By Kurt Dusterberg
When Brandon Einstein talks about growing his golf game, he often starts with a story about just plain, old growing. It all started in the summer after his freshman year.
“I went from 5-foot-6 to 5-10,” said Einstein, a junior at West Forsyth High School. “I’m 5-11 right now. And I went from 115 pounds to 150 pounds.”
The growth spurt affected his golf game right away.
“Before I knew it, I was switching from senior flex and regular flex to stiff flex,” he said “And I was just hitting it longer.”
It didn’t take long to see the results on his scorecard.
“My scores dropped very, very fast,” Einstein said.
He notched three junior wins in a one-month span in the summer of 2016. Einstein had two more wins in the fall, including the Tarheel Youth Golf Association’s state championship, where he shot 73-73.
As he grows his game, he’s noticing too what it takes to win.
“From the tournaments I’ve played, I can see that everyone out there in the field can swing a golf club,” he said. “It’s those that can put rounds together who will succeed. Those who have the mental game to get their way around 18 holes are the ones who end up time-and-time again in the top 10.”
From age six to 12, Einstein was content to split his time between golf and baseball. But in the summer before 8th grade he realized he was having more fun working at his golf game. He got a little nudge, too, from his father, an accomplished golfer.
“It was my dad,” he said. “He wanted me to get back into it because he was following me around the baseball fields. So I said, ‘I’ll come play with you.”’
Einstein has used his time wisely, sharpening his game by engaging his imagination.
“My strongest point is my short game,” he said. “I have really good hands and a lot of creativity around the greens. That comes in handy. I can take a 55-degree wedge and turn it into a 60-degree or turn it into a gap wedge around the greens. I like messing around like that with each club.”
All that tinkering can fill up an afternoon at Bermuda Run Country Club.
“I try to get my homework done in class so I can go out to the golf course,” he said.
While golf is Einstein’s priority, he likes to make time for his hobby – fishing. Fortunately, the golf course does double duty.
“If I cut my practice short, I’ll have an hour maybe three or four times a week,” he says. “Bermuda Run has lots of ponds. I just go there. It’s where all my golf balls lay that I’ve hit in the water.”
Honors: 2017 Central Piedmont Conference player of the year. He shot 66 in the conference tournament.
2017 Victories: Shot 71 at the TYGA one-day tournament at Mid Pines in April.
Best Round: “At Tanglewood (Golf Club), I shot 1-under (34) on the front, then I came to the back nine and birdied 10 through 15, and 17 to shoot 28. I finished with a 62.”
Magic Moment: “Two years ago at the Forsyth Invitational. We had three generations of Einsteins out there that day. My dad (Greg) and I played and my grandfather (Freddie) followed us around. My grandfather won it (in 1973). That was really cool.”
Goals: “I would like to finish in the top 10 in all the junior majors. And I would like to win the Forsyth Junior. My grandfather has won it, my dad has come close to winning it, so I would like to win it.”
