A day on the links with Penn State Wrestling coach Cael Sanderson

Recapping a day on the golf course with legendary Penn State Wrestling coach Cael Sanderson

It was once again that time of the year for the annual Nittany Lion Wrestling Club Golf Classic held at the beautiful and scenic Toftrees Golf Resort in State College.

Fans of wrestling, former wrestlers, current wrestlers, members of the current coaching staff, and devoted volunteers are able come together to help benefit the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club and enjoy a fun filled day unwinding on the golf course.

And as everyone would expect, Cael Sanderson is the center attention no matter where he goes. While warming up on the driving range, Sanderson was stopped and given an impromptu swing lesson by one of the NLWC supporters to help with his driver.

Then walking up to his cart from the range, several tournament participants walked up for a quick introduction and chat following their round.

And no matter who it is, whether it’s a long time friend, an acquaintance, or someone meeting him for the first time, Cael is always accommodating and easy to approach.

Penn State Wrestling fans reminisce about past matches and ask about the current team while former players give the legendary coach a ribbing about his putting stroke.

The Golf Classic is a blast of a day and benefits a great program here in State College. With that said, you’re probably assuming a bunch of highly competitive, world class wrestlers wouldn’t care about the results on the golf course, right?

Guess again.

Winning the annual NLWC Golf Classic appears to have a TON of bragging rights amongst the coaching staff and former players. Going back only a couple of years ago, there were probably two or maybe three teams which legitimately had a shot to win the gross division in the four person scramble.

Now everyone and their brother attempt to stack their team with ringers and top players in an effort to win the coveted trophy.

Our team consisted of a guy who played in multiple PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour events, including the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont, a 15-time club champion at various home courses he’s a member of, one of the best wrestlers and coaches to ever to walk on this planet … and me.

And on this day the gamesmanship started pretty early. Our group was originally slotted to tee off at 1:50 which put us right in front of Penn State legend Jason Nolf’s stacked team. Being the competitor he is, Cael decided to change our tee time so we could be right behind them and easily keep track of how they were doing.

Do you think any of the tournament coordinators were going to say “no” to Sanderson?

So off we went following Nolf’s group on No. 1.

Before we dive too far into the golf on the day, I’d like to point out that Cael Sanderson typically plays one round of golf each year. And that round is in the NLWC Golf Classic. If anyone is familiar with golf, playing this frustrating and difficult game once or twice a week is just enough to get worse each time you go out. Let alone only play it once a year.

With that said, Cael is obviously supremely athletic and it shows in his golf game. After thanking the volunteers sitting on the first tee box for their help in the tournament, Sanderson proceeded to crush a drive right down the middle of the fairway.

Playing golf with Cael is a lot of fun. He keeps everything light, he cracks jokes, and he joins in to laugh when one of us hits a horrendous golf shot.

Our group was cruising along at -6 as Cael had just dropped the birdie putt on the sixth hole. He then pulverized a drive on the seventh hole, landing on the left side of the fairway about 100 yards out from the flag.

Okay, so Cael can obviously swing a driver pretty well, but how’s his wedge game? Well at least on the seventh hole it was pretty solid as he flashed some deft touch by hitting an approach shot to within eight feet of the cup.

And look, not every shot Cael hits is a winner.

There’s no way one of the top coaches in all of collegiate sports could be a good golfer. There’s just not enough time in the day for it to happen. Let alone one who plays once a year. But if Cael decides to hang up his coaching career and take up golf, he could easily become a solid player in very little time.

Going back to our tee time change, one small downside to playing right behind Jason Nolf’s group was the fact David Taylor‘s team was right behind us. And the newly crowned Olympic gold medalist wasn’t shy about letting us know how his team was doing. There was plenty of noise being made behind us.

Our team made the turn at -9 and we had just finished the 12th hole before the sky completely opened up. We sat in our carts on the 13th tee box as Taylor’s team rolled up. Plenty of conversations ensued as we all waited out the rain for 25 minutes.

Once the rain cleared up and we strolled to the tee, Taylor offered up some “encouraging” words for our group.

“No mistakes. Just be perfect.”

Something tells me he was trying to get into our heads.

Flash forward to the 14th hole as Cael nestled a 70 foot eagle putt a foot away from the hole for yet another birdie. And at that point we were still perfect. A perfect 14/14 on birdies.

There was another Penn State legend sighting as Bo Nickal came out in a golf cart after his round to see how our group was doing compared to his. After a couple of minutes he road off. Most likely to give David Taylor’s group a hard time.

A couple of holes later and we met up with recent NCAA Champion Carter Starocci on the 17th hole. We chatted for a few minutes, talked wrestling, how his golf game was, and wished him luck for the upcoming season.

We then holed out our final birdie putt on the 18th hole to finish a perfect -18. It was truly a privilege to play with the group I was in as they all made the day a lot of fun. As I said before, you would never guess you were playing with one of the best wrestlers of all time as Cael is one of the nicest people you could ever meet.

Our group then stood next to the 18th green waiting to see how David Taylor’s group was going to finish in the diminishing evening light. their team hit an approach shot to within eight feet and the third player was able to sink the birdie putt.

Their team celebrated as they finished one better than us at -19. Taylor came over and gave each of us a handshake and proceeded to celebrate with his team. And why not? With an Olympic Gold Medal and now an NLWC Golf Classic title under his best, this was definitely David Taylor’s year.

It was another great year and another awesome time playing with Cael Sanderson. Until next time … maybe?