Estancia’s Davis Gets a Handle on Improving His Golf Game : Preps: Switching to a long-handled putter helps senior gain confidence, making him the Eagles’ top player.

Early this season, Ryan Davis figured his golf game couldn’t get any worse. Sure, his drives were long and true and his short game usually got him on the greens in good shape, but flawed putting was driving him to hate the game.

Birdie attempts became bogeys and possible pars turned into double-bogeys as Davis regularly took three putts on a green.

But things have changed for Davis since he switched to a long-handled putter. After a period of adjustment, Davis has emerged as the top golfer at Estancia High School.

Estancia won its third consecutive Southern Section team title March 13 at La Cumbre Golf and Country Club in Santa Barbara, and Davis’ even-par 70 was the low score of the competition.

Davis also had Estancia’s lowest score (76) the week before at Mesa Verde Country Club in the Eagles’ Southern Regional victory. He will be one of the key players when Estancia attempts to win its first CIF-Southern California Golf Assn. championship June 10 at Marbella Golf and Country Club in San Juan Capistrano.

It’s a satisfying position for Davis, a senior who wasn’t able to crack the varsity team at the end of the last two seasons.

“I like playing golf now because I know I’m going to putt well,” Davis said. “I feel that way every time I go out and play.”

Davis, who averaged 80 strokes for 18 holes during the regular season, four strokes higher than No. 1 player Paul Hinkle, picked up the Pole-Kat--the brand-name of his 50-inch putter--out of desperation. Longer putters are popular on the Senior Tour, and Rocco Mediate, the fourth-highest money winner on the PGA Tour this year, uses one.

At the suggestion of his father, Bob, a golf equipment salesman for Spalding, Davis sought out the lengthy putter.

“I figured I couldn’t putt any worse, so I might as well,” Davis said. “Actually, I was putting pretty poorly on the long puts in the beginning but I figured, ‘stay with it.’ Then I got the feel for it.”

The pendulum action of Pole-Kat makes Davis’ putting stroke more consistent.

“If I miss a putt with this putter,” he said, “it’s the distance, not the direction.”

But Davis thought of chucking the new putter about a month after switching. For a time, Estancia co-coach Art Perry said, Davis was bringing both putters with him when he played.

“He was playing so well with it, we didn’t know why he was bringing the other putter out,” Perry said.

“He can hit a driver as straight as others can hit irons, and now that he can putt, he’s got a lot of confidence in his game.”

That confidence, which Davis lacked in past seasons, is important on a team as competitive as Estancia’s. The Eagles, who cut 18 people to get down to a 31-player squad, often hold rigorous intersquad tournaments to determine the players who will fill the teams’ final spots. Last season, after playing most of the year with the varsity, Davis lost such a competition. He had to play so much golf to keep up with his teammates, he said it burned him out.

“With such great competition I had to practice every single day, and then when I didn’t play well, I got more frustrated,” he said. “But now if I need a day off, I can just take a day off. I don’t have to worry about qualifying the next day.”

Before this season, Davis’ only postseason experience came as a freshman in the Southern Regional. Estancia, which wasn’t known as a golf powerhouse then, had its first four players shoot in the 70s. The Eagles had a big lead with only Davis and another freshman, Tim Pieper, on the course.

Pieper, who is now a senior and on the varsity, shot 99 and Davis, the last player to finish, shot 91, which gave the Eagles the third and final berth in the Southern Section team championships. Estancia went on to finish fourth in the section and fourth in the CIF-SCGA tournament.

Estancia finished third in the CIF-SCGA in 1989 and second in 1990. This season, Davis thinks the team should finally win because it doesn’t depend on standouts Austin Maki and Ken Calvert--there is more balance.

“This year, we are all playing more relaxed,” Davis said.