Metuchen High School’s Matt Biancamano said he benefited from being a teammate of graduated state champion Peter Kim. As he looks ahead to his senior year with the Bulldogs’ golf team, Biancamano is spending countless hours perfecting his swing. Matt Biancamano harbors no thoughts about becoming the best golfer in the history of Metuchen High School.
The senior knows that distinction belongs to 2013 graduate Peter Kim, who captured the NJSIAA Individual Championship as a junior and is now a cadet at West Point, where he earned the Patriot League’s Most Outstanding Golfer award in his first season as a member of the Black Knights.
Biancamano said it was a privilege to have been a teammate of Kim and the Bulldogs’ other standout, Jeremy Nevius, when he played with them two years ago. The experience of golfing with Kim and Nevius was worth its weight in gold, he said.
“I was fortunate to become very close to Peter and Jeremy,” Biancamano said. “I played countless rounds with them and saw firsthand how a potential Division I college golfer practices and plays.
“Peter is easily the best golfer I have ever played with, and he and Jeremy taught me how to be a better player in so many ways,” he added. “The one thing I can take away from my experiences with both is that practice is a must, but the mental aspect of the game is definitely the key to success.”
Biancamano finished last season as Metuchen’s No. 1 golfer, and he averaged 42 strokes for nine holes. From a team perspective, he admitted to being disappointed that the Bulldogs only finished second in the Greater Middlesex Conference (GMC) Blue Division to the Wardlaw-Hartridge School, although their record was a healthy 12-4.
Head coach Rich Stoner recognizes Biancamano will be an integral part of the team’s future success.
“Matt has been a key contributor to our program since he joined the team as a freshman,” Stoner said. “Since then, he has grown both mentally and physically as a player, and that has contributed to his success on the course as our team’s top golfer. I expect more of the same this year as we look to return to the top of our division and state section (Central Jersey Group I).”
Biancamano picked up a golf club (wedge) for the first time when he was 12 years old growing up in Metuchen.
“My friend down the street was hitting chip shots in his backyard one day, so I gave it a try, too,” he said. “I remember that on this particular day it was the last round of the Masters Tournament and from the moment I hit that first ball, I realized how much I loved the challenge of playing this game and became hooked.”
Biancamano said it wasn’t long before he started becoming more serious about golf and purchased his own clubs.”
“I never had formal instruction before high school, but I did watch hundreds of instructional videos, read golf books and received many tips from area golf pros and family members who played the game,” he said.
True to his word about the importance of practice, Biancamano said his pursuit of perfecting the variety of golf swings became a nonstop project. “Golf is an extremely complicated and unpredictable sport,” he said. “I spent years trying to make the fundamentals become natural to me, but conquering the distractions that can interfere with your game has become the most difficult obstacle.
“Learning how to control your emotions is something every golfer experiences,” he continued. “You can be a master of fundamentals, but if you can’t focus on each shot and forget about the bad ones, it’s impossible to be consistent. I always try to keep a few ‘swing thoughts’ in my head during a round. However, and this is important, as I prepare to make a shot, I think about nothing but making solid contact with the ball.”
Instead of focusing on a particular major as he considers where to attend college following graduation, Biancamano said a number of teachers have helped convince him to pursue a liberal arts-based education. He is looking at attending Rutgers University, The College of New Jersey, the University of Delaware, Marist College, the University of Scranton or Syracuse University.
He credits his parents and coaches for having the most impact on his personal and athletic lives, especially when it comes to being able to balance academics and playing golf.
“My grades have always been my No. 1 priority,” he said. “Playing golf makes it difficult to juggle everything. I often stay up late and wake up early to complete my homework, but I wouldn’t trade my life for anything. The things I’ve learned by playing golf have helped me become a better student in the sense that the time I spend improving my game has bolstered my confidence that I can do the same in the classroom.”