Upon first glance, the golf course seems like a peaceful place. Rolling green hills surround a series of flags, the gentle arc of iron clubs striking golf balls and sending them far into the air. However, Adam Macmillan ’21 knows better. He is acutely aware of the many distractions from eager parents and friends to the watchful eyes of competition from other schools. Turning his head to focus, he suddenly hears a sound blares from the megaphone. 

“First on the tee from Cranbury, New Jersey is Adam Macmillan!”

Taking a deep breath, he steps up to the tee and takes his stance. Taking a few deep breaths he tries to block out any external distractions until it is just him, the ball and the course. Thwack! Iron club meets a small rubber ball and sends it flying through the air. 

Getting to the point where Adam can compete without outside distractions has taken countless hours of practice. During the high-school season, Adam practices with the PHS team during the school week and most weekends. During the rest of the year, he competes in independent tournaments and spends countless hours in the weight room working on improving his strength.  Macmillan attributes much of his success to not only his dedication to the sport but the golf role models he had growing up. One especially influential role model was his father who is not only his coach but also played golf in college. Another influential role model is Rick Yrosh, a veteran and someone Adam used to play golf with.

“He was badly hurt in Iraq in 2008, and his story and quest for his life purpose and being able to accomplish [despite] the hardships he went through inspired me a lot. It really applies to golf. Like if I have a bad setback and feel down and out of it, I think about him. He persevered and now has a family and is living a great life. His story is very inspirational for me,” Macmillan said.

Macmillan also spends his free time teaching a new generation of golfers. Since they are so young, ranging from elementary to middle school, his teaching focuses on getting the kids to learn the beauty of the sport, before heavily focusing on rules and technique. While some see having kids who are new to the sport as a weakness, Macmillan sees it as an opportunity to get people who love the sport into healthy competition. As captain of the team this year, Macmillan does recognize that they are at a disadvantage against more experienced teams but at the end of the day he is very confident in his team's ability. 

As captain, Adam takes a primary role in managing the team, assisting with managing the games themselves and teaching others about course management. Adam also maintains a good relationship with his assistant coach Noone. Having led the team during such unprecedented times, Noone praises him for his diligence. 

“He's got a great mind for the game. And most importantly, he's a really, really good person. I enjoyed being around him. So easy to coach. He's a great leader, you know, helps out our younger guys, always encouraging, you know, just a very class act,” said Noone. “He's competitive, I'm competitive, and you know, talking golf that's been the most fun and seeing him interact with some of the younger guys like our freshmen, we have a lot of freshmen and so engaging and welcoming to them.”

Macmillan, while assuming his role as captain, has maintained his work ethic and good attitude during his practices and tournaments. He was able to make state championships his first two years of golfing at PHS, unfortunately due to COVID-19 he wasn’t able to last year. Still he and his team continue to put in the work to help others understand the sport as well as improve their ability as a team. His coaches and teammates believe he will go far in his upcoming season at West Chester University in the fall.