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Hudson Carper has learned from his Club Championship finishes and has goals for a big golf season

Hudson Carper has some goals for the new year:
• Be part of a state champion golf team at Lubbock Cooper High School.
• Qualify for the U.S. Open.
• Make it to match play in the U.S. Junior Amateur.
• Win an AGJA Tournament this summer.
• Win the LCC Club Championship after two straight years of second-place finishes.

(Photos: Top, Hudson playing for Cooper High at a tournament at Lake Travis this season. Next photo down: Hudson with his medallist trophy and his dad, Mike, after winning a high school tournament in El Paso. Next photo down: Hudson hits out of some nasty rough last year at the state tournament at Wolf Dancer in Austin. Bottom photo: Hudson and his Cooper teammates celebrate winning the El Paso tournament.

And Hudson believes what he learned in that Club Championship final-day showdown with David Bolen is helping his game going into 2019.
“I feel like I’ve grown a lot,” the high school junior said in the Grill recently.
“Being young and immature … you have that young gun mindset I can pull off anything,” he said.
After David overcame Hudson’s two-stroke lead on the final few holes, Hudson drained a big putt on the final hole to force a playoff.
Both players were in the middle of the fairway on the first playoff hole, but a bad second shot opened the door for David’s win.
“I should have put it in the middle of the green and made him have to make a putt instead of going pin hunting,” he said.
Since then Hudson feels like every part of his game has taken a few steps forward.
He learned from watching how David played that final round.
“The way he approaches the game mentally is what I grabbed from that,” he said, adding it’s not how far you hit it, but putting the ball where it needs to be and not taking risks you don’t need to take.
Hudson says when he plays with his friends they love to sling it out there, he said.
Hudson says he averages about 300 yards or a little more off the tee, but is becoming more comfortable about laying back to where the ball needs to be depending on the hole and other conditions.
Hudson started playing golf in 8th grade after watching his dad take lessons.
He’s the number one player on Cooper’s team and Mason Roberts, who finished ahead of him in the Club Championship in 2017, is number three.
The Pirates have finished third and fifth in the state his first two years, giving them high hopes for this season.
Hudson already has a few NCAA Division I scholarship offers to play college golf.
He would like to play at TCU or Oregon.
“Downtown Fort Worth is a great place to live,” he said.
Oregon’s 60-degree days and tall trees reminds him of Virginia, where his dad is from.
Then he hopes to play professionally.
“I want to try golf first and play in some professional events this summer,” said Hudson, adding Web.com Tour events don’t have an age limit.
Hudson says he needs to drive the ball more consistently in the fairway, get his putting average down to the pro average of 28 from 30, which would drop his scoring average to right around 68.
“Putting is the big thing,” he said.
And he knows he has to put in the time to make it happen.
“You get up earlier than everyone and stay up later than everyone if you want to be the best,” he said.
“If it works out, it works and if it doesn’t, it doesn’t,” he said of a pro golf career.
If it doesn’t, Hudson said he could follow his dad’s footsteps and go to law school.
Hudson said his two favorite golfers are Dustin Thomas and Jordan Spieth.
“I like they way they handle themselves on and off the course. Jordan is known as a good guy and I want to be known as that … at the end of the day, it’s just a game,” Hudson said.
“I try to treat everyone like they could be my next boss,” and said that’s his dad’s influence.
“My dad makes good money and takes care of his family, but he doesn’t think he’s better than anyone else … we were all created the same way,” said Hudson.
Hudson’s favorite course he’s played so far is the Traditions Club in College Station, but as he chases his golf dreams he hopes to play Pinehurst No. 2, Bighorn Country Club in Palm Springs, Pebble Beach (which is hosting the U.S. Open this year), Augusta National and St. Andrews.
When playing at The Club, Hudson’s favorite hole is No. 9. “It’s the hardest and most challenging. The tee from the back is hard, the second shot is hard. It makes you hit two really good shots to the green and the green is hard,” he said.
His least favorite hole in No. 8.
“It always gives me some kind of trouble and I don’t know why. The prevailing south wind makes it the hardest hole. The tee shot is not too bad, but if you miss it you can be in trouble,” he said.

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