LSU senior golfer John Peterson is smooth — like Keith Stone silky smooth.
Smooth describes the Texan’s easy-going demeanor off the course that has made him friends with some of the top players in the country — and his sweet swing on it that has led to a 73 stroke career scoring average and eight top-5 finishes in his three seasons on LSU’s golf team.
Peterson’s smooth style was evident from his favorite golf memory in his collegiate career.
Peterson claimed a sixth place finish in last season’s NCAA championships at Karsten Creek Golf Course in Stillwater, Okla., which was the best finish by any LSU golfer since Perry Moss finished in a tie for fourth place in 1991.
But Peterson recalled a specific shot.
On the final hole, Peterson got under his tee shot with his 5-wood, leaving the ball well short of his targeted landing area and leaving an extremely difficult shot to the green.
No problem.
“I hit a terrible tee shot, probably the worst one of the week,” Peterson said. “I had 210 yards into an almost island green and [LSU] coach [Chuck Winstead] comes back there and says ‘That was a terrible tee shot, but you know what would be even better? The feeling at lunch after this. After you get the ball up and down from 200 yards.'”
Sure enough, the confident Peterson knocked the ball to within 25 feet of the cup on a small green, then proceeded to sink the putt, prompting a Tiger Woods-style fist pump around the green.
“Quite frankly, John started playing golf when he had diapers on,” said Peterson’s father, David Peterson. “I have a picture of him when he was 22 months old, and he had this uncanny, beautiful-looking swing.”
Peterson’s family lived on a golf course, and the elder Peterson said his son spent time watching golfers play from their backyard and would hit golf balls from the yard after the golfers cleared.
The family moved to Baton Rouge, where in a twist of fate Peterson received his first formal golf training from Winstead.
Winstead still recalls seeing Peterson as a boy.
“It’s gratifying when you see any of your players make the type of improvement John has made,” Winstead said. “When he was 10 or 11-years-old, he was a young man I was giving golf lessons to that never had golf instruction, so obviously there’s a long history there.”
Peterson went on to be quite successful as a junior golfer in Baton Rouge, posting his first under-par round of golf as an 11-year old at Santa Maria Golf Course in Baton Rouge.
Peterson’s father said he realized while still in Baton Rouge that Peterson had the ability to play golf at the collegiate level.
“He played in the Baton Rouge city junior tournament,” Peterson’s father said. “He was 10 or 11, and he was playing against high school juniors and seniors. And he wasn’t much taller than the bag.”
His family moved to Texas in 2001, but Peterson returned to Baton Rouge in 2007, this time as Texas’ top-ranked high school golfer and part of a recruiting class that turned the fortunes of LSU golf.
Peterson’s first two years were successful. He made the Southeastern Conference All-Freshman Team, and was named a PING Second-Team All-American as a sophomore.
But Peterson said he focused more on other things during his first two years at LSU than golf.
“When I got here, I just went out a lot and went crazy for a couple of years,” Peterson said. “But after that I got my feet under me and figured out that I couldn’t do that anymore and be successful. I started to go to sleep at reasonable hours, went to school and made good grades. It was really just me growing up.”
Much of Peterson’s maturing came with his desire to play professionally on the PGA tour after he’s done at LSU.
“The opportunity is now to make dollars later,” Peterson said.
Peterson has become friends with several top golfers around the country, including Georgia senior Russell Henley and
Illinois senior Scott Langley. Both golfers were the top amateur finishers in the 2010 U.S. Open, finishing in a tie for 16th place.
“We all understand that each of us could beat each other any day,” Peterson said. “Their experiences with the Masters and the U.S. Open made me realize that I could do the same thing if I just work hard and keep my head down.”
 
 
 
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Contact Luke Johnson at [email protected]