South girls' golf believes in its recipe for success

Members of the 2007 South Putnam girls' golf team are (front from left) Grace Aker, Chelsea Clark, Emily Zimmerman, Heather Hughes, Cierra Perry, (back) Sara Dobson, Cassie Warren, Kelsey Searles, Tosha Fisher and head coach Debbie Steffy.

With their season already underway, the South Putnam Eagles are hoping a mix of youth and experience will be enough to propel them into the win column consistently.

Leading the way for the Eagles will be its three seniors Chelsea Clark, Tosha Fisher and Emily Zimmerman, as well as underclassmen Grace Aker and Heather Hughes, all of whom earned letter honors last season.

Along with the returning letter winners, South welcomes four freshmen Cierra Perry, Kelsey Searles, Cassie Warren and Sara Dobson.

"So far we have gotten great leadership from our returning members. Some of them played most of the summer and it shows," Head coach Debbie Steffy said. "They are good examples for our younger players to watch and pick up little, important things about the game.

"I expect our veteran golfers to help out our new girls. We are very fortunate this year to have four freshmen and most of them have very little experience," Steffy added.

Steffy has seen little in the way of concern but pointed out two key attributes that she feels her team possesses and are important when posed the question of her teams strengths.

"Work ethic and a sense of humor," Steffy responded.

For season-long success, Steffy believes the key lies around the greens.

"We have got to get better on our short game. We are taking too many strokes around the green. Chipping and putting are areas that we are going to concentrate on," Steffy commented.

Coming off a season in which the Eagles finished well at sectional and conference, the Eagles are willing to put the success of last season in perspective and make a new run at the top.

"I have been with the program for 10 years. Last year we lost one dual match, won two invitationals, finished second (on a tie-breaker) in the conference, first in county and 6th in the sectional," Steffy said.

"We would like to have a better showing at the sectional and conference this year," Steffy concluded.

The Eagles will travel to Danville to face the Warriors and county rival Greencastle today at 4:30 p.m.