Dec. 5—Staff writer Joey Wright caught up with Andrew Turner to discuss why both the boys’ and girls’ golf team at Monticello had such a fun fall, how he handles coaching both programs, when he first fell in love with the sport and more:
Success followed both Monticello golf teams all fall. On the boys’ side, the Sages had two individuals — Maddux Quick and Andrew Neef — qualify for the Class 2A state tournament, while the Sages took third at the regional level in Danville and then placed seventh in a sectional in Savoy. Quick tied for 27th at the 2A state tournament at Weibring Golf Course in Normal to cap the Sages’ successful campaign. On the girls’ side, Macy Printy’s success fueled the Sages to a regional championship in Class 1A in Savoy and a fourth-place finish in a 1A sectional hosted by Effingham. Both programs also won the Illini Prairie Conference tournament before postseason play began.
“Well for the boys, it was a senior group that has had some success for two or three years, so this year we were really excited about what we could do. Both individually, like Maddux Quick and Andrew Neef and the other seniors, we were excited about what they could do. We didn’t expect them to break the school record three times, but they did that, and then they won the conference.
“We’re kind of a smaller school for Class 2A boys’ golf, but our kids competed well and got out of the regional and got to sectionals, and then a couple of them got to state. So as far as the boys are concerned, it was a fun year. Maddux set our school record and then the team set the school record.
“The girls’ were in a whole different situation. We’ve probably never had more than 10 girls come out for golf, and we had 17. So that makes it very interesting. I’ve coached high school basketball for a long time, too. And you want competition on your team. We really never have had that with the girls’ side. We didn’t have enough numbers. We were just happy to get the team this year, we’re able to have competition where the girls actually had to kind of compete against each other and kind of fight it out for those six spots. It was a lot of fun to have that many girls, and they just had a great year.”
“It really just kind of takes care of itself. I mean, golf, it’s kind of like track. You’re going to play the best scores, and it’s up to the girls to decide how much time they want to put in.
“We had several freshmen that were not really in the competition for varsity this year, but we had 10 or 11 girls going into the season and all of a sudden, you’d see them putting in extra time on weekends and things that our girls hadn’t done in the past, because they they all wanted those spots. That was very different for us.”
“What’s funny about that group is I run the junior high golf program at Monticello, so we started in sixth grade. I’ve got to see those kids come up and I knew Maddux and Andrew were going to be really good for us at the high school level.
“But these other kids, one of them started in football then he came to us and then one of them just kind of came out of nowhere. Andrew and Maddux were our leaders all along and then Kross Reynolds was just one of those kids who just kept getting better and better. It was just a wonderful run.”
“We’re lucky. We’ve got a great community, we’ve got supportive parents, we’ve got great administration, great facilities. We’re very, very fortunate to have what we have.
“And I’m very fortunate from the standpoint that we get a play at a private course right in Monticello. That’s where we get to practice and play. The course is very supportive. We sell our golf hats in the golf course (pro shop), the people at the course buy our hats and they love to wear them.”
“We’re small enough that we know all these kids. I’ve got Ike Young, the starting quarterback, in class, and Ike’s a fantastic kid. Carter Foran, I’ve had in many classes. We’re that size where we mostly know everybody as teachers, so it’s a lot of fun.”
“I grew up in Villa Grove and we had a nine-hole course in my backyard, essentially. I lived almost right on the course. My parents were not golfers, but they bought me a junior set of clubs and I started playing when I was probably 11 or 12 years old. I wasn’t very good at the time, but then I kind of gave it up because when I played, Villa Grove didn’t have golf. I was a football and basketball kid. I really didn’t pick up golf again, probably until my mid-20s, and then I started playing a lot.
“From this standpoint, I think it’s a different sport from the standpoint of handling the pressure. There’s nothing like golf that I’ve ever been a part of, and I’ve ran track, I’ve played football, basketball, but just the dynamic of handling the pressure of you swing a golf club and you’re just a little bit off, and the ball becomes a lot off. I tell people all the time: You may think you’re a great athlete and that that doesn’t always translate to golf from the standpoint of just the same athleticism we see. It’s a neat sport, it’s a fun sport. I always tell my kids, even if you don’t become a great high school golfer, you have a sport you can play the rest of your life.”
