Sticking with his driver, he promptly hooked one out-of-bounds and made a double bogey.,”Earlier this fall, senior Mike Bielawski walked to the tee of a par-4 measuring just 320 yards. He birdied the hole earlier in the day after driving the green, despite his coach's pre-round suggestion to play a more conservative lay-up.

Sticking with his driver, he promptly hooked one out-of-bounds and made a double bogey. Welcome to the reckless abandon that is Mike Bielawski.

"Anybody can hit a 5-iron to the middle of the fairway," said Bielawski, defending his club selection. "That's no fun. I want to make as many birdies as possible."

He makes his share of birdies, but aggressive play accounts for a few big numbers too. When scorers circle birdies and draw squares around bogeys or worse, Bielawski's scorecard looks more like a geometry lesson.

"He has the ability to birdie every hole," said teammate Dustin Schwab. "But double bogeys and the others make him inconsistent."

Whether he shoots 65 or 85, his play promises an adventure. Following lackluster team performances, coach Tim Grogan often cites his veteran team playing like an inexperienced one.

"Though he never uses names, we know who he's talking about," Bielawski said with an incriminating smile.

Grogan said Bielawski had the ability to go really low. As a freshman, he set the school single-round scoring record after carding an eight-under 63 with two three-putt bogeys. Playing with friends over the summer, he shot a personal-best 62 without a bogey.

"That was definitely one of the few bogey-free rounds I've ever had," he said with a laugh.

Whether going low or ballooning to an embarrassing number, Bielawski always goes for broke.

"If the flagstick was on a buoy, Mike would shoot for it," Grogan said.

In a tournament his freshman year, Bielawski attempted to carve a second shot into a par-5 guarded by water with Grogan watching.

"He asked me, 'Don't you think you should have laid up?' " the senior remembered after his ball found the water. "I thought, 'Well, my ball's at the bottom of a lake, so yeah, now wish I did.' But it's over, you have to move on."

Just a few years ago, Bielawski would have pulled an about face mid-round because he lacked composure. He recalls the exact day when realized his bad temperament on the course.

"I was playing with my uncle for fun and I was struggling so I moped around," Bielawski said. "My uncle said to me, 'You know, you're just not much fun to golf with.'"

From then on, Bielawski played with a more easy-going demeanor. Schwab witnessed the more even-tempered Bielawski last June when he carried his bag at the 2007 U.S. Publinks. Bielawski made a triple bogey and to his credit, seemed rather unconcerned.

"I was more worried than he was," Schwab said matter-of-factly. "He didn't get mad, and he birdied three of the next four."

Bielawski realizes his lackadaisical approach can come off as not caring to others, but this merely reflects his easygoing nature.

"If I'm making double bogeys, I realize there are worse things that can happen," he said. "I'm still lucky enough to travel to all these places to play golf."

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