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It has been a long and winding athletic journey for Ty Ormsby. The path has taken many twists and turns over the years. The most recent twist in his tale was when he committed to playing golf at Andrew College earlier this summer.

For years and years, golf was a secondary sport for Ormsby with his main focus on soccer. This changed after wrapping his junior year. Feeling general burnout around soccer and a drive to get better at golf, Ormsby made a life change. He quit soccer and focused on being the best golfer he could be.

“It was a tough decision, but I played a ton of golf after my junior year and was really getting better and knew that this is what I wanted to focus on,” Ormsby said.

A refocused and reenergized Ormsby put together by far his best season at LaGrange High this year. He elevated his game, drawing the attention of those at the next level.

Ormsby was having a difficult time finding a new home. That was, until Andrew College came to mind.

“A former teammate on the soccer team went to play soccer there after high school and he was like ‘well why not reach out to Andrew,’” Ormsby said. “I was like ‘yeah, I guess I will’ and the coach reached back out and was super nice and invited me down for a visit and we really hit it off.”

Andrew College, a junior college, will give Ormsby the platform to continue improving. The plan is to find the right four-year college once he gets adjusted to college golf.

“There was a guy here before me that transferred out to the university of Tampa and that is something I plan to do,” Ormsby said. “Coach told me when I came here for a visit that one of their goals is to get us to a four year school.”

Ormsby knows that there is plenty of room for improvement before he can make that next step.

“Working on my short game is the biggest thing,” he said. “There are a ton of guys that hit the ball super well, but don’t have a clue what to do around the greens. Short game is the difference between pros and amateurs.”

The adjustment period for Ormsby will be brief. He hits campus in a couple of weeks and his first tournament will be just two weeks later. It will be a trial by fire in the early goings.

“It hasn’t really hit me yet, but it’s going to be a lot early on,” Ormsby said. “It’s not like high school golf, there has to be even more dedication. You have a fall and spring season and it’s more of a year around thing.

“Our first tournament will actually be on my birthday so that will be fun. We will start qualifying right when we get down there and then have a tournament two weeks later.”

This will be an eye-opening experience for Ormsby, not just because he is heading off to live away from his parents for the first time. Ormsby will be exposed to golfers that come from wildly different backgrounds, including two Swedes on the Andrew College team.

“I have only met three of my teammates, two of them will fly in next week from Sweden,” Ormsby said. “We will all be living in a house together, so there is definitely going to be a lot of golf talk.

“It’s a bunch of guys going through the same thing. I think we have four freshmen on the team and three sophomores.”

The feeling of being on the precipice of starting his college golf career leaves Ormsby in a semi-state of shock. It all came together so fast. As a junior, Ormsby was a solid golfer but not one that was playing at a collegiate level and he was a self-described hot head.

A shift in perspective, as Ormsby dropped soccer to focus on golf, led the former Granger to opportunities he previously could have never foreseen. When Ormsby suits up for the Fighting Tigers this fall, he will be the mature level-headed guy that helped LaGrange finish sixth in state as a senior.

“Junior year I wouldn’t say I sucked, but I let my emotions get the better of me at times,” he said. “I started to play more golf in the summer after my junior year and it really started to click.”