Trojans senior golfer Griffin Stanley went from close to the bottom of the JV barrel to seventh at the DAC tournament in one year

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Since only four golfers’ scores count toward the team score, one spring surprise can make a big difference in the fortunes of a program.
Chesterton’s boys golf team has enjoyed two unexpected sources of strong play this spring. Tyler Brown came out for golf for the first time and despite not playing the game as recently as two years ago has played well for the Trojans out of the No. 2 spot in the lineup.
Classmate Griffin Stanley, a wrestler his first two years of high school before he said an injury drove him out of the sport, didn’t project as a varsity player as recently as a year ago when he said he was “low” on the JV depth chart.
“I would shoot like a hundred or more last year,” he said. “I put my mind to it, and it worked.”
But first, he said, he had to know what to work on to get better. Enter Jill McCoy, director of instruction at Sand Creek Country Club and women’s golf coach at Valparaiso University.
“Getting lessons with Jill helped a lot,” Stanley said. “She made it before for me. I was swinging my hips, lifting my head, pulling it. I would chunk it, top it. It all came together at once, over the summer, the fall.”
After lessons with McCoy, Stanley said he “started thinking more about my shot instead of just trying to get it up there. I started playing smart. I started paying attention to what I was doing instead of just whacking it.”
A golfer can think he is playing smart but the wind always has the last word on days like Tuesday. Stanley weathered it better than most playing Sand Creek’s Creek nine and Marsh nine Tuesday in the DAC tournament. He shot an 86, the team’s second-best score and most surprising one.
With three holes remaining, Stanley was 8-over par. Then he carded a quadruple bogey on Creek 3 and a double bogey on Creek 4. He made par on his final hole.
Battling a tough course and the wind for five hours can wear on a golfer.
“I was on the struggle bus for a couple of holes, but I made it out all right,” Stanley said. “If the wind didn’t screw up half of my shots, I would have shot way better. I could have cut it down by six strokes or more.”
Next up, Stanley will try to keep the mojo rising Friday in the Valparaiso sectional, which tees off at Forest Park at 9 a.m.
Evaluating the sectional course, Stanley said. “There are some holes I’m not a fan of. I just have to get through them. If you don’t hit it straight, you’re screwed.”
So, just hit it straight then. That sounds easy enough, right?