With a forecast for showers, San Benito High boys’ golf coach Reggie Synegal decided to cancel the team’s March 31 practice.
That didn’t prevent the Haybalers top player, senior standout Ryan Han, from going to the driving range at San Juan Oaks Golf Club.
“I decided to drop by, and you know what? Ryan was out there hitting balls in the rain with Brad (Sparrer, the only freshman on the varsity team),” Synegal said. “Typical Ryan, working hard when no one else would be out there.”
Indeed, when Han says he practices anywhere from three to four hours on weekdays and four to eight hours on the weekends, he isn’t exaggerating. Rain or shine, Han, who has accepted a scholarship to play for UC Davis, literally spends every waking hour on the range or course — only sleep, school, homework, and special commitments prevent him from staying on the course for 24 hours a day.
Which is pretty ironic, considering when Han first started taking the game seriously at 7 ½, his father, Sung, had to force him to practice.
“Now every once in a while, my dad tells me I can take a day off,” Han said. “I usually tell him I don’t have to take a day off, that the only way I’m going to get better is by practicing.”
The countless hours Han has put on the range has paid off in a big way. Not only has he earned an athletic scholarship, but Han has also developed a fine swing in the process. He even posted a Youtube video for college coaches to glance over.
In the 4 minute, 26-second video, Han hits balls with several different clubs at different trajectories. He even explains why he hits some shots in the manner he does, showing an acute awareness of golf conditions.
The 5-foot-10, 135-pound Han will go down as one of the greatest golfers in school history, and he’s got a chance to put his name atop the list if he can win an individual Central Coast Section championship.
That’s only been done once before by a San Benito golfer, when Will Tipton captured the 1984 title. A two-time league Most Valuable Player, Han certainly has the physical and mental game to win a section championship.
Han shot a 4-under par 67 in the CCS Regional Round last year at the Rancho Canada West Course in Carmel, tops among all golfers. But a week later, Han shot a 2-over par 73 in the championship round, missing the CIF State Tournament by one stroke.
Disappointing to say the least, but Han keeps results like that in perspective.
“Golf is a fickle game, and it’s important to have an even temperament,” he said.
Indeed, Han maintains a steely resolve on the course, and his attitude could best be described as stoic.
“I normally don’t show a bunch of emotion out there,” Han said. “As a golfer, you have to figure out your optimum mental state. Some golfers are laid back, others get excited. Some even play well when they’re a little angry. For me, I have to be steely and be determined to put my heart in every shot.”
Speaking of determination, Sung has definitely put his heart and effort into helping his son develop into one of the top prep golfers in the section.
“When I was 10 or 11, he was a scratch golfer,” Han said. “But once I started playing in more tournaments, he started spending all of his time on my game, and his game went south. Once he put all of his energy into my game, that’s when I saw leaps and bounds in my performance. He has been the only coach throughout my whole life.”
Ranked 177th in the class of 2014 national signees in the Junior Golf Scoreboard list, Han combines a silky-smooth swing with mental toughness.
“Ryan knows how to think his way around the golf course,” Synegal said. “That’s a very underrated part of the game, and only the good ones have the mental toughness that is needed to succeed at a high level. He remembers everything, and I mean everything in detail. He knows the course, how to walk them, how to play them.”
Han also knows how to handle some serious adversity. In October, Han underwent surgery to repair a deformation in his hip joint. The grinding of bone on bone was wearing away cartilage and causing a lot of inflammation, not to mention being extremely painful.
Han had played through pain for a couple of years, often taking Advil on the course to try to ease the suffering. However, during a tournament last summer, he could barely walk, and he realized he would have to undergo surgery.
The procedure sidelined him for five weeks — an eternity for a player who hadn’t taken even a couple of days off from golf in over 10 years. Han started to practice his putting five weeks after the surgery, and a couple of weeks later he was chipping the ball.
It took another couple of weeks before he eased into his long irons and driver.
“When I couldn’t play, that was the worst thing,” Han said. “But looking back, some good came out of it. Maybe I took being able to play the game for granted before. You know the saying, ‘You don’t know what you have until it’s gone.’ I’m glad I got the surgery, which has provided me with a lot of physical relief.”
Han, who has a weighted 4.5 GPA during his senior year, plans on majoring in aerospace engineering, with the goal of working for a company like Boeing. However, Han hopes those days are decades away, because that will mean he’ll be doing relatively well in trying to earn a spot on the PGA Tour.
