Sitting in the sunlit diner, I watched Lachlan Spriddle walk up to my table with a smile on his face. He shook my hand and sat down as he adjusted his Titleist golf cap. It took me a second to register that this was the same person I just watched on YouTube, mercilessly running people over in his football scouting video.
Spriddle is a timid yet outgoing person — a freshman who is an arranged walk-on for the UBC Golf team. At this point, you might be slightly confused considering that he was the subject of a football video.
Spriddle has been playing golf since he was 10, but his main sport through high school was football, in which he played as a starting linebacker and running back for the Lethbridge Collegiate Institute in Alberta.
He was born into a golfing family — his father is a professional golfer — and so he was naturally introduced to the sport. After years of rigorous training, he scored the best round of his life with a 66 at a tournament in the eighth grade. But golf is an unpredictable sport and after a second round of 78, he proceeded to lose the tournament by two measly strokes.
Spriddle decided to take a step back from golf. “I just had a lot of anger towards the game,” he said. “I just didn’t want to be a part of that anymore.”
After this loss, he had decided to fully commit to football
Golf and football are two completely different sports. One requires patience and mental endurance, while the other requires speed and aggression. Although both are extraordinary in their own rights, Spriddle needed a lot of training and conditioning to get to the level he wanted to be at with football.
Spriddle once tore the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his left knee during a basketball game and he literally walked it off as he “didn’t think anything of it,” except for the “pop” he heard when his tendon snapped. This is an injury that cripples players, but he decided it was fine and walked two weeks with a completely torn ACL.
“I wasn’t in any pain really,” he said. “Two weeks later, I planted my weight on it and it definitely didn’t feel right. I asked my mom if we could go get it checked out and she didn’t believe me at first, as I’d been walking around on it.”
He received surgery, and proceeded to play football throughout high school as a starter.
During the final football game of his high school career, Lachlan got hit hard in the right leg, tearing his meniscus. After that game, he decided enough was enough.
“It was around eight on a Friday night,” said Spriddle. “I’m at home with my parents, and I looked at them and just said, ‘I don’t think I’m gonna play football anymore. I can’t take four more years of this, especially if I want to be able to walk in my 30s.’”
And so, after a two-and-a-half year break, Spriddle switched sports yet again, spending more than four hours a day meticulously working on his golf game. The first tournament back was a monumental one and he shot scores of 78-79-78, solidifying his motivation to work on his golf game and achieve the level he wants to be at.
After contacting UBC’s golf head coach, Chris MacDonald, at the beginning of the summer, Spriddle was given a spot on the team — directly as a result of his incredible scores. Even after emailing MacDonald, Spriddle decided to play on the development team.
“I wanted to red-shirt because I didn’t feel like my game was where I wanted it to be and I didn’t want to waste a year of eligibility,” said Spriddle. “That extra year will help me get back in the game.”
With this plan, he can practice with the team and advance his skills. But what’s next for him?
“I really have no idea,” he said. As he repeated the question to himself, he discovered an answer.
“For the next four years, I’ll be committed to working hard on my golf game and if it gets to where it can get, I’ll turn pro,” he said. “I’m also going to work hard in the classroom, so I have something nice to fall back on. A UBC education is pretty outstanding.”
It is apparent that Spriddle does not display the attitude of a typical 18-year-old boy. He has an array of traits that many adolescents do not have — grit, vision and motivation.
Switching to the sport of golf after spending a large part of his life involved in football comes with great sacrifice. It’s not an easy thing to do. Getting a spot on the varsity golf team after transferring sports in the past year is damn near impossible, but Spriddle managed it.
It shouldn’t surprise you. Lachlan Spriddle is not your typical varsity golfer.
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