BRUNSWICK — After a successful and newsworthy high school golf career, Mt. Ararat High School senior Caleb Manuel hits the links one last time this weekend in the Maine Principal Association’s State Class A Individual Championships at Natanis Golf Course in Vassalboro.

Manual is the reigning champ after denying Cole Anderson of Camden Hills a fourth straight title last fall.

Golf is a lifetime sport. Some start playing it when they get older, some even in their twilight years. Some start at a young age, but never truly develop with the all the other sports available to today’s youth.

Manuel didn’t start playing golf at a real young age — 10 to be exact. He didn’t jump right in either. He still enjoyed soccer and basketball, and many of the other things kids did at his age, but it was his influences, competitiveness and his ever-growing love for the sport that pushed him to become the golfer he is today.

“I didn’t really watch golf on TV and Tiger (Woods) was in his prime when I was born, so I didn’t really watch him. My dad was a big influence when I was younger,” Manuel, who lives in Topsham with his mother Jill and father Patrick, said. “He took me to Brunswick Golf Club, and we would play four or five holes until I had enough. I started with hitting my tee shots from the fairways until I got the hang of it and hit down on the ball.”

In the years to follow, he had help from familiar faces.

“I didn’t have my license yet, so my parents would drop me off. Then when my sister Anna got her license, she would bring me. She was a big help getting me to the course. I got my money’s worth. My membership was like paying for a daycare or summer camp, it’s pretty much where I grew up in my childhood.”

It didn’t take long for the right-hander to get the hang of it. By the time he was 13, he was competing in Maine State Golf Association junior nine-hole tournaments and winning the 2015 Maine Junior Championship at Toddy Brook Golf Course in North Yarmouth. To top that off, he also won the Club Championship at Brunswick that same summer — again at the ripe age of just 13.

“I played a lot of golf and practiced even more. I worked with Nick Glicos of Martindale Country Club when I was 13 and 14,” as Manuel talked about his early training. “Later on, Nick referred to me to Paul Piveronas from the Woodlands (Golf Club). Paul has been a big part of my success, as I meet with him probably every other week during the summer. He takes the time and works with me. I like him because he asks me what I want to work on, not follow any set plan.”

The next two years, despite a minor setback in the summer between his freshman and sophomore years with a foot injury that prohibited him from participating in any summer tournaments, Manuel played on the high school team and finished third (74) and fourth (75) his first two years of playing in the State Individual Championship. Last fall, he earned his first title, shooting a 69, a win that only boosted his confidence.

“I play a lot of tournaments in the summer and I shut off tournament and individual stuff on August 15th and focus on high school golf,” Manuel said. “After I won, it helped me remember what it was like to win a tournament since I hadn’t won since the Maine Junior. I missed that winning feeling, and after I won, I wanted to go compete even more. I knew I could win more tournaments and that’s a big part of winning. Once you know how to win, it’s win as much as you can.”

The victory also gave him something to talk about on his visit to the University of Connecticut the following week.

“I went down and visited UConn the week after I won. Coach (Dave) Pezzino and I had been talking for a little bit beforehand so there was a little interest there,” Manuel said. “He had seen me play in a couple of tournaments in Florida and after September 1st of your junior year, colleges can contact you. One day I was chipping here at the club and he called me. I had the visit and met some of the guys on the team. I didn’t want to go too far away from home so my parents can come see me, yet I’m far enough away.”

Manuel decided on UConn and will join the Huskies next fall. He is looking forward to playing for the Division I school, playing in the four-five fall tournaments in 2020 and again in the spring of 2021.

“They play in the fall, wrapping up with a tournament in Hawaii. I’ve been texting coach and they’re doing well. I can’t wait to start playing for them,” Manuel added. “They go to California in February, Florida on spring break and a tournament at Clemson. You have the winter off for Christmas, but after that, you get in the gym and start back up in February.”

Summer success

Manuel certainly began his summer well. 

“The highlight of the spring heading into the summer was qualifying for the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship. I’ve been trying to qualify for that, but it’s really hard because they only take two qualifiers from each event,” Manuel, who qualified in Connecticut, said. “I shot 67 there and it started my summer off.”

Manuel traveled to Ohio with his dad in July to compete at the Inverness Club in Toledo. Manuel shot a two-round, 10-over 152, missing the cut by two shots.

“That was the probably the best tournament I’ve ever played in, just the experience alone,” Manuel said.

Manuel had a top-five finish at the Maine Amateur and a top-10 in the New England Amateur soon after. He placed second in the Maine Junior, and according to Manuel, the highlight of his summer came in August when he captured the American Junior Golf Association’s Coca-Cola Junior Championship at Sugarloaf Golf Club.

“It was in the home state and all the volunteers are from Maine and were cheering me on as I was one of the Maine boys. Cole had won it the year before, so we wanted to keep it in Maine,” Manuel said with a big smile.

August was quite the month for the young golfer. Along with winning the AJGA, he also set the course record at Brunswick Golf Club with a 12-under 60 off the white tees and captured his second club championship, all while trying to finish off the month at the match play, a tournament he finished second in.

“I wanted to end my summer with winning the match play, but I fell just short,” Manuel said. “It was a three-day tournament and on the second day, we played 36 holes, then I traveled to Norway where we were having our first (high school) match and played another nine. I showed up at the tee box right at 3:30 p.m.”

Another
State Championship

The Eagles captured their second State Class A Championship last weekend at Natanis. After having rolled in the qualifier on Oct. 1, Manuel and his teammates didn’t want to be over-confident in the final. “After losing Cade (Charon), Will (Kavanaugh) and Ben (Hickson), we knew we had Parker (Bate) coming up, so we knew we had another good shot,” Manuel said. “Parker doesn’t have his license, Ty (Henke) doesn’t have his, so Eli (Schoenberg) and I kind of paired up and took them under our wing.”

The Eagles cruised to a 10-0 record, winning the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference championship before heading to the state tournament

“Our goal was to get better every day, and once we won the regular season and KVACs, we knew we had another good shot,” Manuel, who also broke a course record at Natanis by shooting a 63 on the Tomahawk course a couple weeks ago during qualifying, said.

It was a fun season according to Manuel, and it’s something he will always reflect on, remembering the good times.

“I’m going to miss the team, miss the bus rides to some of the away matches, and miss the nine holes that we play in high school since colleges play 36 on a good day,” Manuel said.

But the first thing he mentioned that he was going to miss was coach Gerry Caron, who took over golf program when Manuel was an eighth-grader and has been his coach since.

“He doesn’t really mess with my swing, he was more of a mental coach for me. For some of the other golfers he is both, and not a lot of high school coaches take the time and want to win as bad as he does,” Manuel said.

One memory he won’t forget is what Caron told him down the stretch of the team tournament last weekend.

“Coach told me on the course that the other guys were struggling a bit. He always walks around and tells us something special. On the 11th hole, coach said the other guys were ‘leaking oil’ and then he looked at me and said, ‘you brought these kids here, now bring them home,’ and that kind of pumped me up,” Manuel said.

Along with Caron, Manuel mentions all the support he gets from former players and coaches, as well as current and past members of BGC.

“Players like Cam Cox and when Chris Story was around, A.J (Kavanaugh) and a lot of the members here are very supportive. They typically don’t want to play with a kid, but they look forward to playing with me and I like that about this place,” Manuel said.

And he will be back to that “place” all next summer and hopefully a few more to come.

“I’ll be here all summer, trying to get better. I get to play in the junior tournaments next summer, but after that, I won’t be able to since I will have attended college,” he said. “Hopefully UConn will lead me to somewhere I can get some more golf and play professionally as that’s always been the goal, to play at the professional level.”