Hippen in Lincoln Highway after bout with vertigo

Golf is a hard enough sport to be good at under ideal circumstances.

Imagine how tough it would be to look down and see the ball jitterbugging to the left and to the right. That’s the hand Rock River Golf & Pool member Jarred Hippen was dealt a little more than a year ago.

“If I would look at a stationary point, something like a tree, it would be moving left and right while I was standing still,” Hippen said. “It was horrible. I couldn’t focus on anything. It was impossible to play golf.”

Hippen’s troubles began after playing a round of golf at RRG&P in early July of 2018. It was hot, around 100 degrees, but he had played plenty of rounds when it had been hot before. On that day, something clearly wasn’t right.

“I got home after golfing and I just felt really weird, kind of a light-headed type of feeling,” Hippen said. “When I was moving my head, it was getting worse. That night I came down with vertigo. I couldn’t even stand up. I’d try to stand up, and I’d fall down. I vomited a lot that night, and I ended up staying in bed for 3 straight days. I couldn’t move.”

He pulled out of the John Deere Classic qualifier that he had been scheduled to compete in. The Men’s Lincoln Highway Tournament, held a year ago at Lost Nation Golf Club, also went by the wayside.

A visit to a doctor confirmed the vertigo. He was prescribed dramamine, to combat motion sickness, but that just mostly made Hippen tired. The only thing that would truly make him feel better was time.

“When you get, say, bronchitis or a strep throat, you feel better once you start taking medicine,” Hippen said. “I started taking the dramamine and I never once woke up and was like, ‘OK, I feel great.’ It was a slow process getting better.”

A week or two into August of 2018, Hippen was able to play bags in his backyard without feeling too queazy. By the end of that month, he was getting back to normal, after nearly 2 months of misery.

Hippen is the information technology director at East Coloma School in Rock Falls. Most days he’s done by 2:30 p.m., which affords him the chance to play plenty of late afternoon and/or early evening golf at Rock River Golf & Pool. His game shows it.

He was able to compete in a John Deere Classic qualifier, but came up three strokes short. He will occupy the top spot for the Rock River Golf & Pool team when this year’s Lincoln Highway Tournament begins Saturday at Deer Valley Golf Club.

It’s a course he’s familiar with, as that was the host course for the Rock Falls High School boys golf team. Hippen, an all-state baseball player for the Rockets who also pitched 4 years at Iowa, was a two-time state qualifier for the RFHS golf team.

This will be Hippen’s fourth Lincoln Highway overall, and his first since 2015. That year he finished second to Sterling grad Andrew Blackburn at Kishwaukee Country Club in somewhat bizarre fashion.

Entering the 54th and final hole of the event, Hippen had a one-shot lead over Blackburn, but thought he had a one-shot deficit. On that last green, Hippen made a bogey after charging a 10-foot birdie putt he thought he had to have, then missing a comebacker.

Blackburn, meanwhile, hit a spectacular approach over a tree for a short birdie attempt, which he converted for the win.

“I played really well that tournament,” Hippen said. “It came down to Andy making a great recovery shot and a birdie, and I 3-putted. This year, I’m hoping to play consistent throughout the whole tournament, and maybe have a shot to win.”