Successful seniors guide #2 ranked golf team

Carter Collins and John Tillery have demonstrated this year on the Georgia College & State University golf team that pairing a friendship with their sports aspirations can prove to be highly profitable. The two players are not only leaders of the team but are also close friends.

The two players share many interests and are similar as golf players. The two both lead by example.

“Carter’s strength is his competitiveness. He keeps everyone loose and works with the other guys on the team. He will pull them aside and speak to them when they are not doing too well,” Head Coach Jimmie Wilson said.

Tillery is constantly striving to improve.

“[He] practices more than anybody I have ever met. He is constantly working and won’t hesitate to get advice,” Wilson said.

Carter Collins a senior business major from Claxton, Ga., has played golf since he was young.

“I have played golf since I was small. I grew up on a golf course. My dad ran the golf course at the Forest Heights Country Club in Statesboro, Georgia,” Collins said.

His father was his biggest inspiration for playing golf and he learned most of the basics from him. Collins played golf in high school at Claxton High School.

“My biggest accomplishment is getting here and doing all of the stuff the team has done to succeed on this level. All of the other stuff before college just washes away,” he said.

Collins has high hopes for this season.

“My goal this season is to win nationals. This is my last year with the team and I think we have a very good chance of winning. We see the competition every week and we beat them every week,” Collins said.

Collins has prepared hard all year and is expecting nothing short of excellence.

“We are a strong team. We get along well with each other. All you can do is just practice hard and take what you got and go with it.”

Off the course, Collins does many things to pass the time. Collins enjoys traveling and relaxing in the mountains. He also likes music. He likes going to concerts and his favorite band is 311. He likes playing other sports besides golf specifically basketball and baseball and is a fan of Georgia Southern football. His future plans include going to Sweden this summer to visit fellow teammate, Johan Cronvall.

As for long-term plans, “I would like to do something related to golf but it is nice to have a degree so I can have something to lean back on,” Collins said.

One lesson that he had to learn the hard way was time management.

“When we go on trips we miss class and it is our responsibility to get our assignments done,” Collins said.

John Tillery a senior business major from Madison, Ga., has also played golf since he was young.

“When I was young I played with my dad. He was a golf junkie. He got me started and taught me the fundamentals but I picked up the rest on my own. When I got to high school I became serious about golf.” Tillery said.

Tillery went to Morgan County High School.

Tillery’s interests include music. He is an avid follower of rock music and plays the guitar.

“I am more into rock than anything else but I get a little bit out of everything. I am big into [Led] Zeppelin and Nirvana and I am currently going through an Edwin McCain phase,” Tillery said.

He likes hunting and fishing and plays almost every sport but likes basketball and golf more than others. Tillery is also an intense University of Georgia Bulldog fan.

His future plans are unclear.

“I don’t have a clue what I am going to do in the future. I would like to stay involved in golf,” Tillery said.

He also has high expectations for this season.

“There is no reason we can’t contend for the national championship. We have the guys to win. I am confident. I won the last tournament in the fall and the first tournament in the spring,” Tillery said. “Having Carter on the team increases the enthusiasm. We feed off of each other.”

Tillery greatest piece of advice for other golfers would be to never lose hope.

“Golf is a brutal sport. It takes a lot of work and if you keep working and never give up the pay off will come.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Feb 25 2005. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry