The Edmond Memorial Boy’s Golf team has been working hard all season to combat Oklahoma’s harsh and unpredictable weather, perfect a winning mindset and play as a team to the best of their ability. With this work ethic combined with the leadership of Head Coach Lee Davis, the team is hoping to find success at the state tournament.

One of the ways that the team has been preparing to play their best at the state tournament is navigating through the mental hurdles of the game of golf. Junior Drew Thompson has been sharpening his mind to become his biggest weapon on the course.

“I believe that my mindset during a tournament gives me a great advantage to the rest of the field,” Thompson said. “I have learned how to position myself to continue to play my best golf after a few bad shots, which could affect me if I chose to get down on myself about them instead of moving on with a positive attitude.”

Improving their mental fortitude can be seen as one of the keys to the team’s game plan to success. Davis believes that overcoming your own mental turmoil is the hardest aspect of the sport.

“The mental aspect is very challenging. It’s so easy for a player to have one bad shot and then have it lead to multiple other bad shots,”  Davis said. “The key is putting what is done behind you and getting to the present.”

Due to the mentorship of Davis his players are elevating their game like never before. Sophomore Luke Goodbary has found that since improving his mental game he can do things he never could.

“I have seen improvement in my mental game,” Goodbary said. “I have learned to not let a bad hole define my round. I used to not be able to do that.”

The team wants to bring their strong mentality to the top of the podium at the state tournament in May. Davis has high hopes and views success at this tournament as the ultimate goal of the season.

“We would really like to get top three at the state and bring back some hardware,” Davis said.

The boy’s golfers are no strangers to adversity. This season they have faced many challenges on their path, but these experiences have given them grit that will be a force to be reckoned with at state.

“They’ve gotten mentally tougher over the season,” Davis said “We’ve had lousy weather. It’s been super cold and windy, but that’s golf in Oklahoma. We’re also trying to compete against some really skilled teams, so it has been tough to hang with them.”

The team had an amazing performance at the Tulsa Union tournament and the regional tournament. This has given them a boost of hope for an amazing state performance.

“We have had a great season placing top five in almost every tournament and having a few 3 place finishes including the Tulsa Union Invitational and 6A Regionals,” Thompson said “I am hoping to win the state championship this year. I feel like we have a great chance after all the hard work we have put in since last season. I believe we have also all improved since last season.”

With the challenges, they have overcome and the lessons they have learned this season, the Bulldogs Boys Golf team has been able to make leaps and bounds in improvement. There’s no telling how far they can go at state.

Contact Jamison Joyce at [email protected]