PG South: Mt. Lebanon's Shields is a student of golf game

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Now that he has found his swing, Kevin Shields is back in the groove.

Shields, 34, a Mt. Lebanon resident who has built a solid golf career on the local and regional circuits, was close to a career change during the winter when he decided to take a closer look at his swing. The result was some mechanical adjustments that not only turned his game around, but changed his mind about pursuing another line of work.

	Robin Rombach, Post-Gazette Kevin Shields of Mt. Lebanon wants to qualify for the U.S. Open that will be played next year at Oakmont County Club. Click photo for larger image.

"I spent a lot of time studying my swing and the swing in general," Shields said. "I was getting kind of tired of making the same mistakes all the time. Everyone hits a bad shot now and again, but I was hitting the same bad shots and doing the same things wrong over and over again.

"Everyone wants to get better, and I felt like I was not getting better. It was frustrating."

Couple those feelings with the fact that Shields has one child and has another on the way, meaning demands on his time were going to be increased by family needs. That combination made it difficult for him to imagine continuing on as a teaching golf pro, given the demands that career places on his time during the weekends.

But studying video and reading more about the golf swing translated into some mechanical changes that have resurrected his game. He has had an outstanding summer, complete with a ninth-place finish in a Hooters Tour event at Quicksilver in May, his advance out of a local qualifier for the U.S. Open in driving rain at Quicksilver and culminating last week with a win in the Frank B. Fuhrer Invitational at Butler Country Club.

He has set as a goal making a run at qualifying for the 2007 U.S. Open, which will be hosted by the Oakmont Country Club next June.

"What I learned [about swing] is kind of hard to explain," Shields said. "It was mostly mechanical. I had read a lot and seen myself on video thousands of times. But up until this time it seemed like nothing really changed. For some reason this time, after the changes I made, I was able to hit some shots I was not able to hit before. Everything just seemed to click this time."

Things clicked in just before the Hooters Tour event, and Shields' confidence soared as he experienced success. He does not want to revert to old habits.

"The summer has been going great, which really was unexpected," he said. "I've really started to play well. Things are going a lot better. I've got five or six events left this summer and I want to make the most of them."

The Fuhrer Invitational, which Shields won for the second time, carried a first-place cash prize of $25,000. Shields earned the big payday with a 3-over par 283 for the 72-hole event, shooting a 74 on the final round to win by two strokes.

"I was pretty good off the tee," Shields said of his performance at the Fuhrer Invitational, formerly known as the Pittsburgh Open. "That's a tough course. There are a lot of trees, a lot of out of bounds and the wind was really swirling. The greens were really tough -- they were as fast as any greens I have ever played, except maybe for Oakmont.

"I didn't putt well, but I kept everything in play. I was pretty consistent. I didn't have any disasters on the greens and that really made a difference."

His confidence on a high, Shields, a teaching pro at Robert Morris University's Island Sports Center, has turned his attention to the rest of the season. He plans on a full slate of teaching during the next several weeks leading up to the Pennsylvania Open at the Mystic Rock course at Nemacolin Woodlands.

Shields said he is not one to set goals for himself, or to talk about winning tournaments before they are played. The way he has played in the last couple months, though, has him thinking optimistically.

"I know that course [Mystic Rock] pretty well," said Shields, who in 2003 set a record for single-season earnings in the Tri-State PGA section and has won numerous local and regional tournaments. "I don't usually go into a tournament saying I'm going to win it, but with this year's State open, I'll be disappointed if I don't play well. I feel I should win that event."

"I'm 34, and I guess you would say most guys are in their prime at that stage," Shields said. "I want to keep an understanding of what I am trying to do and keep applying the lessons I have learned. It's one thing to learn something and then to forget it once you get out on the course.

"But I feel good about the way I am playing. I don't really ever set goals, but I think it would be great to qualify for the Open next year since it's at Oakmont.

"That [qualifying for the '07 U. S. Open] was a pipe dream two months ago.

"Now it's got my interest. Now it's a realistic goal and I think I can do it."

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