The Mustangs celebrate.
All-Rowan County team.
SPC champs
By Mike London
Salisbury Post
GRANITE QUARRY — In theory, it was the 5A NCHSAA Golf Championships at Stonebridge, but two days and 27 holes in Monroe for the East Rowan girls golf team turned into two episodes of “Survivor,” with everyone hoping they’d be the next one voted off the island.
But the Mustangs persevered, got through it and are better human beings for not giving up. East senior Kaley Pfister led the way through the wind, rain and chill and did it with a smile on her face. It took her two days to thaw out, but she’ll have a lifetime memory of a heroic 15th-place finish.
“Those were conditions about as hard as you can play golf in,” Pfister said. “The thing I’ll remember is we got to play in the state as a team and I didn’t have any maxes.”
“Maxes” are triple bogeys. That means you picked up your ball and took the max score allowed. Maxes are the enemy.
Pfister managed seven pars in 27 holes. Pars are really good friends in high school girls golf. Bogeys aren’t so bad either on a challenging course in close to impossible conditions.
Pfister is Rowan County’s best and most consistent golfer right now. She won the South Piedmont Conference championship this year. She’s won two straight Rowan County Championships. She is the Rowan County Golfer of the Year for the second time. She led East to team wins in the county and in the conference. East placed third in the 5A West Regional and fifth in 5A.
What makes Pfister’s story pretty inspiring for any Rowan girl who has ever considered picking up a golf club is that Pfister was an athlete (softball and basketball) who made it through middle school without ever taking a swing.
East coach Tinsley Merrell realized a while back that the Mustangs would eventually have zero golfers unless she manufactured some. Pfister and teammates Jaelyn Earnhardt and Izzy Steppe were recruited as Erwin Middle School eighth-graders by Merrell to learn golf from the ground up. They started from scratch. The only good news was they had no bad habits to break.
“The first round of golf I ever played was the summer before my freshman year at East,” Pfister said. “We went out to McCanless and played the back nine. I hit some pretty awful shots, but I also hit enough good ones to be encouraged.”
As a freshman, Pfister was maxing a lot — she shot a 63 and a 64 in nine-hole matches — but East still had talented golfers like Hannah Waddell and Addison Queen to do the scoring, while Pfister did some learning. Pfister had one good day — a 48 at Warrior — and that was enough motivation to keep her practicing and working.
As a sophomore, Pfister made serious progress. Sometimes she was that all-important third scorer for the Mustangs. She placed fourth in the Rowan County Championships.
When they became juniors, Pfister, Earnhardt and Stepp were asked to lead the program for the first time. It was on their shoulders, along with Cailey Ludwig, a classmate who picked up golf even later than her teammates. They kept East on top of the county. Pfister was shooting quite a few 42 and 43s by then. She won the Rowan County Championship with an 85. She shot 89 and 90 in the 3A State Championships.
Coach Merrell is big on the thoughts-for-the-day brand of motivation. Setting goals for all the girls and providing constant encouragement and treats. She sent Pfister a lifetime list of her scores after last season was in the books and the challenge she issued was “What will senior year look like? Work on your short game! Keep pushing in the summer heat! Keep the other girls playing! Build up holes and come back hungry to win. There are several other girls who want to be top dog.”
Pfeiffer maintained her status as top dog. She shot career nines — 35 (1-over) at McCanless and a par 36 at Rolling Hills.
She overcame some chipping struggles to shoot an 80 to win her second Rowan County Championship at McCanless. She needed to play that well because Stepp and South Rowan’s Sara Culbert shot 83s that day. A key shot for Pfister was making a 40-foot birdie putt on No. 11.
“There were a few hiccups for her, but she’s so solid mentally,” Merrell said. “She never lets things get crazy out there and doesn’t let one bad hole bother her. She’s really quiet, really competitive and really focused. Doesn’t say a lot, but she does smile a lot.”
Robinson and Northwest Cabarrus had solid individuals this season, but Pfister made a major comeback to shoot 40 and win the match that decided SPC Player of the Year at the Club at Irish Creek.
“I had two double bogeys early in the round and it didn’t look good,” Pfister said. “But then I parred the last four or five holes to pull it out. That was cool to come back like that. All in all, I was more consistent this year than I was my junior year, and that was a big goal.”
Pfister’s strength is her booming drive, her outstanding distance off the tee. She’s a threat to drive some par-4s. As sharper chips and approaches provide her with more birdie chances, her scores will continue to improve.
Pfister. an exceptional student, especially in math, isn’t sure where golf will lead from here, but she may have opportunities to play in college. She’s developed a love for the game, and she has a freshman sister (Ashlyn) who was a teammate this season and is probably ahead of where Kaley was as a freshman.
Merrell has dubbed Kaley and Ashlyn the Pfister Sisters.
“It was definitely fun having Ashlyn on our team this year,” Kaley said. “It was fun to watch her hit some good shots, fun to watch her learn and fun to watch her grow.”
Coach of the Year — Tinsley Merrell, East
Player of the Year — Kaley Pfister, East
All-Rowan County
East Rowan —Kaley Pfister, Ashlyn Pfister, Jaelyn Earnhardt, Izzy Stepp, Cailey Ludwig
South Rowan — Sara Culbert, Margo Maples
Salisbury — Allie Peeler
Carson — Hallie Cannup
