GAMES – Middle’s Alex Hicks Leading Panther Golfers Toward States

The Middle Township golf team is gunning for a state championship after having tasted success in recent years as a CAL and South Jersey-Central title holder.
The Panthers are led by 18-year-old senior Alex Hicks, one of the finest amateurs in the region and beyond.
The son of Laura and Orton Hicks, Alex not only ranks at the top of the golf charts but is also number one in his senior class with a 4.74 grade point average, including honors and advanced placement courses.
He’s committed to the College of William and Mary on a partial athletic scholarship while awaiting word on a possible academic award as well. He may study business or political science.
Spring break saw coach Wil Mendo’s squad sitting at 6-0. The sixth year head man seems to have always enjoyed a strong and modest leader in the number one spot and Hicks is certainly no exception.
“His biggest influence on the program is his contagious work ethic,” said Mendo, an English teacher in the district. “The other players see what it takes to be successful by watching Alex work on his game relentlessly. When practice is over he’ll hit balls for another hour.”
Mendo calls Hicks’s short game, “unbelievable.” The coach said Hicks practices “weird shots differently” and sets up shots he’ll see during matches.
Many of Mendo’s athletes will not be away from the game during recess. They’ll compete in tournaments. Hicks is spending the week in the Sunshine State playing Florida courses as part of a family vacation, including siblings Jennifer and David.
“It’s a pleasure to have him as a leader of the team,” said Mendo.
“All I have to do is text him about practice and everybody shows up. He commands the respect of his teammates and he’s very modest about his stature.”
The 2011 Panther bunch recently re-broke their team record by firing a 146 at the Cohanzick Country Club versus Bridgeton High School. Hicks set a personal best with a score of 32 for nine holes. His best effort for a full round is 68.
“The first thing they said after shooting 146 is they can go lower,” said Mendo. “They feel they’re capable of playing better and they’re going to work for it.”
Among the outstanding golfers who work behind the pace-setting Hicks are junior James Kelly and sophomores Kevin O’Donnell and John Longstreet. Senior Gary Blum rounds out the top five Panthers. Mendo says he has “a medley of players” that rotate into the sixth and final position, including juniors Ryan Burke and Mike Ciaramadella and senior C.J. Lawson.
Burke often earns the spot when he’s not busy competing for the Middle mock trial team.
Middle, which plays home matches at Avalon Country Club, is looking to defend its sectional crown and “play better than we did in the states last year,” said Mendo. “Now we know what it’s like. We want to win South Jersey and make our move in the states.”
Hicks, who grew up playing soccer and basketball before focusing solely on the links, enjoys the traveling aspects of golf. He’s played at picturesque, professional venues from Florida to California. He’s made lifetime friends with golfers he’s met around the country.
“I’d love to take it all the way,” Hicks said about his golf aspirations. “We’ll see how it goes through college. Academics have always come first and golf progressed along with it.”
Hicks credits “consistency” with his remarkable success. He acknowledges that he’s not one of those “grip and rip it” guys who pummel the ball. “I’m not a bomber and I don’t hit it 300 yards,” he said. “But I keep it on the fairway and then hit the green. Straight down the middle is what I’m shooting for.”
Like his coach and teammates, Hicks has tasted Cape-Atlantic League and Group II South-Central supremacy, but he’s gunning for the state title.
“I didn’t qualify in my freshman year,” he said. “In the last two years I played well but I can do better.”
Mendo puts Hicks and the squad through challenging practices. He assigns the group a variety of tricky situations to hit out of. “They can get out of it any way they see fit,” said the coach. “They can go over trees, punch it out, whatever they want to try.”
Mendo knows that no golfer knows every rule and he consistently works with the team, especially the younger players, on the dos and don’ts of the game. “As I’ve done that with the team I notice that later one of the guys is explaining the same thing to a teammate,” said Mendo. “John Petronis is the golf guru around here and he always says that no one knows all the rules of golf.”
The coach and his star player will work together with the team to reach their remaining goal of a state crown.
“Alex looks at the big picture and he’ll play even better now that the pressure of a college choice is over with,” said Mendo.
“Putting them into challenging situations is nothing new for this group. They actually put more heat on each other than I can put on them.”
Reach Rossi at joerossi61@comcast.net
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