On Tap with ... Patrick Wasserman

As the men’s golf team’s fall season comes to a close this weekend, senior Patrick Wasserman will certainly miss his “good walks spoiled” with his friends and teammates on the course. The Tigers recently finished 13th of 22 teams in the Big Five Invitational, after coming in second of 14 at the Macdonald Cup the previous weekend. The team will finish its season this weekend at the Classic at Shelter Harbor hosted by the University of Rhode Island. The ‘Prince’ sat down with the self-proclaimed quirkiest member of the men’s golf team to hear about his athletic and collegiate experiences.

Q: What do you like about golf?

A: I like plenty of things about golf, but mostly the wonders of an afternoon stroll in the sun with friends.

Q: Who is your quirkiest teammate?

A: I’m definitely the quirkiest on the team. My left-wing hippie tendencies often leave the rest of the team in laughter and/or scratching their heads.

Q: What is the best part about being an athlete on campus?

A: Free vacations to sunny destinations twice a year with some of my closest friends, during which we play golf and hang out. This year we’re going to Georgia and Florida during Fall Break and to California during Spring Break.

Q: What is the worst part about being an athlete on campus?

A: The time commitment. I oversubscribe myself at Princeton, and it’s not easy to balance varsity athletics with a number of other commitments, especially when tournament travel has us gone from Friday morning to Sunday evening.

Q: If you were coach for a day, what would you do?

A: If I were coach for a day, I would fly to California on Princeton’s budget to play fancy golf courses in order to foster alumni relations. Assistant Coach Dick Hunt would hold down the fort here in Princeton for me.

Q: Does the team have any odd rituals?

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A: Pretty much every day we use a bag of hooked sticks to hit a little ball into a hole hundreds of yards away. I think that qualifies as an odd ritual? Credit due to Robin Williams for his hilarious stand-up segment on golf.

Q: What is your favorite thing to do when not practicing?

A: Hang out at Terrace F. Club with some of the coolest and kindest people on campus and with the best live music around, duh.

Q: What was your “welcome to college” moment?

A: My “welcome to college” moment was at commencement freshman year, during which I nursed the most vicious of hangovers. My head wouldn’t stop pounding as a result of the previous evening’s festivities and I spent most of the ceremony in the chapel with my forehead against the bench in front of me. I soon thereafter learned my limits.

Q: What is your most embarrassing moment at Princeton?

A: Nothing comes to mind. I typically don’t devote much thought to what other people think of me.

Q: If not golf, what sport would you do?

A: Downhill mountain biking looks like great fun. While my only exposure to the sport was a number of years ago on a rental bike with worn-down brakes, and while I found it generally terrifying and mildly traumatizing at the time, some YouTube videos I’ve seen recently have me inspired to give it another go.

Q: What music inspires you?

A: That depends on what type of inspiration I’m looking for. If it’s inspiration to see beauty and wonder in the world, then certainly the Bach cello suites, or pretty much anything by The Beatles. If it’s inspiration to get pumped up for a round of golf or anything remotely physical, then probably electronic dance music. If I am looking to transcend life and reach a state of nirvana, then I listen to nature sounds.

Q: What’s your favorite class at Princeton?

A: Adventures in Ideas, a seminar co-taught by Cornel West and Robert George in which we explored the texts they have found to be most influential. It was an inspiring and thought-provoking class with two of the most eminent thinkers on campus, a recipe for greatness.