For The Tribune
Cole Forrest played baseball while growing up in Brownstown, but in the summer of 2016, he decided to change sports.
He played on the diamond for the Braves the past three springs, but he enjoyed golf so much that he played golf for the Braves this spring.
“Baseball was fun. I had been doing it since I was a kid, and I just wanted to try something new,” Forrest said. “I liked (golf) a lot. I figured this was my senior year, and I might as well try it. Last summer, I was out here most every day.
“I played a couple rounds at the simulator at Shadowood Golf Course (in Seymour) and with some of the local people that come out (to Hickory Hills). It helped me a bunch, too, getting tips from them every now and then.”
Forrest said he enjoys hitting off of the tee.
“I’m not that long, but sometimes, I can get ahold of it,” he said. “I don’t hit is as far as some people. I kind of have a fade, so it’s kind of hard, but I feel like I do pretty good off the tee. My driving is probably the strongest part of my game. I’ve gotten used to doing that. I feel it’s one of the easier things to get down for me.”
He improved his approach shots to the greens this spring.
“My chipping has been progressing,” he said. “It’s still not that good. I’m trying to get used to it. My short game is definitely one of the major points I need to work on. My putting has been all right. It has gotten a lot better from the beginning of the season.”
Forrest said he had to adjust to the condition of the greens, especially when playing in the mornings when there is dew on them.
“Dew definitely slows the ball down a lot,” he said. “Whenever you have a break left to right or right to left, it’s a lot slower when there is dew on. You’ve got to adjust to it. It takes a little bit to get used to the different greens from here at Hickory, to say at Shadowood or Otis Park (in Bedford). Most greens are a lot faster than Hickory. They seem a lot faster and slick, more of a harder type of green than what we have here.”
His lowest score at Hickory Hills is 42.
“I shot a 42 twice,” Forrest said. “My favorite hole is No. 2 or 5. No. 2 is one of the easier holes, I think. It’s got a big green. No. 5 is short, and it’s a nice hole to kind of catch up your score if you do bad on 3 or 1. Those are a couple of the harder ones.”
He said he wouldn’t be able to improve without practice.
“Practice is very important because in golf, I feel like you progress a lot from whenever you first start, but then once you get to a certain point in your game, then it becomes really hard to drop your score down after that,” Forrest said.
“Practicing and getting to know certain greens and which way it’s going to break (is important). If you play your home course a lot, it’s a lot easier to know where you want to hit the ball, where you’re going to be open or if you’re going to be behind a bunch of trees.”
Forrest said having a positive outlook playing sports is key.
“Some players, when they’re shooting bad or they miss a ground ball (in baseball) or something, it kind of gets in their head, and they’re going to keep doing that until they get it out of their head and not play to their full ability,” he said.
“It doesn’t really get in my head that much in golf because I knew I wasn’t going to be the best out here anyway, so I just came out here to have fun. I enjoy it even if I shoot 57 or 42. I still try to keep a positive attitude.”
He enjoyed attending BCHS.
“It’s a lot smaller than other schools around here,” Forrest said. “We have good athletics. We have a lot of one-on-one, a lot of hardworking people. I had amazing teachers, amazing coaches. They really pay attention to who they have out there. Every single coach is going to help you in a certain way so you can really get better as an athlete and as a student.”
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Forrest file” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Name: Cole Forrest
School: Brownstown Central High School
Parents: David and Missy Forrest
Sibling: Kaleigh
Sports: Baseball, three years; football, two years; golf, one year
Plans after high school: Attend safety management class
Favorite food: Macaroni and cheese
Favorite TV show: “The Office”
[sc:pullout-text-end]
