Given what he accomplished the previous five months, a lot was expected of Norwich senior golfer Eric Walling this season. The fifth-year member of the Tornado is delivering on all of those expectations with his usual brand of steady, consistent play.
So reliable is Walling, longtime Norwich head coach Bob Branham can just about pencil in his number one player’s score within a stroke or two. “A lot of his steady play is attributed to (Eric’s) take on life,” Branham said earlier this week. “He’s remarkably mature, very level-headed, and he doesn’t seem to be swayed by others. He just plays his game, and he works endlessly on it. He’s a very disciplined player.”
Walling’s promise as a player came to the forefront last year when he earned medalist honors in nine matches, and was a STAC All-Conference player earning a stroke average for the season of just 3.19 strokes over par. He also became just the third player under Branham to qualify for the Section IV state tournament team.
Walling is even better this year averaging a scant 2.37 strokes over par, and he was the overall match medalist in all three of Norwich’s clashes a week ago. Mind you, he was playing in less-than-ideal conditions all week as the local area is still in recovery mode from the horrendous rainstorms and flooding of earlier this month.
Walling is leading Norwich to one of its best starts in years, an 8-1 overall record through Wednesday of this week, and he is our choice today as Smith Ford Supercenter/Evening Sun Athlete of the Week.
“The team has kind of run along side with Eric’s success,” Branham said. “He’s great with the younger kids on our team, and at times, he’s like an assistant coach out there. We like to mix up the pairings in practice, and the young kids learn a lot from Eric.”
Walling also plays well with his peers and elders. He competed – and won – the men’s Chenango County Amateur golf tournament this past summer winning in a playoff; he also made the final cut in the Canasawacta Country Club men’s club championship finishing among the top eight overall. Taking his game north and south, Walling regularly competed against the best high school amateur golfers in sanctioned tournaments, and fared well there, too, Branham said.
“When you play with the same guys all the time, you get a certain comfort level. Playing with guys you don’t know, sometimes that is tough to deal with,” Branham said. “(Eric) has played outside our area against the best young players. He is every bit as good as those players, and he belongs with the best.”
Last week’s performance was “typical Eric,” Branham said. He drove the ball consistently in the fairway, his iron play was solid, and his short game was sharp. Walling didn’t explode with a prolific number of birdies, but he avoided the big score that can lay a good round to waste. “Rarely does Eric make a big number. He makes a lot of pars,” Branham said. “People say that making a lot of pars is boring golf. Making pars at any level is good.”
Long one of the best players on his home course with over 20 men’s scratch championships, Branham knows that he will one pass the torch to the next generation of great players. “One of these years it’s going to happen, and when it comes, I hope a person like Eric is there to take over,” Branham said.