County Girls’ Golf Previews: North Putnam, South Putnam bring back strong rosters, Cloverdale begins in much better spot than previous year

The 2022-23 IHSAA athletic season is finally here.

While the full chorus of events will be practicing the next few weeks, the pings and plinking of golf balls on courses around the state will be the first act to come forward as girls’ golf officially began competition Monday.

Around Putnam County, several teams will bring back strong groups looking to vie for the top spot in the county, one currently held by North Putnam after its fourth-straight win at the Putnam County Golf Match last fall.

The Cougars will begin the season looking to extend the streak with a strong returning group that includes senior Makenna Lough, juniors Gabbi Simonson, Kaitlyn Jacobs and Morgan Mason and sophomore Madison Houser.

“We have five returning players, four of whom were players on last year’s Putnam County championship team,” North Putnam head coach Earl Hall said. “Two of our returners were in the All-County team and four played in the Northview Sectional.

“We lost a really strong players in Ashley Lawless through graduation but, with the returning players, we have loads of experience and great team chemistry. These girls are strong in the mental aspect of the game, as well as their focus and their comparability; we’ll be working with them on their chipping, putting and ability to forget the bad shot as the season goes along.”

Joining the squad are freshmen Kylie Dresbach, Kate Myers and Aubrey Crowe, a group Hall said would be able to learn and play behind an experience group.

“We have added three freshmen to this year’s team,” Hall noted. “These young ladies are the future of the program and they are fortunate to join a team that has faced the battles and come out the other side.”

With a solid slate of dual matches to gauge where the girls stand early in the year, Hall said the team knew it was going into the 2022 campaign with a target affixed to it and had to hold steady to continue its recent round of success.

“The schedule once again is tough, facing programs such as Western Boone, Southmont, Lebanon and Northview, just to name a few,” Hall said. “Of course, there is also the WIC and the teams participating therein, which will once again be a challenge.

“And, as always, heavy is the head that wears the crown. Being the defending Putnam County champions and knowing how strong the other Putnam County teams can and will be, nothing will come easy and we must stay focused all season.”

South Putnam

While they didn’t have the Putnam County Golf Match success they were looking for, the Eagles were the highest-placing team in both the WIC and Northview Sectional rounds, finishing third and fourth respectively.

Returning its entire sectional roster, including regional qualifier Madie Newby, South Putnam will be looking to break North Putnam’s hold on the county title.

“It’s a good thing when you have that many girls that are back,” South Putnam head coach Brian Gardner said. “They’ve all played in matches and have another year under their belts.

“They have the ability to compete and they know what it takes to be at the varsity level. In golf, until you’ve been in that setting, there’s a different feel and pressure when you come over a golf ball in a varsity match and it’s good to have girls that have that experience.”

Returning alongside Newby are fellow seniors Ava Watson, Megan Arnold and Cortney Huff and juniors Ali Newby, Caroline Hodge and Makenzie Lovett.

“Every year you play any sport, there’s a level of confidence that comes with that experience,” Gardner said. “For these girls, it’s about knowing what club they’re going to use because they know more about their own game.

“Freshman and sophomore year in golf is a learning process often times so that by junior and senior year, the girls have confidence in their game. They know what they have to do and while everyone has good and bad days, it’s the mental aspect of the game that’s there for them, to know how to grind through if things aren’t going their way.”

The Eagles have two newcomers joining the team in sophomore Faith Wiggins and freshman Bella Fanning, both players Gardner said were new to the game but were quick to pick up on things in the first few days of practice.

“Bella and Faith are new, so there is going to be a learning curve for them,” Gardner said. “They showed some promise on the first day; they’re picking up on things and we expect a lot of growing form them as the season goes along.”

Gardner said the team wanted to be able dislodge the Cougars from the top of the county standings but also expected to compete at the top of the conference and sectional standings again.

“Every year we want to be able to be competitive in the county match and conference,” Gardner said. “This group of seniors has the opportunity to do that, to compete for those spots.

“You never know what a round is going to look like but this group always has a goal to compete in matches. We have the most experience in the county back but in the county match, it will always depend on who shows up to play that day.

“We have some good teams in our conference, so to be competitive again in the conference match will be a good sign for us.”

Cloverdale

In 2021, the Clovers fought less against the golf course and more to get a group together long enough to compete as a team.

That won’t be the case in 2022 as Cloverdale will start with six golfers, including three returners, to get things off and running.

“The big thing for us last year was that we were basically starting from scratch,” Cloverdale head coach Jamie Steffy said. “I got the job late and at the start, we only had one or two girls, so we spent a lot of time recruiting and trying to get girls out to field a team.

“Even when we had enough girls to compete, we had injuries and COVID, so it wasn’t until the end of the season that we were able to play two matches and a sectionals with a full team. It was a positive way for us to end the year.

“We started a hitting program over the winter, had girls come out, including some middle school girls, and have been able to play some this summer,” Steffy added. “It’s a night-and-day difference from the start of last year and like one of the girls said on the course, we are a lot better this year and it’s a lot more fun when we have more girls out.”

Seniors Kiersten Wade and Kaitlyn Kerr return alongside sophomore Aliyah Maldonado while fellow sophomore Autumn Wheeler and freshmen Celeste Terrell and Alaina Day round out the current squad.

The addition of several younger players was something Steffy was happy to see after the work to get girls involved during the offseason.

“Trying to get a program up and running, it’s important to get the middle school girls involved and carry that over into the high school team,” Steffy said. “The thing I find about girls’ golf is that the girls need to have fun with it, to get out, club in hand, and stick with it.

“The social aspect is important as it’s a chance for the girls to be part of a team and get involved with the school in a way that those that don’t play basketball or volleyball would. We want them to be involved one way or another.

“Golf is also a lifelong sport and we’ve told the girls all the time that there are a lot of scholarship opportunities with golf,” Steffy added. “We also told them they would be surprised how many job offers and connections happen on a course, so it’s important to know how to play.”

Steffy added the returning players were more comfortable on the course than a year ago and were in a position to work on decision making around the course throughout the season.

“The biggest thing is the girls understand how to play the game and course management,” Steffy said. “Things like knowing the rules is an area we’ve grown in the most.

“Understanding what club to use and in what situation takes time and takes a lot of playing. We spend a lot of time working on putting and a lot of time with our pitching wedge as improvements in those areas specifically are going to help us this season.”

Above all things, Steffy said he wanted the girls to enjoy playing the game during the season, adding golf was a great way to not only support the school but themselves later in life.

“Our goals remain the same, which are to have fun and improve, which is the key,” Steffy said. “We’ve talked a lot about individual improvements, things like how many fairways we hit or the number of putts we take; little, specific goals like that are key for us.

“We want to keep the ball moving forward; we tell the girls all the time if you have a bad shot, forget about it and always be looking at the next shot, swing or putt. Golf is a hard game and how you respond to good or bad shots is important.”