The Fuhrer name carries a lot of weight in Western Pennsylvania golf circles.

Frank Fuhrer Jr. was instrumental in staging the former Family House Invitational, a two-day event that attracted PGA Tour pros and ran for more than a decade, and later the Frank B. Fuhrer Invitational. Frank Fuhrer III, hailed as one of the best golfers in WPIAL history, went on to become one of the nation’s highest-ranked amateurs.

For many, that legacy could be as cumbersome as a golf bag. But David Fuhrer II doesn’t hide from his family’s golf history.

He is trying to build on it.

“My uncle (Frank III) and my grandfather (Frank Jr.) were really into it, both big names in Western Pa. on the golf side,” the Fox Chapel grad said. “I do the best I can to keep that going. No matter where I am, I still set high expectations for myself. I have a high standard of how I play.”

He lived up to it during his freshman season with the George Mason men’s golf team. Fuhrer II started every match and posted a season-long scoring average of 75.58 for 18 holes.

As he heads into his sophomore season — the team opens Sept. 14 at the Canadian Collegiate Invitational in MacTier, Ontario — he is hopeful of keeping is game moving forward. A big piece of that, he said, had little to do with his swing mechanics or pre-putting routine.

Admittedly not the biggest guy, Fuhrer spent a good chunk of his offseason trying to add strength. He hit the gym more frequently and changed a few eating habits to try to increase his club-head speed. He said he noticed a difference as he competed over the summer.

“In today’s game, that’s a big part of it,” he said. “… In college golf, it’s really become more physical than it has been. Or at least everyone takes a bigger role in how their body feels and how strong they are.”

But as any golfer knows, length off the tee isn’t the magic bullet. Fuhrer also tinkered with his putting and said he believes he found an answer to make him more consistent.

Leading up to the West Penn Amateur, he had been going back and forth between a conventional putting grip and a left-hand low grip. Midway through the first round of the Amateur, he switched from the left-hand low grip to conventional, and his putting took off.

He shot 63 in that first round and, perhaps fittingly, made a birdie putt on the 54th hole to avoid a three-way playoff and win the tournament.

“At a high level, everyone hits it well,” he said, “but when it comes to winning, you have to make putts.”

Fuhrer II also got to study “high level” players up close and personal during the U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club, his home course, in June. He said he watches the PGA Tour pros differently than most people.

“Those guys are literally experts in everything they do,” he said. “For the average person … they don’t really pick apart what (the pros) do in between shots to maybe relax their mind. They don’t see all the details. They need to look at their yardage book, account for wind, slope, course conditions.

“Seeing that in person is really kind of a game-changer.”

Fuhrer said he will take a run at a pro career one day. In the meantime, he is focused on his sophomore season at George Mason, which he believes will be successful for himself and the team.

“A personal goal of mine is to start every event,” he said. “I did last year,which was very nice, so I just want to do that again. … If I could get (my scoring average) to like 73, that would be huge for me.”

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