LOGAN, Utah – Andy Hess didn't even have time to warm up prior to hitting the links with a couple of his Utah State golf teammates over Memorial Day weekend.
 
He played nine holes earlier in the day with teammate Colten Cordingley, and figured that's the only golf he would get to play on Sunday, May 24.
 
"My wife (Hannah) came along to watch, so it was a pretty relaxed nine holes," Hess said. "I didn't expect to play in the evening because I was at work, which was pretty slow that day, so I was fortunate to be able to get off early and head over to play with Colten and Spencer Panter that evening. I rushed right from my car to the 10th tee, so I didn't have time to warm up for that round at all."

Turns out, he didn't need to. Hess ended up matching the course record of 14-under 57 at the Logan Golf & Country Club, which is the home course of Utah State's golf team.

"It was an amazing feeling to shoot a round in the 50s, let alone tie the course record at 57," Hess said. "Shooting 59 is something I've always wanted to accomplish, especially at Logan CC, because I'm on the USU golf team, so to finally accomplish that was something special. I was driving the ball really well and my proximity to the hole on my approach shots was very good, so I was able to give myself a lot of good looks at birdies and eagles, and I felt so good over the putter that I knew I had a good chance to make every putt I looked at."

Hess had 10 birdies, two eagles and six pars during his eye-popping round, which matched the 57 carded by former Utah State golfer Brett Wayment on July 5, 2004.
 
"Logan CC is a par-71, but in my mind I thought I needed to get to 13 under to shoot 59, so when I got to 10-under after 12, I thought I needed three more birdies, when in reality, I needed only two more from there," Hess explained. "Once I birdied five, seven and eight to get to 13-under, I thought I just needed to par the last hole for 59, when I actually needed a par for 58.
 
"When I made a 25-footer for birdie on the last hole I finally let some excitement out and knew I had accomplished something I had always wanted to do, but it wasn't until Colten told me I had shot 57 that I realized that it was a par-71, and that I had in fact tied the course record. It was just a really cool day and I'm proud of the way I composed myself and hit the shots I needed to in order to shoot 57, and I'm glad I had two of my teammates there to witness it."

Hess began his round with back-to-back birdies on the par-4 10th and 11th holes. He then proceeded to make four straight pars before recording his third birdie of the day on the par-4 16th, the final of the three "goat holes" at LG&CC.
 
Sitting at 3-under for his round, Hess' drive on the 443-yard par-4 17th hole leaked a little right and nestled about a yard into the rough, leaving him 135 yards into the hole.
 
"The flag was in the middle of the green and I was hitting right into the sun, so I lost the ball right off the club face," Hess said. "I saw it come down right on line and the ball hit once, then released right into the hole. It was a really good shot, and one that helped propel my round a little bit."
 
It certainly didn't hurt. Beginning with his birdie on No. 16, Hess played his final 12 holes at 12-under par. He also had an eagle on the par-5 first hole, and birdies on two, three, five, seven eight and nine.
 
"When I made the turn at 6-under, coming off of a hole-out eagle on 17 and a birdie on 18, and then eagled No. 1, I knew that it had the potential to be a sub-60 round if I kept playing the way I was," Hess said. "When I rolled in a 35-footer for birdie on No. 2 and made birdie on the par-5 third, I really knew that I had something going if I could just stay focused and not think about the end result, because I had been in similar situations at the country club, where I had a chance to shoot 59 and got ahead of myself and didn't hit the shots I needed to in order to inevitably shoot 59. I knew I really needed to stay present and just focus on hitting one good shot at a time."
 
Hess, a marketing major at Utah State, just completed his junior campaign for the Aggies this year. The native of Idaho Falls, Idaho, finished the season with a stroke average of 72.18 over 17 rounds. He recorded four rounds in the 60s, including a 67 at the Colorado-hosted Mark Simpson Invite.
 
Fans can follow Utah State's golf program on Facebook at facebook.com/USUMensGolf and on Twitter at @USUGolf.
 
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