAA Finals in the past and was unaware that she soon could be making history, thanks in part to strides made in her game the last two years and especially last summer that helped her get on par with the best of her spring competition.
Other girls have competed on boys golf teams, but it’s not common. And, until now, it is believed Logan might become the first girl to compete at the MHSAA Boys Golf Finals as an individual qualifier.
“My freshman year was hard,” she said of competing during boys season. “I wasn’t used to it. It was intimidating. Last year I started to hit it as far, or farther, than the guys.”
Michigan High School Athletic Association rules allow a female athlete to compete with the boys, as long as she does not also play on her school's girls team in the same sport during the same school year. Cabrini does not sponsor a girls golf team due to a lack of participation.
Logan, 17, shot a 7-over par 79 in the Regionals at Atlas Valley Country Club in Grand Blanc last weekend to qualify, as an individual, for the Lower Peninsula Division 3 Final to be held Friday and Saturday at Forest Akers East Golf Course in East Lansing.
The fact that she was able to match her teammates with her drives did much for her confidence.
And then last summer, Logan began working with Brian Cairns, one of the state’s top teaching professionals, out of Fox Hills Golf and Banquet Center in Plymouth. Under Cairns’ tutelage, Logan’s game took off. Last summer she shot a career-low 74 at the Lakes of Taylor, her home course.
“Everything came together,” Logan said. “I’m executing shots now. He’s really good with the short game. But it’s really just the mechanics.
“He helped me to be more confident. Before, I would kind of like be a downer.”
Young players have a difficult time accepting that everyone hits bad shots from time to time. Perfection doesn’t exist in this game. Golf teaches patience, and if a player has difficulty forgetting a bad shot and moving on to the next it can wear on her or him. Winning is most often not a measurement used to define success in golf. Good players often strive for consistency.
Kevin Logan was the one who introduced his daughter to the game and taught her the basics. When he realized he had gone as far as he could, Cairns stepped in.
“Right now, when she competes against the boys, it’s her consistency that carries her,” Kevin Logan said. “She darn near hits every fairway with her drives. When she plays against the girls, it’s her length that sets her apart.”
Katie Logan is a good athlete. She was captain of her volleyball team, and she said the average length of her drives is 260 yards.
And just because Logan is a girl doesn’t mean she catches a break playing with the boys. She hits from their tees and keeps pace. In some respects, playing from the men’s tees is an advantage.
“With the guys the courses are 6,300 or 6,400 yards,” she said. “In the summer I’m playing on much shorter courses, 5,800 or 6,000.”
According to Logan, a top-10 finish is not out of the question. She’ll have to be on her game for that to take place. Last year’s Division 3 medalist shot 144 for 36 holes, but that was at Forest Akers West, a more challenging track than the East. The Division 2 final was held at East last year, and the medalist shot 134. The two players who finished in 10th each shot 146. Logan needs to break 150 to have a chance at the top 10.
Regardless, she has already broken barriers and taken positive steps toward her future in the game. Her handicap was two in 2015, and last fall she signed to continue at Central Michigan University.
“I’m very excited,” she said of playing in the Finals. “It was one of my big goals.”
Tom Markowski is a columnist and directs website coverage for the State Champs! Sports Network. He previously covered primarily high school sports for the The Detroit News from 1984-2014, focusing on the Detroit area and contributing to statewide coverage of football and basketball. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Allen Park Cabrini’s Katie Logan putts to finish off a hole this season. (Middle) Logan tries to send a spike through an opposing block during volleyball season in the fall. (Photos courtesy of the Allen Park Cabrini athletic department.)