Driven

The progression of Debbi Amanti's golf game has not been by accident

By Matt Kalman

After her foray through The Colonial last May - where she missed the cut - LPGA star Annika Sorenstam stressed that her dabbling on the men's tour was a one-time event and that she was returning to the women's tour on a full-time basis.

Upon hearing this proclamation, Lynnfield's Debbi Amanti was letdown the same way Howard Dean supporters were let down by the candidates' screaming rant. The 17-year-old Amanti wanted one of her idols to continue breaking down barriers.

"I read an article where she said even though she wasn't really in far over her head, she was happy to go back to the women's tour and she didn't want to try again," says the Ipswich Country Club member. "That's kind of disappointing. [Sorenstam's] really strong, but Michelle Wie wants to play on the PGA, so she can do it."

Amanti, who admitted she was somewhat inspired by Wie's performance at January's Hawaii Open, is an expert on women competing with and against men on the links. She's the lone female golfer the co-ed team at Buckingham, Browne and Nichols School in Cambridge and the senior is also just one of a handful of girls with scores low enough to crack the lineup in the competitive Independent School League.

With her ability to drive the ball as far as 260 yards, Amanti has quieted any doubters.

"On my team, I played No. 2 [last] year and [my teammates] all respect me," says Amanti, who finished third at the New England girls' prep school tournament with a 79 at Brae Burn Country Club in Newtonville last season. "We get along real well."

Rob Ferrante, who coached Amanti for two years at BB&N before leaving, is so impressed with Amanti he selected her to co-captain the team - an honor new BB&N coach Thom Greenlaw has also bestowed upon Amanti this spring.

"I think [the other players] really link themselves to her because of her knowledge of the game and her demeanor and golf etiquette," Ferrante says. "With all that, they look to her for advice."

Starting young

The Amanti's third child, Diane, was born four years after Debbi and even with her three kids demanding all of her attention, Dottie Amanti wanted to learn golf - a sport her husband Tom already enjoyed. So she traveled with her trio of offspring - Steve, now 21, Diane and Debbi - to Ipswich CC for lessons with head professional Steve Carter. The birth of a golf-playing family took place right then and there.

"Each kid had their own clubs and a putter and they kept hitting the ball," remembers the Amanti family matriarch. "I'd take them to the driving range in Middleton all the time. I'd tell them what I learned and they always seemed to be able to do it.

"I never expected them to just pass me like that. We started taking lessons together and all I wanted was just one tip every lesson. But as much as [Steve] could teach them [in one lesson] they'd learn. I was just like, 'Slow down.'"

These days, Mom is a 12-handicap, while middle child Debbi is a 4 and now 14-year-old Diane, an eighth grader at BB&N, is a 14.

While she looked like a golfer from the moment she swung her first club, Debbi also possessed an intangible that helped her thrive on the links.

"She was very athletic right off the bat and pretty good technically. She has a pretty good swing," says Carter. "She was what I'd probably call a natural. But the thing that really stuck out was that she really believed in practicing. That's probably what impressed me the most. A lot of people sit around and dream about being a good golfer. She got up everyday and worked at it. That's the main reason she is where she is today."

During the summer, Amanti spends as much as 13 hours a day working on her game. Last summer her regimen included working with PGA National Golf Academy director of instruction Rob Bowser, who works in Nantucket during the warmer months. This winter she gave up playing for BB&N's girls' hockey team in order to journey to her family's new home in Florida and work on her golf game more often.

Burnout never sets in, according to Amanti, and her parents and coaches do their best to schedule some relaxing time.

"[Bowser] advised us that she plays way too much golf. So after the girls' golf championship (last spring), I had to force her to take a day off from golf," says Dottie. "I talked it over with her and it got to the point where she was like an engine on a roll and couldn't stop it.

"So she had practice the next day and I called her golf coach (Ferrante) and told him that she should take two days off. He said he was going to tell her to go home. The next day, she was completely wiped out and she ended up taking two days off ... Now she has to take one day off each week."

The drive to succeed

In order to fit in with her male counterparts growing up, Amanti needed to wow the boys with her driving. All that practice has turned her into a driving machine.

"My driver's my favorite club and I trust it. I definitely like that," Amanti says. "It's always been my favorite thing to do. I used to always go to the range and I used to play with the boys. They always tried to out drive me and so I'd practice driving the most to beat them. I can go as far as 260 and it usually goes straight."

Now the two-time defending champ of the Women's Club Championship at Ipswich and a top-10 finisher at the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) Greater Hartford Open this summer, Amanti has become more than just a long-ball hitter.

"I just started in the last couple of years practicing my short game and my scoring started to improve," says Amanti, who also produced a top 10 finish at an AJGA event on Cape Cod last summer. "I've been working on putting and my putts have really improved since March. That was my weakness. And around the green wasn't really my strength. Chipping was the main thing. You have to get up and down and I now have the confidence to do that."

Her ability to keep her emotions in check might be the biggest reason Amanti has succeeded in the sport. Whether she strikes a mighty drive or sinks a difficult putt, she adopts a Mona Lisa-like expression.

"She has great demeanor as far as, she doesn't let things bother her," Ferrante says. "If she loses a couple of strokes on one hole, she doesn't let it bother her. When I watch a match, I walk around and see as many holes as I can from different players. Usually with their body language I can tell if a player's not doing well. With her, I have to go up and ask. I have no idea."

"The biggest thing for my parents and my coaches is they don't care if I go out there and shoot a 95," adds Amanti. "Obviously that's a bad day, and they don't want me to shoot a 95, but they can be proud of me as long as I keep a good attitude. [Getting angry] is bad for your game too. If you come out there and throw your clubs around, it's a downward spiral."

The future

Amanti, who finished seventh at the Future Collegians World Tour Junior Golf Classic at the Doral Silver Course in Miami, Fla., in February, will likely continue to play competitive golf at the college level after she graduates from BB&N this spring. Whether or not she decides to try and follow in the paths of Sorenstam and Wie remains to be seen.

"I think she has the potential to do that," says Carter. "She would have to continue to develop herself, physically make herself stronger and really make an effort to get stronger with her short game. She has above average distance than most ladies her age. Once you get on the tour, everybody hits it that far and what's going to make the difference is chipping and especially putting."

The large paydays of pro golf have yet to overtake the more realistic goals in Amanti's dreams because her parents have instilled equal valuing of school and sports in all three of their children. Both Tom and Dottie have engineering degrees and they own E. Amanti & Sons, a mechanical contract company in Salem. While Steve is now studying mechanical engineering at MIT, Debbi is considering a similar path with some Ivy League aspirations.

"For college, I'd really like to play golf, but I don't want [my choice] to be predicated on my playing," Amanti says. "I want to go to school for the academics and play golf also."

"I don't really think [I'll go pro], but I'm not really completely casting it aside."