Sophomore Lilly VanNess hits her putt on hole no. 8 at Salt Creek Golf Course during her match against Jennings County on Aug. 30, 2022
Kevin Roush | For The Democrat
By BRAD BAUGHMAN, For The Democrat
It is hard for me to believe that we are approaching the home stretch of our 2022 girls golf season. The girls high school golf season in Indiana is very compact, beginning this year with the first practice on the last Friday of July and ending for many teams with the IHSAA sectional played in mid-September.
Since the inception of the girls golf program at Brown County High School in 2012, Ben VanNess, pro at Salt Creek Golf Retreat, and I have co-coached the team. A recent change in the IHSAA protocol now allows both of us to speak with and coach our players during an event, something I know we are both excited about.
Usually, our first and perhaps most important goal is to simply field a team. Our first season we had four players, the minimum number required to achieve a team score in competition. In the last 11 years, participation numbers have varied from that first season low of four to a high of 13 in 2019.
This season we are fortunate to have seven girls involved in the program. The six who are playing regularly are senior Hannah deWeerdt, junior Savannah Poling, sophomore Lilly VanNess, and freshmen Maya Hernandez-Graham, Chloe Poling, and Ava Stogsdill. A fourth freshman, Caitlin Seet, broke her ankle just before the official start of the season and hopes to rejoin the team when she is healthy.
This group might be one of the most inexperienced teams we have put on the course in quite a while.
The four freshmen came to us this summer with no prior golf experience. Lilly is just in her second year of competitive golf, and while this is Savannah’s third season to be on the roster; she played very little her freshman year. Our lone senior, Hannah, did not pick up the sport until the summer of 2021, so she has really only played a little over a year.
What the team may lack in experience, however, we make up for in exuberance, camaraderie, and a genuine desire to get better. From our first match the first week of August to our most recent competitions, we have improved considerably.
Our record in dual and tri-matches is 4 wins and 7 losses. In a recent match, we broke the 200 barrier for the first time this season with a 199, and picked up a win on a course that none of our girls had ever seen before. We finished 10th in the 11-team Columbus East Invitational, then fifth the following Saturday in the 11-team Jasper Invitational, and most recently we took sixth in the 11-team WIC championships.
Hannah and Lilly have been our leaders and have taken turns grabbing team medalist honors, but it takes four to score, and they are getting excellent scoring support from their teammates.
Last week, I had a chance to interview a few of the girls while we were practicing on the range and get their thoughts about the season, the team, and what they were looking for as we head into our last couple weeks of the regular season.
Hannah on the game of golf: “It’s just like a chill sport. You don’t have to run your heart out, but it’s still competitive and fun to play.”
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On her recent performance in the WIC championships where she made the All-Conference team for the second consecutive year: “At the beginning of the round, I was playing pretty strong, and towards the middle that’s when things got kinda rocky during the peak heat of the day. But towards the end I was able to pull it together.”
What she would like to see in the next two weeks: “I’d like to see the team shoot below 200 again, and for me, I would definitely like to score in the low 40s. I just want to see everybody improve their score.”
Lilly and her thoughts on the season so far: “We started the season a little rocky. We are slowly moving up the ladder and slowly getting better and better.”
On the pressure of playing in the No. 1 position against more seasoned players: “I think playing with people older than me just helps build my confidence.”
Her thoughts on the upcoming schedule: “I am hoping that we stay close to our team average (200-210) and hoping for some low scores, not only for me, but also for the team.”
About her teammates: “Our team gets along probably better than most teams do.”
Ava and what she has discovered about the game of golf: “Golf is the most challenging sport I have ever played.”
Ava’s best memory of the season so far: “Probably the WIC tournament when I shot a 49 on the first nine.” Ava went on to shoot a 103, helping us secure the 6th-place finish.
Savannah on the opportunity to be a teammate with her younger sister Chloe: “I think golf has built our relationship more closely. Now that we have something to do every day after school, we have a closer relationship, stronger than it was before.”
We have the opportunity to play on a couple really nice and challenging courses as we ready ourselves for the IHSAA sectional on Monday, Sept. 19, at Cascades Golf Course in Bloomington. On Thursday, Sept. 8 we play Whiteland High School at The Legends Golf Course in Franklin, and the following week on Sept. 14, we will compete in a tri-match with Edinburgh High School and Greenwood High School at Timbergate Golf Course.
Though the season is short, it can be very intense and sometimes stressful for players and coaches alike. At one point this season, we played five matches in seven days. It was definitely tough on the girls, especially the rookies.
Ben and I are fortunate to have such an amazing group of young ladies on the team, and just like our players, we look forward to improved scores and more rewarding golf memories as we gear up for the last segment of the season.
