Every break is a bad one. And by the way, he never should have been subjected to qualifying in the first place. Anyone who knows anything about the golf swing knows his is superior to that of every one of his teammates. The way he sees it, if clubs weren’t meant to be slammed back into place then the bottom of the bag wouldn’t be so strongly made.

If you’ve been to a college golf tournament, then you have seen That Guy. You walk away from the tournament, and by the end of the day you’ve obsessed on your distaste for him so much that your brain has tricked you into thinking every golfer from that school acts that way. Maybe even most of the golfers in the entire tournament. And there goes college golf’s image.

You won’t find That Guy on this year’s Kansas University men’s golf team. If he were, it would have ruined the experience for everybody, and golf is not a game to be played in a rotten mood. That Guy would have prevented Kansas from reaching the NCAA Tournament for the first time in President Barrack Obama’s administration.

When Kansas last qualified for the NCAA Tourney in men’s golf, Todd Reesing had not yet started a game at quarterback, Danny Manning played for the last basketball team to win a national tournament and Kansas Golf Hall of Fame inductee Ross Randall was the coach.

It’s no accident that Jamie Bermel, in his fourth season at Kansas, did not have this year’s team dragged down by That Guy. The profile he starts with when scouting prospects puts safeguards in place to filter out That Guy.

“The formula I’ve used has worked out for me for 24 years,” Bermel said. “I like kids who come from families with multiple siblings. Best-case scenario is both parents work because now the kid has to organize a lot of things on his own, multi-sport athlete, and Midwest kid.”

Bermel varies from the formula for the right player, but doesn’t let down his That Guy antennae in the process.

Why does he prefer multiple-sport athletes?

“Golf is all about you. It’s an individual sport. Yes, it’s a team sport, but it’s all about you,” Bermel said. “Whereas, if you’re playing a team sport, you have to get the other person the ball, or you have to set a pick, or you have to get a rebound, or you have to make the pass or whatever that is. So many things in a team sport go unnoticed in the stat column that help you win.”

“If you get a multi-sport kid, they understand teamwork, they understand sharing the ball or whatever that is. I just think they’re easier to coach because of that.”

What, exactly, does “easier to coach” mean for a golf coach?

“They go by the rules because there are team rules. It’s not just all about them,” he said.

Rules such as: “Being on time, properly dressed, study-table hours, everything that factors into being on a team, which if you’re on the golf team, a lot of it’s just so individual. It makes it a lot easier to coach them when they played more than one sport. This day and age, it’s somewhat difficult because they specialize so early. A lot of kids we get, ‘Yeah, I played baseball until I was in eighth grade and then had to give it up because I played golf.'”

Easier to coach, Bermel said, also means a better listener, which translates to steadier improvement.

“If you listen to what I have to say or what (assistant) coach (Chris) Wilson has to say, there’s a good chance you’ll get better,” Bermel said. “Will it be uncomfortable talking about your swing? Yeah. Will we say some things you may or may not agree with? Sure we will. But the bottom line is, the coach wants to see you get better. I know they think they’re pretty smart at 18, 19. I tell the kids all the time that I’ve been coaching longer than you’ve been alive. I’ve seen a lot of things that work. I’ve seen a lot of things that don’t work.”

KU’s golfers have listened so well that the program has improved every year under Bermel. Just as important in terms of paving the way for more recruits, the players appear to enjoy themselves.

Once programs become competitive and word spreads that they’re having fun doing it, that’s when transfers start pouring in. Look for that to happen soon, and when it does, Kansas has a realistic shot to break into the top 25.