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Platke signs with Utah State

by Matt Baldwin / Whitefish Pilot
| November 23, 2011 6:58 AM

Whitefish’s standout student-athlete

Reed Platke officially signed last week to play golf with the

Aggies of Utah State. The Division I team plays in the competitive

Western Athletic Conference.

Plake originally committed this past

summer to play at Washington State University, but a coaching shake

up at the university forced the senior to look elsewhere. He was

quickly approached by Utah State.

“They were looking at my profile

online,” Platke said. “We went down there to meet the coach and

played with a couple of guys on the team.”

Platke felt comfortable on the Logan,

Utah, campus — the area offers a lot of the same characteristics he

loves about Montana, including hunting and outdoor activities. Utah

State was a good match for the budding golf star.

He acknowledges the collegiate level

will be very different from the competition he’s faced at the prep

level. At the bottom rung as a freshman with the Aggies he hopes to

just have a chance to make the traveling team.

“Right now I just want to play,” he

said. “It’s going to take a lot of work, but I’m looking forward to

the challenge.”

Platke’s had ample success on the golf

course as a Bulldog. As a freshman he set the stage when he won the

divisional tournament and finished second at the state

tournament.

He won the Class A state high school

golf championship his sophomore year, an experience he calls the

most memorable of his prep career. It was nine degrees when he teed

off at Whitefish Lake Golf Club and Whitefish ended up winning the

team state title that year.

Platke was state runner-up his junior

season, missing the top spot by one stroke.

He calls his prep career “a great ride”

and chalks up a lot of Whitefish’s success on the course to coach

Terry Nelson.

“Coach Nelson knows so much about the

game you can’t not listen to him,” Platke said.

Nelson says Platke is an all-around

class act.

“Reed is one of those kids who has it

all,” Nelson said. “He’s a good student, extremely polite, and as a

golfer, it’s his focus and experience that sets him apart. He knows

how to manage the golf course, which is a product of

experience.”

He’s also a hard worker. Platke will

play a round of golf every day in the summer, or at least hit a few

hundred balls at the range. In the winter he trains with a golf

simulator.

“He also has a good physical regime,”

Nelson said. “That makes a huge difference.

“He hasn’t reached his potential, —

very few kids his age do. He has a lot more in the tank than we’ve

seen.”

Plake is modest about the potential

he’s shown and he knows the competition will only get stiffer as he

moves up in the ranks. Still, he thinks about what it might be like

to play at the professional level.

“It’s very hard to get to those upper

levels,” he said, “but every golfer dreams of it.”

Plake started playing golf at three

years old when his father first put a club in his hands. He played

his first tournament at eight years old.

“I’ve loved the game ever since,” he

said. “It’s a good game. It’s hard not to.”

•••

 

Platke’s stats

 

• Favorite hole at Whitefish Lake Golf

Course: No. 6 on the South course, the par 5 with water down the

left.

• Favorite golf course: South Course at

WLGC.

• Best round at WLGC: 67 on the South

course.

• Driver distance: 290 yards.

• Best part of his game: Short

game.

• Secret to success: Focus is key. Golf

is all mental.

• College academics: Plans to study

landscape architecture.