By Christopher Tremblay

While growing up on the baseball fields of Norwood, Sean Dittmeier wasn’t really interested in other sports right away. Around the age of 10, his Uncle began taking him to the golf range and within two years he found himself finally stepping on the golf course to a game he has come to love.

Playing on the Norwood High School varsity team as a freshman, Dittmeier only found himself in a few matches that year, and unfortunately he remembers his first match like it was yesterday.

“Oh yeah I remember that first match,” Dittmeier said. “Not to mention it was the very first varsity sport in general that I took part it and it wasn’t that good. I was really shaky and didn’t shoot all that well; I shot a 49 (for nine holes); but I did have at least one other match that year and picked the game up quickly.”

After that shaky start, the then freshman told himself just to slow down and play the type of game that he would if it were a practice; it’s just another day.

The now senior co-captain ended up shooting a 41 in his next varsity match posting a much better result than that inaugural varsity outing. Playing in his final season with Norwood, Dittmeier is shooting in the high 30’s and is looking to maintain that average throughout the season.

Coach Chuck Allen likes what he has seen in terms of progress over the last four years.

“Sean was averaging 5 over par but has gotten much better over the years,” Coach Allen said. “He puts the time and effort in prior to the season and has been able to show that he can handle the courses professionally. He’s a class-act kid and is a good leader for us.”

A few months after his sophomore golf season came to an end and near the tail end of the winter sports season, Dittmeier and all Norwood athletes were introduced to Covid. With the majority of things shut down, Dittmeier decided to use the down time to work on his golf game.

“During that time there really wasn’t too much you could do, so that summer I played a lot of golf with (then teammate) Erin Sullivan, who is now playing golf for Bryant University,” Dittmeier said. “It was good playing with her because of the competition even though it was practice.”

Once Covid protocol was lifted, Dittmeier, who is a three-sport athlete at Norwood (golf, hockey, and baseball), felt that he needed to spend more time focusing on his other sports and kind of put golf on the back burner. Needless to say, although he averaged a 39 last fall, he didn’t feel his game was as good as the previous season. 

As he began his final season with the Norwood golf team, the senior was hoping that he’d keep his average in the 30’s and fight it out for the top spot on the Mustang roster. 

“I had a rough start to the beginning of the season as I didn’t find myself practicing a lot,” Dittmeier said. “I was playing a lot of summer baseball while holding down two jobs.”

Right now, he is fighting it out with another golfer for that top spot; each athlete is currently averaging about 4 over par. 

“Coming into the season I knew that he’d be battling for that top spot,” Coach Allen said. “When he has played in the number one spot against the oppositions’ number one he has shown that he can hold his own. He’s a natural athlete.”

As a captain this fall, Dettmeier not only wants to play good on the course for the team, but he also wants to be able to help the younger golfers with advice if they need it.

“I just want to give the younger athletes the things that I learned from my captains through the years, just passing it down,” he said. “I’m not looking to change their entire swing or anything like that, I didn’t want my captains to do that to me so I’m not going to do that to them. If I see something, I just want to let them know about it and how they can fix it.”

Having a team on the younger side, Norwood didn’t get off to a great start, but as the younger golfers got their bearings the team began to take off.

“We started off slow, but recently have been on a five-game win streak bringing our record to 8-5.” Dettmeier said. “At this point, we need one more win to make the tournament, and once we get there, if our top six golfers play to their ability, we’ll have a good shot at moving on.”

As Norwood continues its efforts to qualify for the tournament, Dittmeier is also turning his attention to college. While he does enjoy playing golf, baseball is where he excels and has begun talking to colleges to get onto the diamond. 

As he looks to get into a Division 3 college where he can play baseball, Coach Allen admits he knew that golf was not Dittmeier’s primary sport.

“I believe that he is looking to go to college and play one of his other sports,” the Mustang Coach said. “That’s OK, because golf is a sport that once you begin you play your whole life.”

With golf something that Dittmeier will continue to do as he grows older, right now he is focused on his game for Norwood and getting the Mustangs into the tournament to make some noise.