For this edition of the Runner Spotlight, we take a look at Roadrunner senior golfer Macey Mills.  

  Mills was born in Wichita, KS, but was raised in Bakersfield. Before she picked up a club and fell in love with golf, she was a gymnast. Beginning gymnastics in the first grade, she competed for multiple years until the strain on her body drove her to hang it up.  

  Her interest in golf began in the fourth grade when her dad, Tony Mills, brought her to the driving range for the very first time. Mills said she could not hit the ball very well, but caught the bug that drove her to keep going.  

  In the summer after junior high, Mills practiced golfing before she began to compete in high school. Since her dad was a baseball coach at Liberty High School, there was a golf tournament fundraiser for the baseball team she volunteered in, and after doing so that summer, realized she could go far if she tried it out. 

  After competing her freshman year at Liberty and shooting in the 70s her sophomore year, Mills found she was setting herself on a good pace for college.  

  “I don’t know if it was a flip of the switch [that] it could happen, it was a maybe this could happen, but at the end of my sophomore year I knew I could do this, and that’s when I put my mind to it more,” Mills said. 

  Her most memorable moments golfing for CSUB so far have been going to the WAC tournament and having her grandparents in attendance each year since she was a freshman. “I think the standout times have all been at WAC when my family is there to just support me.” 

  Mills said qualifying for the tournament “was a dogfight” as she competed for one of the final five spots available her freshman year. It was not until after she qualified for the team that Mills realized the tournament took place in Kansas, giving her grandparents their first opportunity to watch her compete. 

  While Mills looked forward to the family support at the WAC tournament, this spring held more admirations for Mills, because this was to be her final season before taking the next step of joining the professional circuit. Her goals were to break the school record for most rounds in the 70s, to win a tournament this year to build her confidence going into her final WAC tournament, and then to win that too.  

  After a normal fall season, spring season was plagued with unusual weather problems and now a global pandemic. Along with the shortened season, Mills had a back injury that left her with a half-swing for the last month and a half of the season. She describes herself as power player with her focus on technique, which shows in her aggressive play on the course, hitting the ball hard instead of relaxed. Mills went through various tests and therapies, including acupuncture, and was set to return for the Lady Thunderbird tournament before it was cut short. 

  “I was like, all the bad stuff is behind us, let’s move forward. We’re going to get after it now,” Mills said. However, it was not to be. 

  Despite the unusual turn of events for the spring season, Mills’ positivity and determination to return next season is what is driving her. Until then, she is working hard on perfecting her game with a net, hitting mat, chipping area, and putting green her father set up in her parents’ backyard, where she is “grinding for next year.” Her next goal is to go out strong and win big in the Big West Conference.