Collin McMahon-Shea ’26 has started his fall season on a high note, winning two Centennial Conference Golfer of the Week awards already.
The Junior won his first award for his September 17 performance. He earned the individual title at The Gauntlet at Bucknell Golf Club. In that opening round, he shot a 65, finishing five-under (-5) which is tied for the third lowest score in Centennial Men’s Golf history.
McMahon-Shea earned his second award on October 1 after he placed in a tie for sixth place at the 104-player Northeast Elitetournament at Williamsport Country Club. He finished as the top Centennial golfer in the field.
The success has come early and often for McMahon-Shea, who credits a great summer at home in preparing him for his return. “I played a lot of golf. I had some momentum coming into the year, especially my sophomore year, I played really well and just kind of built on that,” he said. Most importantly, he credits his dedication to improving his mental side of the sport as a game changer.
McMahon-Shea said, “I was, you know, sometimes messy in my rounds. I lose focus. A lot of the mental aspects of the game I’ve improved on, like staying focused the whole 18 holes and all four hours. Being able to stay zoned in has been the main focus because physically, I’ve always been able to hit the same shots. It’s just a matter of repeatability and focus.”
McMahon-Shea recognizes he has a key advantage over most of his competition. “I hit the ball farther than most people out here, so I try to take advantage of that, especially around here, where the courses are a little shorter. So I’d say I play a little more aggressive, especially playing very quick courses. They’re hard,” he says. His ability to drive from the tee and get as close to the hole as possible has paid off, however the shots in between the tee box and the green can pose an issue.
McMahon-Shea found success on his first round back as a Red Devil at the Bucknell Golf Club, but he admitted to feeling nervous. “That was probably the most nervous I’ve been for a tournament, and I can’t even remember how long, but I was able to just take it one swing at a time. The first day, I shot the 65 and I was just really focused.”
There were some holes that were rough, but he was able to recover well. He credits the success to staying mentally focused, the aspect of his game he improved the most this summer. Day two was not as pretty as he would have hoped, but it gave him an opportunity to put hisnmental work to the test.
“I had a little bit of a mess happening. But, I was able to keep it and shot 70 that day.” His error also occurred early in the round, forcing him to really concentrate and focus on the rest of the round.
“I was sulking for a minute, but that’s one of the things I worked on, and we talked about in preparation for this year. I think I shook that off pretty well and I tried to break it up into the first half of the round, and now let’s focus on the next half.” He finished that round with birdies. McMahon-Shea uses an impressive strategy to stay composed: “I have, like, little analogies that I use.” In that tournament at Bucknell, he thought to himself, “‘why did I hit that bad shot?’ I use the burning house analogy. I’m in a burning house, I’m in a bad position. I don’t think why the house is on fire, that’s not going to help you in the moment. You should be thinking about, how am I going to get out of the burning house?” he explained. Golf can be a very frustrating game, controlling his emotions can give the Junior a real leg up. A promising fall season will have McMahon-Shea heading in the right direction for the Spring. He is on track for a very successful spring with his improved focus and newfound analogies.
