Mason hopes swing change changes fortunes

At next week’s 55th Mid-Pacific Open it should be easy to find Nick Mason. He is the golfer who just did a major renovation on his "homemade" swing, can’t stay in one place too long and has his name on the 2012 trophy.

Mason opens defense of his championship next Thursday against 70 pros from all over, including Hawaii PGA Tour winners Dean Wilson and Parker McLachlin. There is also a fleet of Hawaii’s finest amateurs, including juniors John Oda and Brittany Fan.

This week, Mason is caddieing for a buddy at the Canadian Tour Q-School in California. It makes him wish harder on the golf star he has been chasing since he was an All-American at Hawaii Hilo.

Coach Earl Tamiya took a chance on a guy who had started golfing at 16, based solely on his third-place finish at the 2001 Hawaii state high School tournament and the hunger in Mason’s eyes. The son of Patti and Lt. Gen. Ray Mason jumped at the scholarship and the thought of staying in one place more than two years, and proceeded to prove Tamiya right.

"When he was a sophomore, we were at regionals at Western Washington," Tamiya recalled. "Nick said, ‘How’s the team doing?’ and I said ‘Not good.’ He said, ‘Coach, pack your bag because I’m going to nationals as an individual’ and we went. That’s Nick Mason."

Mason could barely break 80 when he moved here in 2000 to spend his senior year at Leilehua. The Masons lived on Kalakaua Golf Course. Nick lived on its driving range, where U.S. Army director of golf Mike Iyoki gave him all the range balls he could hit, and lots of invaluable advice, in contrast to his father.

"I taught him all I know about golf," Ray once joked, "but he forgot it and has been fine ever since."

Nick’s scoring average dropped eight strokes at Leilehua. The lights of a professional career came on two years later at Hilo, when he started beating guys seriously pursuing pro golf.

"Once I did that and talked to people, there was no other thing I’d rather do," Mason recalled. "I’ve had some serious ups and downs since. It’s not easy, financially, mentally or physically … but I wouldn’t want to do anything else.

"Me moving to Hawaii has made my life over the last 12 years."

His military upbringing prepared him for the vagabond existence of chasing tours and titles. Mason has come painfully close to a few Hawaii Pearl Open championships and getting through the PGA Tour Q-School since turning pro. He won the 2008 Hawaii State Open and four Hilo Invitationals, along with some mini-tour titles and the Utah Open. None of those meant as much as Mid-Pac.

"The Utah Open was bigger money-wise and probably a little better field," Mason said, "but Mid-Pac and Pearl are my two favorite tournaments. I really wanted to win one or both. Mid-Pac is my favorite golf course in the islands, so this is probably my biggest win."

After Mason left Lanikai last year, he led four tournaments in a five-week span, only to lose each one. He knew he had to make a break with his golf swing.

"It wasn’t my head because I’m not scared to lose or hit bad shots," Mason insisted. "My swing just didn’t hold up. I wasted a lot of trophies and money on those four tournaments and I didn’t want to go through that again."

After last fall’s Q-School, he revamped his swing and has been testing it with monthly tournaments.

"Therefore my scoring has struggled, but I’ve never hit the ball so well in my life," he said.

It took time to make fundamental changes that moved the focus from small muscles to the chest and larger muscles "that hold up under pressure."

Mason hopes his time has now come.

"When the grind comes on, it was rare for me to hit real good shots under pressure," Mason said. "I didn’t want to fight that swing the rest of my life. I sucked it up and went through the change. It’s been hard, but I finally got it."

He will need it next week against a field that always includes Hawaii’s best golfers and, like the Pearl Open, has been increasingly populated by pros from the mainland and Asia.

"That Tiger Woods generation has finally hit the professional scene and it’s tough now because they are bigger athletes, stronger athletes," Mason said. "They’ve had mental coaches and swing coaches since they started walking. To keep up now you’ve got to do it right, be in bed early at night and in the gym. It’s a different game now and there are so many more of them. It’s like they are cloning them. When I turned pro eight years ago, it was nothing like this."