Ray Hawley of Madison is hoping to reverse his bad fortune at the Maine Amateur Golf Championship next week.

“I’ve had a tendency not to play well in the Amateur,” said Hawley, who has played in four. “My goal this year is to play well.

“If I play well, I think I can make the top 16.”

Finishing two days of stroke-play qualifying at Falmouth Country Club on Tuesday and Wednesday among the top 16 would put him into match play competition beginning next Thursday.

“I think I do much better at match play,” said Hawley. “I have a tendency to have an 8. That doesn’t hurt you so much in match play.”

He remembers two years ago, before the Amateur returned to match play, when an 8 did hurt him.

“My least favorite hole is the 18th at Purpoodock [Country Club in Cape Elizabeth],” said Hawley. “I took an 8 and missed the cut by one.

“I hooked my tee shot into the trees over where they park some of the cars. Alarms were going off, horns were going off. I turned to my dad and said, ‘This is not good.’ … It was my worst 10 minutes in golf. It wouldn’t have been so bad if it had been the 12th hole, but it was the 18th with all those people around.”

Hawley, 37, keeps coming back, though.

“I usually try to play the Amateur every year,” said Hawley. “This is my fifth. I’m still a young pup as far as that goes. I’ve learned a lot, I hope.”

One of the things he has learned in golf is patience.

“I’ve always been very competitive,” said Hawley. “I didn’t have very much patience when I played team sports. I’ve learned patience because, in golf, when something goes wrong, you only have yourself to blame.”

Not much has been going wrong this year.

Hawley has been playing well on the Maine State Golf Association weekend tournament series, and he has found that has helped his game.

“It keeps your eye going,” said Hawley, talking about being better able to judge distances. “Playing a variety of golf courses is what’s been helping me a lot.”

He stands tied for fourth in the statewide point standings.

Hawley, currently a 3 handicapper, plays a lot during the Maine golf season.

“I play probably 100 rounds a year,” said Hawley. “I’m pretty persistent, even if it’s really, really bad weather. If anybody wants to play, I’ll play.”

Hawley learned to play in bad weather because he had to.

“I used to have an outside job. The only time I could play was when we couldn’t work,” said Hawley.

Hawley now works for the Madison area school district.

“I work at SAD 59 as a bus driver and whatever else they need,” said Hawley.

“When people talk about pressure on the golf course, I laugh,” he said, laughing at the thought. “Pressure is driving a bus through Starks when every place is closed [because of snow] except SAD 59.”

Hawley came to Maine more than 10 years ago, and he has been playing golf seriously since about the time he got here from North Carolina.

“Ironically, I grew up down south and I didn’t play down there [about 8-10 times a year],” said Hawley. “There was so much more to do. I played all the other sports.”

The pace in the Raleigh area started getting too fast for him, though. His father, Norman, had moved up to Madison in 1988, and Ray followed a couple of years after that.

Hawley credits the new nine holes at Lakewood with helping improve his play at other courses. The original nine greens were small and flat, the newer ones are neither.

“With the new nine holes, the greens are really good with a lot of undulations,” said Hawley. “And they’re somewhat speedy now. That’s helped a lot.”

And that’s the kind of help Hawley is hoping will carry him through this year’s Maine Amateur.

“I’ve played Falmouth three times, and it suits me well,” he said. “Well, I haven’t had any complaints.”

GBO hosting junior clinic

The Greater Bangor Open will be hosting a junior golf clinic July 25 at Bangor Municipal Golf Course. The 36th GBO opens with a pro-am on July 24 and three days of tourney play July 25-27.

Children of all ages are welcome to participate in the free clinic, sponsored by NEHE MRI of Bangor and put on by touring professionals participating in the GBO. Subjects to be covered are grip, stance, alignment, swing principles, rules, and shotmaking.

The clinic begins at 5 p.m. and is scheduled to run approximately 11/2 hours. Call Bangor Muni assistant pro Rob Jarvis or head pro Brian Enman at 207-941-0232.

Flag on the 4th

Point Sebago Golf and Beach Resort in Casco is sporting a giant American flag painted on the fourth fairway just in time for Independence Day.

“This year in particular we wanted to celebrate the 4th of July by showing our colors,” said golf course superintendent Gerry White, according to a press release from the resort.

White came up with the idea of painting the 46-by-26-foot flag on the golf course, and Sports Fields of Monmouth donated the more than 60 gallons of red, white, and blue paint necessary and also assisted the Point Sebago grounds crew in doing the painting.

Dave Barber can be reached at 990-8170, 1-800-310-8600, or by e-mail at dbarber@bangordailynews.net.