A judge sentenced a 34-year-old golfer from Puyallup to nearly two years in prison for smashing another golfer over the head with a 6-iron during a fight on the Auburn Golf Course last July.

King Superior Court Judge Deborah D. Fleck on Thursday sentenced Nicholas Jay Shampine of Puyallup to 21 months in prison. He also will serve 18-to-36 months in community custody. At the conclusion of Shampine’s week-long trial in May, a jury took just 40 minutes to find him guilty of second-degree assault with a deadly weapon.

The standard sentencing range for the crime is 15 to 21 months.

Fleck said the sentence was justified because 45-year-old James Compton of Puyallup sustained permanent brain damage and memory loss and will suffer from the effects of the attack for the rest of his life.

According to court records, at about 3 p.m. that day, members of Compton’s party complained to the course marshal that Shampine’s party just ahead of them was moving too slowly. The complaint angered Shampine’s brother, Greg, who turned around and began yelling at Compton’s party for being too loud and threatened to “kick their ass” if they didn’t shut up.

Court records say that, at that point, the parties began to jaw at each other, provoking a shoving match between Compton and Greg Shampine, with two of Compton’s party surrounding Greg Shampine during the shoving. To protect his brother, Nicholas Shampine later told police, he charged Compton at this point with his golf club and swung it at him, hitting him above the eyes with great force and knocking him down. Members of Compton’s party told police that even as Compton lay on the ground, Shampine threatened to kill all of them and their families if they messed with him.

Officers found Compton sitting on the 14th green, bleeding profusely from the head and vomiting as a friend applied direct pressure with a blood-soaked bandage. Officers observed that the lower third of the club’s shaft was bent, indicating the force that had gone into the blow. He sustained a bruised brain, a skull fracture and a broken cheekbone in the assault and required airlift to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for emergency surgery.

Shampine admitted in court that he went overboard.

“I felt that I did need to protect my brother … and yet I’m sorry for the pain I’ve caused,” Shampine told Fleck.