Former Mid-Am champion Lukas Michel has found a new calling in golf course architecture.
Kindly
Where in the world is Lukas Michel?
When we get on the phone, he’s calling from tomorrow, actually, near the base of Mount Fuji in Japan. It’s early in the morning there, but he’s up and into it because it’s day 2 of the Asia-Pacific Amateur, one of The biggest amateur events in the worldwith places in the Masters and Open championships on the line.
He shot 71 on Day 1 and was a little upset about it, having been under par at the start of the round. But that’s in the past and the near future could be more annoying. Thunderstorms are raging in the Shizuoka area, delaying the second round of the event. All this means is that the game of golf is put aside for now and the laptop comes out.
Michel, who famously won the US Mid-Am in 2019, earning a bid to the Fall Masters and the 2020 US Open at Winged Foot, spends a lot of time on his laptop these days because his day job of requires this. Michel is now a design associate at Clayton, Devries & Pont, an increasingly popular international golf course design firm, reviewing CAD drawings of bunker shapes and green layouts. What started as an 8-week gig in 2020 has grown into a much bigger role every year since.
“(I’m) at least 75% designer now, whereas in 2019 it would have been 100% player,” says Michel.
That scale may be tipping in the direction of design these days for Michel, now 30, and likely every day moving forward, perpetuating the belief that those who work in the golf industry play the sport less than those who don’t. . But if his latest program is anything to go by, there’s still plenty of room for both in his life. You have clubs, you will travel is a great motto not only for elite amateurs, but also for enterprising course architects.
Before the Asia-Pacific Am – for which he qualified as one of the top seven players from Australia – Michel was in the New York area competing in The Farrell, a top-level amateur competition held at the Stanwich Club in Connecticut . Before that came the Mid-Am at Kinloch Golf Club in Virginia, the biggest event on his annual calendar, for which he has qualified until 2029. Michel toured the UK this summer, mostly wearing a hat designer, reacquainting himself with the origins of the game and soon to flash his passport in Korea en route to the Bridge Cup, a 24-player team event for elite amateurs. (GOLF’s parent company, 8AM Golf, hosts the event each year.)
When that’s over, Michel will return to his base in Melbourne, Australia, where summer is just getting started and most of his design projects are underway. He’s a walking reminder that in this sport, it’s reliable to find sunshine and 75 degrees every month. You just have to find the gig that supports the annual gaming/scout trips to America and Europe…and hang on. That’s why he stopped sleeping on his first night flying to Japan to log a few hours of computer work.
“It’s funny because when I pull out a laptop and start working, it keeps me awake,” he says. “It’s not the kind of work that puts me to sleep. It’s actually getting my brain going and keeping me engaged, and I’m really enjoying it… A lot of people can’t say the same about the work they do, so I think I’m very lucky in that regard.”
Working on the computer is one thing, but when Michel tells the story about requesting an early practice time at the Sandbelt Invitational so he can make the three-hour drive to visit the grounds, only to have the car turn him around night and to play the next round in the morning. , you begin to understand what’s at the top of his priority list: his future as a high-minded, high-performing amateur golfer more focused on creating great golf courses for you, me and everyone else who dreams of playing the game the way it can.
So I ask the natural question: how do you do it? How you can remain one of the best amateur players in the world AND sprouting the roots of a very busy, very international architectural career?
The answer: you’re comfortable being uncomfortable.
“You know, I’ve been playing a lot more golf with that feeling and actually had some good plays despite it,” Michel says. “And then I realized, ‘Wait a minute. Yeah, I like to be super prepared for things, but you can still play well without it.’ Golf is such a mental thing. Once you prove to yourself that you can do it, maybe by being a little unprepared, I think that gives you more confidence going forward.”
