Hewlett's Heath makes states

Taylor Heath was having the kind of day on the links that most of us could only dream of. The Hewlett High School senior had carved up the Bethpage State Park Red Course with precision, shooting a one-over-par 73 to lead the field by two strokes at the end of day one of the Nassau County Golf Championships May 24.

Making the moment especially sweet was the fact that Heath had come just one shot short of qualifying for the state tournament as a junior, and had worked tirelessly to erase that disappointment this time around. 

With good reason to focus on his personal success and nothing else, Heath was instead thinking about his teammates. In addition to competing for an individual title, Heath was representing Hewlett in a 13-team Nassau County tournament. All day his drives had been true and his putting, one of the strengths of his game, impeccable. But Heath mentioned none of this when he ran into coach Dave Yaker, on the way to the clubhouse.

“Did the team advance?” Heath immediately asked his coach. It had not, but the concern for others was typical, Yaker said, of Heath’s selflessness. 

The following day Heath fell off the pace just a bit, shooting a 79 on the Bethpage Blue, but finished fifth in the individual tournament and earned a berth in the states, to be held last weekend at Cornell.

There was one final problem: Hewlett’s senior prom was scheduled for June 5, when Heath would be at Cornell. He turned to his coach for some advice. 

“I didn’t want to influence his decision,” Yaker said. “I told him that both were once-in-a-lifetime opportunities and that there was no wrong decision.”

Heath decided to go play golf, as Yaker figured he would. “He had put so much into it,” Yaker said. “I think he thought about all of the practices in early spring, when it was 38 degrees and raining.”

At Cornell, Heath shot an 86 on the first day and an 80 on the second, but called his time at the tournament “a great experience,” especially hanging out with his Section VIII teammates.

This summer Heath will teach golf to kids at the Rockaway Hunting Club. In the fall he’ll attend North Carolina State University, where he’ll try to join the golf team as a walk-on. Yaker said he’s just glad his kids at Hewlett had such a positive role model in Heath.