Dickey’s Big Plans Fall Through

Anyone who has played Aviara Golf Club knows there’s no shame in shooting 79 from the back tees. The hilly Arnold Palmer-designed public course has wide fairways, large but fast greens, blind shots, breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean and plenty of yardage--7,003 from the championship tees.

But Huntington Beach’s Perry Dickey appeared slightly embarrassed to be discussing his first round of the Ashworth/Golfweek Aviara Junior tournament Tuesday.

“I planned on coming in here and shooting a 70 and 72, at the worst 75,” he said. “I didn’t expect a 79, especially the way I played the other day.”

The other day, last Thursday, Dickey shot 67 at his home course SeaCliff Country Club, which Dickey said is similar to Aviara.

“I thought I had it,” Dickey said. “I had just shot one of my best rounds. I thought I was really in tune with my swing. But I guess it just clicked that one day.”

Dickey, who will attend UCLA this fall on a partial golf scholarship, is slowly learning that even the professionals have days like this.

He is reading John Feinstein’s best seller, “A Good Walk Spoiled,” and he’s finding out that even Nick Faldo can suddenly lose his swing.

“He hits balls all day and even in his sleep,” Dickey said.

Dickey is trying to emulate Faldo, not so much his personality or his temperament but his golf swing.

“My golf coach [Don Brown] has me looking at tapes of Faldo’s swing,” he said. “He’s trying to get me to swing more like Faldo.”

Why Faldo?

“My favorite is Freddie [Couples], but I know I can’t swing like him,” Dickey said. “He’s triple-jointed and he just has a lot of God-given talent. Faldo’s build is more like mine, taller and lean, so it makes sense to swing like somebody your own size. It wouldn’t make sense to try and follow Ian Woosnam or Corey Pavin because they’re too short.”

Dickey probably picked the golfer whose personality most resembles his own. Faldo has been called meticulous and obsessed with golf.

“It is a strong desire for me,” he said. “I am known to practice a lot more than the other players. I’m kidded a lot about over-analyzing my swing and being too technical. But my dad always instilled in me that if you work hard, you’ll play better.”

Dickey said he won’t start playing better until he masters his new swing. Only three weeks and four lessons into his revamped swing, Dickey is frustrated that he can explain his swing better than he can employ it.

“I’m trying to get it steeper on the way ball so it can be shallower on the way down,” he said.

But sometimes theory doesn’t quite jibe with reality.

On the 18th hole, a 413-yard dogleg left across a lake, Dickey seemed to be in perfect position to finish with a birdie, or at worst a par. He shortened the hole perfectly by driving next to the lake, about 175 yards from the pin. But he wound up in the lake and finished with a triple-bogey seven.

“I wasn’t over-thinking there,” he said. “I just got nervous and came off it early.”

Dickey’s summer has been one disappointment after another. He shot two rounds of 72 at Los Coyotes and missed qualifying for the U.S. Junior Amateur by one shot. He missed qualifying for the “Big I” state tournament by one shot. Then, after leading the Anaheim city tournament through one round, he was disqualified in the second round for hitting the wrong ball.

Finally, after qualifying for the California State Junior tournament, he realized the next day that he was two days too old to play the event.

“It’s been tough,” Dickey said.

But once Dickey realized this week’s event would be his last junior tournament, his frustration began to fade.

“I get really nostalgic and emotional about stuff like this,” he said. “I’ll miss playing high school golf and I’ll miss this, but you have to move on.”

Notes

Turlock’s Nick Webb, who has signed with USC, shot seven-under 65 to take the first-round lead. Webb’s 65 is the competitive course record at five-year-old Aviara. . . . La Palma’s Justin Kim shot 72, Tustin’s Nick Seymour and Aliso Viejo’s Tom Osseck had 74s and Greg Pittenger of Coto de Caza shot 76. Will Luciano, of Huntington Beach, and Dusty Schmidt, who lives in Whittier but attends Sunny Hills High, were at 79 with Dickey. In the girls’ division, Santa Ana’s Julia Allison shot 76 and was two shots behind the leader, Nicole Dalkas of Palm Desert. Yon Yim of Irvine shot 78.