PETOSKEY — Petoskey golf coach Chad Loe gets a little emotional talking about his girls golf team.
It could be because it’s really been a family affair, with his wife helping out and daughter on the team. That likely plays a part in it.
But, it’s more than just that. It’s about what Loe has watched over the course of a year with this group.
“They work so hard. They put in a lot of time,” Loe said. “They’ve improved over the season and I cannot stress enough their work ethic, their positive attitude. We’ve not always had great rounds, yet they trust what they’ve been practicing and what they’ve been doing.”
Entering the season on a streak of eight straight Division 2 state finals trips, Petoskey was needing to replace three seniors from the starting lineup, two of which went on to play collegiately. There was real thought that the streak may end.
Then the season came and girls stepped up, took leaps, stayed relaxed on the course behind Loe’s positive coaching and on Monday, Oct. 6, while hosting a Division 2 regional on their home course of the Petoskey-Bay View Country Club, Petoskey qualified for a ninth straight finals as a team.
“At the beginning of the season you hope to be here,” Loe said of making states. “This is what you strive for. It means a lot.”
Needing to make the top three, Petoskey placed third as a team with a 375, behind only Owosso’s 368 and Alpena’s 369.
Like they’ve done throughout the season, Petoskey’s Riley Barr and Anna Hasse showed up big, this time both placing inside the top three of the tournament.
Barr, a senior, carded a regional title winning 77 with a surge on the back nine that included three birdies and a pair of pars.
“I started making putts. My driver, everything was just coming together,” Barr said on that final nine. “Then I got a little nervous but got through on 18.”
Barr has led Petoskey’s team the past couple of seasons, though it hasn’t always been that way during her career. She exemplifies the hard work Loe can’t help but choke up about.
“When I started, I averaged like 106. I was really bad,” she said. “I worked really hard to get to where I’m at and compete at the highest point to be the best, so here we are.”
Hasse may be no better example of the leap one can make in a single year, going for shooting in the 100s during last year’s finals to carding a third place 85 at Monday’s regional.
“Putting today was my strong suit,” Hasse said. “I one-putted multiple holes. The greens are definitely faster than an average course, but with Bay View being our home course, that was really a good advantage.”
It’s the first time in ages – perhaps ever – that a Petoskey girls team has had the opportunity to host a regional, which made everything better for Hasse and her teammates.
“It makes things a lot more comfortable and helps you relax a lot more,” Hasse said. “You know the course, know what goes on for each hole.”
The rest of Petoskey’s lineup came with Hadley Loe shooting 106, Brooke Knickerbocker shot 107 and Lauren LaHaie finished with a 109.
While they might be higher rounds than what they set out for, Loe has never been a numbers coach that constantly puts that stress on before or during rounds.
In golf terms, he plays it as a lies.
“I don’t want them focusing on numbers,” he said. “I don’t want them focusing on more than one shot at a time. Wherever it goes, it is and we move on from there. I’ve always taken that approach because we’ll enjoy the birdies and great shots, but to eliminate the lows; we don’t stress that it’s not a great shot. That’s the way I’ve always coached.”
Cadillac’s Addy Joynt (90), Midland’s Lauren Deckrow (92) and Cadillac’s Lillian Shankland (94) qualified for states as individuals, while rounding out the top three was Alpena’s Grace Bouchard in second with an 84.
The Division 2 finals will take place Friday and Saturday, Oct. 17-18 at Bedford Valley in Battle Creek.
For Barr, it’ll be the final couple rounds of her high school career and a chance to stake her claim as a top 10 golfer in the state.
“We’re going to find out and I’m going to keep on working to that point,” she added.
Contact or send game stats/info to Sports Editor Drew Kochanny at dkochanny@petoskeynews.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DrewKochanny, and Instagram, @drewkochanny
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Barr, Hasse lead Petoskey golf to ninth straight state finals trip: ‘They work so hard’
Reporting by Drew Kochanny, The Petoskey News-Review / The Petoskey News-Review
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
