Every time James McHugh tees off for the Rye High varsity, an unusual situation arises: the golfer is more driven than the ball. It’s not that the Garnets’ sophomore can’t put a lot of oomph behind the ball; it’s just that his personal story is so, well, obsessive.

By Mitch Silver

 

Every time James McHugh tees off for the Rye High varsity, an unusual situation arises: the golfer is more driven than the ball. It’s not that the Garnets’ sophomore can’t put a lot of oomph behind the ball; it’s just that his personal story is so, well, obsessive.

 

“Obsessive?” he said recently. “I guess you could say that.”

 

It all started when dad Jim McHugh gave James a Little Tykes plastic golf club for his second birthday. “From then on it was the only toy he’d play with,” remembers mom Vicki. “We built a sandbox for the kids in the backyard, but James used it as a sand trap.”

 

For his fourth Christmas, James had only one item on his Christmas list — a box of Nike golf balls. So…“obsessive” seems about right.

 

A lot of kids grow out of their early enthusiasms. Not James. At age 5 he was competing in the U.S. Kids New York State Championship. He came in fifth. The next year, in Albany, he shot 36 for nine shortened holes and tied for the title.

 

His older sister Kristen developed juvenile diabetes (now known as Type 1 diabetes) and, on the car ride back to Rye, James made an announcement. “I want to play golf for a living. And I’m going to use my money to build a golf course where kids like me can play all we want. And I’m giving the rest of my money to juvenile diabetes.”

 

He hasn’t built the golf course yet. But, true to his word, his money from golf goes to fighting JD. He earns it at golf outings sponsored locally by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. While a JDRF volunteer sells tickets, James stands by the “Beat the Kid” sign at a par-3 and challenges the adult players to get closer to the hole than he does.

 “We’ve raised over $82,000 so far,” said the high school sophomore. “Of course, it was easier when I was 7. I mean, I was just a kid, right? But even then, my ball was usually closer than theirs.”

 

This year’s Jonathan P. Altman Golf Classic, named for someone who died from diabetic complications, will tee off at Sleepy Hollow Country Club April 27.

 

Meanwhile, James is back at Rye High this year after a year away in Florida, working on his game at a golf academy there. “Kids come from all over the world to play golf. They use video analysis at the school, so you sort of learn how to self-correct your swing.”

 

It must have worked. The Garnets played their first match of the season April 13, against Byram Hills. Rye’s coach Pat Romano takes it from there. “He saved us!  It was our first match of the season, we were starting a couple of freshman and everyone except James struggled.  We played the back nine at Whippoorwill Country Club; I don’t think James has ever played it.  The greens were in poor condition after the winter. Despite it all, he shot a 2-under par 33, which is amazing for the first match of the season.”

 

He led the team to the win, and came back the following day against Pelham, shooting a 35 at Rye Golf Club to contribute to the 17-stroke aggregate win. “We shot a 202,” he said, happily. “And I’m sure we can go lower.”

 

I asked James if he’d been watching Jordan Spieth win the recent Masters. “Of course!” Did anything interest him particularly about Spieth’s game? “His course management, the way he maneuvers around and sets up his shots. He’s known for that.” Does James try to incorporate anything Spieth does into his swing? “I’ve tried to use Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia as models,” he told me. “Those two are really fundamentally sound.”

 

It sounds like James McHugh’s approach to golf and to life: fundamentally sound.