By Dylan Wallace
The consistency has picked up for the Brownstown girls golf team after defeating Eastern, who only had two players and couldn’t field an actual team score on Monday at Hickory Hills Golf Course.
Brownstown shot a team score of 196, and the Braves have been striking the ball well, but as head coach Brandon Allman looked on, he noticed the 100 yards and in game needs to improve across the board.
“Just around the green, we have got to keep working on getting two shots, wherever we are around the green or on the green in regulation, we have got to get that thing in the hole,” Allman said. “It’s taking us four or five shots around the green, so that’s something that we gotta get better at.”
Leading the way for Brownstown on Monday was Lexie Satterthwaite, who shot a 47.
Satterthwaite has been the top golfer for the Braves over the past couple of matches.
“Honestly, her attitude on the golf course has been a lot better,” Allman said. “She’s been a lot more positive, and she’s seeing a lot more positive results. She’s striking the ball a lot better.”
Allman remembers a specific incident last week when Brownstown was competing at Cascades, and Satterthwaite’s driver broke during the first couple of holes. Instead of being mad about it, Satterthwaite started using her 3 wood really well and pushed forward.
“She’s doing a lot of the little things better,” Allman said.
The rest of the Braves lineup shot as followed: Payton Ault 48, Hannah Hackman 50, Emma Hughbanks 51, Kelsey Ault 53, Gracie Reynolds 57, Abby Schroer 61, and Megan VonDielingen and Allie Schocke both shot a 66.
Hackman has been hovering around 50 during the last couple of matches.
“My seven iron saves me a lot,” Hackman said. “The drives and the putting are kind of all over the place, but the seven iron is pretty consistent.”
Hackman has noticed how well her teammates have been playing as well, which has led to Brownstown picking up a lot of wins during these mid-week dual matches.
“Our one and two have been shooting pretty evenly together, so that’s helped because they are shooting even lower than they did last year,” Hackman said about Payton Ault and Satterthwaite.
Hackman agrees with Allman in that the short game is where the Braves need to improve the most.
Golf is such a mental game, and Hackman believes the short game is where it becomes the toughest.
“It’s very tough,” Hackman said. “Mentally, you just have to practice and know what clubs you’re using and know which ones you’re good with.”
The short game has been the focus for the Braves over the past few practices, and that will continue after their victory yesterday over Eastern.
“That’s all we’re gonna keep hammering,” Allman said. “Once again, we gotta keep hitting the ball, hitting range balls and stuff, but we have got to get better around the greens.”
Brownstown will hope to be better in that area when it competes again on Friday against Silver Creek and Scottsburg at Scottsburg starting at 4:30 p.m.