The Warriors boys golf team won another tournament this past week, as they traveled to Lincoln and competed in the Lincoln Southwest Invite. This makes three tournament wins for the team in seven outings. Senior and Iowa Western commit Jacob Hellman shot a 70 and placed 1st on the leaderboard, while junior Kolby Brown shot a 78 and tied for 5th. Sophomore Porter Topp shot an 80 and tied for 13th. The Warriors look to carry this momentum into Metros, Districts, and the State Tournament with those being next on the calendar. Head coach Brett Froendt is ready for the team to keep competing with the state’s best as they approach the major tournaments. 

“Golf is difficult, it is a difficult sport to master,” he said. “You just hope to be playing, just like any sport, your best at the end. The only way to do that is to grind it out and beat the course, you’re not playing other players, you’re not playing other teams. You have to play the course every time out, if we keep that mentality and golf the way we are capable we should finish the season strong.” 

Hellman and Brown have been consistently placing in the Top 10 all year long leading the young Warriors’ to some big tournament wins. 

“They are very confident players because they have prepared at an elite level,” Froendt said. “The amount of time they have spent in the offseason preparing for what they’re doing is phenomenal. Their comfort level and mental mindset going into the most pressure-packed part of the season is really good and that’s all because of their preparation.” 

Over the course of the season, the golfers strike thousands of shots in the long game, meaning the team takes more time to practice on the short game. Froendt believes this is the most important aspect of the game, at any level.

“Putting is what it comes down to, it doesn’t matter if it’s high school, collegiate, or professional,” he said. “Some days you don’t have the best ball-striking but if you can get the ball up onto the green and putt it in, that’s golden. We work a ton on that and de-emphasize the swings because they have swung thousands of times since the winter and now it is time to work on the putting.” 

Brown believes the team is very confident after winning another tournament, as they now approach metros, districts, and the state tournament. 

“Just being able to go out as a squad and go play well in some pretty tough conditions, it is a huge confidence booster,” Brown said. “It will give us confidence that we can compete in any conditions too.” 

The Warriors look up to continue their momentum into the Metro Tournament on Wednesday, May 12th where they head to Benson Golf Course. The state tournament is just under two weeks away as the team will look to prepare for the final parts to the season.