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By SEAN ROCCA

For The Washington Daily News

B.J. Marsh has found loads of success in his golf game. This is because he plays differently than most people.

“I’m a very conservative player,” Marsh said. “Nowadays people aim for distance and see how far they can hit it. I value accuracy over distance. I’ll take a short shot to aim for par instead of shooting for birdies and eagles.”

This strategy has worked for him as he has won many Summer Festival tournaments at the Washington Yacht and Country Club including the past two. At the most recent event, he finished with an even par 144 and won by 12 strokes. “I love the Yacht Club course,” Marsh said. “It is a great location right on the water and it is ideal for playing golf.” He said his best score was a 64 for a standard 18-hole course.

His success began in his early years. He grew up in Bath and lived right next to the golf course. Because of this, golf was one of his main hobbies growing up. He began playing at age 11 at the Bayview golf course. By age 15, he became club champ at Bayview. He played at Northside and Pitt Community College where he won all-state, all-conference, or both every year he competed.

Now he works for West Park Motor Company and has been there for 15 years. Marsh said they give him the flexibility to play in tournaments and donate to a lot of charity golf tournaments he plays in. “I play at least once a week, mainly improving my accuracy. When I’m not selling vehicles, I can be found at WYCC working on my game,” Marsh said.

He likes to think of his clubs as tools and uses them more strategically instead of trying to max out on each hit. He also has a lot of Scotty Cameron equipment. This is a very famous brand that is known for making some of the best putters in the game. Marsh has putters, club covers, and bags that all have the Scotty Cameron brand.

Marsh said one of the reasons he loves the game is because it is just him against the golf course. He said he enjoys that instead of playing against a team like in most other sports. While he does compete against other players, he prefers to think of the course as his competition.

Marsh plays differently than most golfers, which is why he has had so much success. “The key is to get the ball in play and keep it in play. Golf is a hard game and it can be harder when someone makes it that way. My best advice is to simplify the game which will make things easier and will bring more success,” Marsh said.