Submitted Photo Warren (Pa.) senior Braddock Damore has signed to play golf at Division I St. Bonaventure University beginning this fall.

Goal accomplished.

Braddock Damore will golf in college at Division I St. Bonaventure University.

A “fun and competitive” Division I schedule will top off a year in which the Warren Area High School senior won the District 10 3A individual golf title, and then some.

The D10 championship — and probably other goals Braddock has accomplished — didn’t surprise some close to him. The son of a golf pro was destined to be, well, successful. Right? Not so fast.

“A PGA professional friend, Ryan Swanson, watched Braddock hit shots into his simulator three years ago and Ryan turned to me and said, ‘Wow, he can move it,'” said Braddock’s father, Patrick. “I told Ryan, ‘Yes, but he is a 95 shooter now. He is just getting the bug.’

“Three years later, Ryan is calling him every week and checking in,” said Patrick. “He is also, by the way, the golf coach at St. Bonaventure U.

“So, Ryan saw the same thing I saw three years ago — Braddock’s potential — when nobody else did,” added Patrick. “I am so happy Braddock chose St. Bonaventure. Ryan Swanson is going to get a young player who hasn’t even come close to his potential yet, and a team leader.”

Braddock’s golf game isn’t the only thing that has evolved.

“I think around the ages of seven to 13, I was really into basketball and cared very little for golf,” said Braddock, “and to think I would be taking golf as serious as I am now would be a shocker for that younger me.

“When I was growing up, I played basically every sport, but the only one I thought made it hard to transition to golf was baseball, even though the swing mechanics are similar,” Braddock said. “It is hard to transition as one you are hitting the ball out of the air and the other is on the ground, and my golf swing at first was more of a baseball swing. So, my first year of playing golf seriously was really hard because I was awful.

“The most fun I had playing golf was with my high school teams — the car rides to matches and the enjoyment of playing for a team made it a lot of fun for me,” said Braddock. “I wish it didn’t go by so fast because that was some of the most fun I’ve had playing the game. Though, with golf, it is known for being very humbling as I have had very low points in my golfing career since my expectations for myself are so high. When I don’t meet them, I am very harsh on myself. The second round at states was a very tough moment to deal with and the second half of my junior high school season were probably the most frustrating times I’ve had playing the game.”

Those moments aside, Damore has really improved since he was a high school freshman playing in his first season of competitive golf. Two-and-a-half years later, he finished third in the Pennsylvania Boys Junior Amateur Championship and became fully exempt on the AJGA Tour, qualifying for nationals in Louisiana. He was fifth in the D10 tournament as a sophomore and sixth as a first-team all-region and all-district junior. This year, he qualified for the PIAA tournament after becoming Warren’s first D10 individual champion since current WAHS golf coach Nate Sandberg won in 2014. Damore was ranked first during the Region 6 regular season — and named Region Player of the Year — with an 18-hole average of 71. He shot a two-day 147 on Oct. 2 and 3 at The Country Club of Meadville to win D10 by three strokes. It was a day after Damore and his teammates won the school’s first-ever D10 team title.

“He had set several goals for himself last winter for this past season,” said his father, Patrick. “All of his goals were too lofty. A betting man would say unreachable. Of course, I don’t let him know this. I just try to encourage him.”

The goals:

“1. Earn enough ‘stars’ to play on the AJGA Junior Golf Tour,” said Patrick. “This was a ridiculously lofty goal with no AJGA playing history. After his first event in April, he almost acquired enough stars to play in one AJGA event. It’s stupid hard to get into these AJGA events… Then in July, he placed third in the PA Junior Amateur (144 of the very best juniors in the state) and was awarded full exemption on the AJGA Tour. I never played in any AJGA events when I was a junior golfer. It is very hard to do. After the third place at the PA Junior Am event, I believed he could beat any junior he played against if he played to his ability.

“Goal accomplished.

“2. Win PIAA District 10 Championship as an individual. This was his most attainable goal,” said his father. “I expected him to win this, but that in itself makes it very challenging when you are the favorite.

“Goal accomplished.

“3. Win the team District 10 Championship. I told him during the summer,” said Patrick, “it’s never gonna happen… unless you hound your teammates this summer to play lots of golf, and your team may finish, at best, second or third in District 10. It was a pipe-dream. Well, he called his teammates every day during the summer and I volunteered lessons to the starters all summer. They won districts. They were not even on the radar to start this fall. Then, they lost in a regional playoff to advance to states. What they accomplished as a team, Braddock takes the most pride in that, as he should. He was the leader.

“Goal accomplished.

“4. Win the individual PIAA State Championship. After his finish at the PA Junior Am during the summer, I was a believer in this goal,” said Patrick. “He had a decent start with 70 (tied for sixth on day one). But he was devastated with his final round. He was crying walking off the last green. I grabbed him and hugged him and he couldn’t hold back. He just put too much pressure on himself. That’s golf.

“5. Earn a Division I golf scholarship. You know, it’s crazy,” said Patrick. “I earned a Division I golf scholarship, but I worked hard for it for over 12 years as a junior golfer. He was trying to do it in less than three years. This was a pipe-dream, too, last winter, and I let him know that. I didn’t want him to set unrealistic goals for himself.

“Goal accomplished.

“6. Get his USGA handicap index to a +4.0 (basically a -4 handicap). Another pipe-dream last winter,” said Patrick, “considering he was a 2 handicap at that time. Well, this past summer, he was as low as a +3.6 index (or -3 handicap).

“Yes, friction along the way for sure,” said his father. “As kids get older, they become more independent. I knew this would happen eventually, so I brought my PGA instructor in to help with Braddock — mainly for another set of eyes that were not mine. To this day, we still have Chuck Antonuccio, PGA, on speed dial.

“My wife, Angela, was really important,” said Patrick. “She knows nothing about golf. So, she was the buffer — all the time — with Braddock and I. Frankly, I could not have mentored Braddock without her.

“I’m immensely proud as a father of Braddock and for what he has worked for and accomplished in a very short amount of time,” said Patrick. “For me, it’s a bit different situation because he is also my student, which makes me even more proud.”

By his own admission, Braddock wouldn’t be where he is without his parents.

“Well, my family are my number one supporters; they know my ability better than I do and have never said I couldn’t do something,” said Braddock. “They have driven me everywhere to play golf and have made a lot of sacrifices in order for me to succeed. The relationship has stayed the same between my family and I as, no matter what I’ve tried to pursue, they have always been supportive of it. With golf, I have learned for it to be my happy place… I am always golfing when I can because it relieves a lot of stress for me when before I saw it as almost a waste of time, and now I feel like it’s a waste of time when I’m not golfing… My dad has never pushed me to play golf. He thought that if he pushed me to play, I would learn to hate it. If anything, I’ve pushed myself to play more than he has as he has told me to take breaks several times. I never listen because I feel like every day I don’t practice is another day someone else is getting better than me, and I don’t want to give other people that advantage.”

Now that his college choice is made, he’s looking at goals a bit differently.

“I think the main one is to try and become the best golfer of my ability and to do whatever it takes to get there but, for me, I’ve learned that setting specific goals seems to add too much pressure for myself,” he said. “I’ve drifted away from setting goals and I just try to compete in every tournament I play and practice as much and as hard as possible.”

The hard stuff is over, said his father .

“This coming summer, there will be zero pressure on Braddock to perform and he is looking forward to it,” said Patrick. “Now, he can play easy tournament golf.

“Braddock is looking forward to several events this coming summer,” said his father. “He is exempt into the 2024 PA Men’s Amateur in Philadelphia from his top-three finish this past summer at the PA Junior AM. He is also going to try qualifying for the US Men’s Amateur and possibly the US Men’s Open. He also wants to play in the Western New York Professional Open in Buffalo this coming summer. I’ll be playing in this as well. Braddock wants to beat me, badly… I’m not gonna let that happen.”