After returning home from a trip to China last summer, Joseph Marynak decided he needed an extended break from golf.
From September through December, the Anzar High senior barely worked on his game, going to the practice range occasionally only so he wouldn’t get too rusty. Turns out the time off has done his game wonders.
Marynak’s recentl completed season was the best of his career. Two weeks ago in the Mission Trail League Finals, he shot a solid 6-over par 77 at the Rancho Cañada West Course in Carmel.
Marynak then followed that up with a spectacular 1-under par 70 last week in the Central Coast Section Region Two tournament at the same course, qualifying him for the CCS Finals.
Hitting well off the tee, Marynak made three consecutive birdies on the front nine on holes Nos. 4, 5 and 6. Marynak’s regional round was the fourth best on the day (the three placers ahead of him all shot a 69).
Although Marynak didn’t qualify for NorCals—he shot a solid 3-over par 74 and placed 20th in the CCS Finals on May 12–it did little to diminish the season he’s had.
“I didn’t really have a goal (entering regionals). I just wanted to have fun, do the best I could and everything turned out alright,” said Marynak, who was making his first appearance in a section regional. “I was pretty excited because I’ve been trying to reach this point for the last three years and haven’t quite got it. I would always finish bad and put up a real stinker in the league finals.”
Not this time. The 5-foot-5, 125-pound Marynak has seen his game come together after years of hard work. Dick Rautmann, a longtime teaching pro who has been coaching Marynak for the last six years, said he was excited to hear about Marynak’s CCS regional round.
“Maybe he’s made a crossroads with the past round he played (in the regionals),” said Rautmann, who played on the PGA Tour in the 1970s. “He sort of got over that hurdle of starting to understand how to play. In the past, he’s always had some bad holes, but he’s never quit. I’m really enthusiastic about him because he’s worked his heart out and is one of the finest kids I’ve met in my life. This was the breakthrough.”
Rautmann praised Marynak’s work ethic, noting that many kids he’s taught over the years have quit. Not Marynak, who showed tremendous resolve after being involved in a serious car accident when he was a seventh-grader.
Marynak was on the passenger’s side of a small truck his dad was driving when a driver in another lane lost control of his vehicle in wet conditions and collided with them at 60 mph.
Marynak had to get his spleen removed, was in the hospital for three days and missed a month of school.
“I was scared out of my mind,” he said.
Marynak downplayed the accident, and said it didn’t take him too long to get fully recovered.
“I get sick easier and more infections, but I’m OK,” he said. “Really, it was nothing crazy.”
That’s Marynak’s never-quit attitude talking. Any time someone has to get an organ removed from his or her body, it’s a pretty serious matter. But Marynak has showed time and again why he’s reached this point.
Marynak’s rise up the golfing ranks has been slow and steady. He’s seen gradual improvement in the last five years, but nothing earth shattering. However, Marynak continued to grind away, hoping one day all of his hard work would pay off.
It has.
“I wasn’t very good for a long time, but golf was something I wanted to work at,” he said. “I’ve put a lot of work in my game in the last few years, and the good things happening now means a lot to me because it’s a culmination of all the hard work I’ve put in on the range.”
Marynak, who will be attending UCLA in the fall through his academic work, said his parents, Dan and Beverly, have always supported him in his endeavors. Marynak’s grandfather, John, introduced him to the game, buying him a set of clubs when he was 10 or 11.
Rautmann has been Marynak’s coach from the time they met six or seven years ago. Marynak was at the chipping green at San Juan Oaks when Rautmann came up and gave him a tip on how to play bunker shots.
A short time later, Marynak formally introduced himself to Rautmann, and the two formed a player-coach relationship that still exists today.
“He actually got me to really care about the game,” Marynak said. “He’s one of my best friends, and we’ve got a pretty good relationship.”
Said Rautmann: “Joseph’s golf swing is great, and his improvement has come with chipping and putting. He’s improved his whole game, and he’s done that by golfing with his heart.”
