One link at a time
Hunter Bruce is well on his way to playing in the big leagues. The Peters Township senior already was a WPIAL winner at 15 and a West Penn Junior Champion at 17. Now the McMurray resident is less than a year away from taking his game to the next level.
Recently, he made a commitment to golf at Penn State University.
“Penn State is getting an excellent player and young man who will be well-prepared to play at the Division 1 level,” PT golf coach David Kuhn said.
For Bruce, it has taken a great deal of work to shoot par and earn that acronym for an excellence award established by Kuhn to recognize performance, academics and responsibility.
In the classroom, Bruce maintains a 3.74 Ggrade-point average and he is responsible for leading the Indians as a team captain. With Bruce, Peters has reached record heights. He helped the Indians to WPIAL championships in two of the past three seasons. Each time the team shot record scores, including last fall when they took the bronze medal in the team competition. Hunter held the lowest average on the team for nine holes and in tournament play and shows no signs of fading in this, his final season. The Indians are 13-1 overall and unbeaten in Section 7-AAA.
Bruce golfs almost every day – four to five hours in the summer and three to four hours and weekends during the school year. He also works out, lifting weights and exercising on cardio machines like treadmills and Ellipticals, at the Southpointe Health Club.
“It’s taken a lot of work and a lot of time,” Bruce said.
He is one of the few four-year starters in the program’s history and the school’s only district golf champion.
In analyzing Bruce’s game, Kuhn said the senior drives the ball well with good distance. He is a solid iron player and his short game is very good. He suggested that Bruce needs to work on his “consistency overall” and putting inside of 15 feet.
“There’s always room for improvement, even with a top player’s game,” Kuhn said.
There was a time when Bruce wasn’t good at golf, let alone putting. He tried hockey for a year or two around age 10 and he attempted to emulate his mother on the tennis courts. Marcy (Cenkovich) Bruce helped Mt. Lebanon win championships in tennis. In 1987, she combined with Karen Spirer to win the PIAA doubles title. She eventually started focusing on coaching champions, and in 10 seasons guided Upper St. Clair to 10 straight section banners, six WPIAL titles and three state championships. She also coached four state championship doubles teams.
While Bruce has left tennis to his younger brother, Connor, who was the WPIAL champion last spring, he worked on bettering his skills by competing against his father. Allan Bruce introduced his son to golf around age 6.
“He picked the game up when he was in his 40s,” Bruce explained. “When he started, I wasn’t good. He beat me and I got mad. That definitely made me better. I always wanted to be better. Now, I beat him all the time.”
Bruce, who has a two handicap, said that he wants to improve his chipping and get more accurate on shots from within 30 yards of the green. That will enable him to compete at the next level.
“It’s a tough hat but I’ll give it a go,” Bruce said of his hopes to start for Penn State. “Just playing with better competition; but good competition makes you better.”
Bruce liked Penn State better than the other schools that recruited him, including Rutgers, Minnesota and Southern Illinois, for many reasons, but primarily because it will prepare him for the future. Some day, he hopes to play professionally.
“I picked Penn State because I liked the coach. The school has good facilities, it’s close to home and the program is very good. I’m not sure how many Penn State has produced but they do play big competition and those teams have had a lot of people end up on the tour. I want to keep up with them. My goal is to try to get really good at golf so that I can play pro after college.”
Bruce wants to go out a champion to close his high school career. He plans to improve upon his sixth-place finish last year in the WPIAL. He placed 20th in the state during the 2016 PIAA Championships.
Bruce won the Section 7-AAA championship at the qualifier Monday at The Club at Nevillewood by shooting a 1-under par 71.
Bruce says he’ll leverage his experiences, particularly those from his sophomore season, to contend for this year’s WPIAL title. Of the tournament to be held Oct. 3 at Nemacolin Country Club, Bruce said he does not feel as if he has a target on his back because he’s a returning champion and Penn State recruit.
“When you beat the whole field you should be going to a top school,” he said. “But I don’t feel pressure. I’m just going to play my game and see what happens.”
Bruce is also adopting a wait-and-see what happens attitude regarding the WPIAL team tournament. The WPIAL finals are Oct. 12 at Cedarbrook Country Club.
“Our biggest goal is winning the WPIAL and hopefully going to states,” Bruce said. “Team is very important to me. I love high school golf and a I love my team.
“I also love being first,” he added
If Bruce continues to find himself in the winner’s circle, then he will reach his aspirations of being a professional golfer.
“That would be pretty special. Amazing,” he added. “It would be on honor to some day play on the pro tour.”