Butler grad Hunter Swidzinski is having a breakout summer on the amateur golf circuit
Hunter Swidzinski already had a long list of golf accomplishments before the summer began.
After his PIAA championship in 2023, the Butler graduate earned several awards, including a First Team All-Big South nod at Longwood University (Va.).
However, since returning home for the summer, Swidzinski has been playing, in his words, “the best golf of his life,” and earning several honors on the amateur golf circuit.
When the college golf season finished, Swidzinski returned to Olde Stonewall Golf Club in Beaver County, his home course and where his father works as an instructor. Swidzinski said coming back to Olde Stonewall helped him take his game to the next level.
“Now that I’m back home and have (my dad’s) help and the facilities at Olde Stonewall, it’s really helped me,” he said.
It’s been a string of success since then.
In his first big tournament of the summer in May, the Tri-State PGA Amateur Championships at Old Stonewall, Swidzinski took advantage of his home-course advantage and won by two strokes over Rick Stimmel, a veteran amateur golfer and former PGA Tour competitor.
On June 6, Swidzinski broke the Olde Stonewall course record, shooting a 62, eight strokes below par. He did not bogey once.
Days later at the Western Pennsylvania Golf Association Amateur Championships, he led the field after 36 holes and finished in a tie for 11th.
Swidzinski’s biggest achievement came June 14, when he finished first in Sunnehanna Amateur qualifying, making the field for one of the most prestigious amateur golf events in the country.
“I’ve never played one of those before,” Swidzinski said. “To have the opportunity to qualify into that and play in it was a great experience.”
Swidzinski then held his own against a tough Sunnehanna Amateur field, finishing tied for 29th with an even par.
However, his best round at Sunnehanna came later that month.
On June 29, Swidzinski returned to Sunnehanna Country Club, in Johnstown, for the first of two rounds of qualifying for the U.S. Amateur Championship. He had to finish inside the top 13 spots from a field of 132 golfers to make the next qualifying tournament.
Swidzinski needed to play a great round to advance.
His round was not only great, it was historic. Swidzinski shot an 8-under 62, one stroke shy of the course record, and finished at the top of the field and easily advanced to the next qualifying round.
Travis Shingleton, Swidzinski’s former coach at Butler, said in an email Swidzinski has “all the markings of a golfer destined for the next level.”
Shingleton said much of Swidzinski’s success comes down to his strong work ethic, which shows on the golf course and in the classroom. He said Swidzinski found a new level of success in his junior year of high school, when he began to put more work into his golf game than before.
“Golf transformed from a passion into a profession — one which he approached with the same rigor a craftsman brings to mastering his trade,” Shingleton said.
Shingleton said Swidzinski’s “just getting started.”
“Keep an eye on this Butler alumnus as he writes the next chapter of his golfing story,” Shingleton said.
Swidzinski’s next chapter begins Wednesday. He will play in the four-day Southern Amateur in Atlanta, another major amateur golf tournament. He will then play in the second and final qualifying round for the U.S. Amateur Championships on Monday, July 20, at Llanerch Country Club in Havertown.
In addition to his accomplishments, Swidzinski made a major decision for his college golf career this summer.
After two successful seasons at Longwood, he transferred to North Carolina-Wilmington for his junior year. He said he joined the Seahawks because he relished the opportunity to play against stiffer competition.
“After speaking with their coach and looking over the program, I saw they had a great tournament schedule where they played a lot of other very good teams and played some incredible courses along the way,” he said.
