Dan Robertson spent the better part of his summer at Lulu Country Club working to elevate his golf game.
“I’ve improved on almost everything,” the North Penn junior said.
Teammate Mark Grassie spent most of his summer on the baseball diamond playing for a Nor-Gwyn Hawk American Legion squad that advanced to the Great Lakes National Regional Tournament in Appleton, Wis.
“Our baseball season was extended, and I didn’t really play that much (golf) down the stretch,” he said. “When I got out, I did shoot some low scores, and I know I can do that.
“I know our (top) four guys can bring in low scores every match, and if I can start bringing in some low scores, we have a good shot at the league this year.”
Both Robertson and Grassie put on quite a showing in last week’s Pinecrest Invitational.
Robertson’s dazzling one over par 71 to capture individual honors was not all that surprising.
Grassie shooting a 75 out of the number five spot in the Knights’ lineup – the third best individual finish in the invitational – was an unexpected bonus.
“That was the biggest surprise,” North Penn coach Marty Bauer said. “That was his best round ever at Pinecrest.
“I sort of expect it from Tyler (Flagler), Dan (Robertson), Jonathan Burns and Luke Heller – my top four guys, but Grassie coming in with a score of 75 was really huge.”
Grassie had an idea it might be his day when he nailed a 60-foot putt on his first hole of the day for a birdie.
“When I made the 60-foot putt from off the green, I said, ‘It could be that kind of day,’” the North Penn senior said. “It turned out it was.
“I got some breaks. I got some good lies, and I got some balls that were right where they were supposed to be. Hopefully, that really will turn the corner for me, and we can move forward and do some good things.”
Grassie, according to Bauer, did everything well in Thursday’s invitational.
“His shooting was on, he was hitting greens in regulation,” the North Penn coach said. “Everything was working well.
“It’s just good to see a senior like that who has been with the team four years come out like that.”
North Penn walked away with the top three individual spots as Tyler Flagler was right behind Robertson, shooting a 72.
“We were all playing pretty well,” Robertson said. “I wasn’t really hitting that many greens, but I was getting up and down real nice.
“Our number one (Flagler) was playing good. Everybody was just playing good.”
The Knights –with their impressive 465 total - finished the day 31 strokes ahead of their next closest competitor. PW was second with a 496, followed by Souderton (501) and Wissahickon (529).
“I wasn’t expecting that at all,” said Bauer of his team’s decisive win. “PW usually has a very strong team and so does Wissahickon. We already saw Souderton, and none of them are bad teams. They’re all very strong teams.
“It was just one of those things – I don’t know if the stars were aligned or what, but the kids really played well. I’m really proud of them.”
Bauer is hoping his team’s strong showing is an omen of things to come, and he points to Grassie as a key.
“If he can keep that up, that would be great,” Bauer said. “The good thing about having that score at the invitational was it showed he is capable of shooting a round like that.
“I hope we can be right in the thick of things in the conference. If we shoot the way we did at the invitational, we should be there at the end. We’ll see on Tuesday when we have another match.”
North Penn’s Jonathan Burns, who shot a 77, shared fourth place with Souderton senior Bryan Geisel. Plymouth Whitemarsh’s Jason Rosenbaum shot a 79 to round out the golfers who finished in the 70s, but in Thursday’s invitational, no one came close to the Knights.
“It’s a really good start,” Robertson said. “We’ve gotten a lot better since last year.”
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