Claire Crawford will hit the road to compete in two golf tournaments over 300 miles from each other in the span of three days.

On Monday, Crawford was the top finisher in her division shooting a 93 during the SDGA Junior Tour at the Moccasin Creek Country Club. The Aberdeen Roncalli standout used the hometown tournament to prepare for another event in the Black Hills.

“I’m kind of just viewing this like kind of a practice round, just see where my golf game’s at again,” Crawford said. “I’m trying to not take it too serious. Just have fun like I’m playing a normal round of golf.”

She’ll be competing in a two-day tournament in Spearfish on Wednesday and Thursday.

“I’m gonna play a round there (Tuesday), so that’ll be good to get into the swing of things,” Crawford said. “Playing in the Hills is a little bit different. A lot more hills than here, but at the end of the day, it’s still golf.”

Being on the other side of the state, Crawford will use a smart approach to help set herself up for success.

“I mean, as every course is, if you can hit it in the fairway, you should be fine,” Crawford said. “Just have to play smart and maybe not always hit the driver off the tee. Just hit something I know where it’ll go.”

Playing in multiple tournaments in a short amount of time doesn’t bother Crawford as she would much rather compete in a tourney than golf alone.

“I wanna play in as many tournaments as I can in the summer,” Crawford said. “You could go out and play as many rounds as you want by yourself, but nothing’s gonna relate to being in a tournament. Not being able to re-hit a shot, or a putt or anything.”

Living in the Midwest, golfers need to take advantage of any good weather they can get.

“Then you gotta be as good as you can going into winter, because you never know how you’re gonna be able to practice in the winter,” said Crawford. “Then coming into the spring, season’s always interesting starting off. But I play as much as I can in the summer to make sure I’m prepared for that.”

REPRESENTING DOLAND

Doland’s Olivia Knox finished just one stroke behind Crawford in the SDGA JR Tour.

According to google, Doland had a population of 189 in 2023, and Knox represents the small town well.

“It feels really good cause I get to represent a small town nobody knows about,” Knox said. “So it’s awesome that we get that publicity for Doland.”

There are no golf courses in town, which provides Doland golfers an extra challenge. The closest golf course is Fisher Grove in Frankfurt, which is only a 15-minute drive, but due to road construction, it now takes over double that amount of time.

“It’s a little harder when you can’t get there. We have road construction right now, so it’s making it a little bit harder,” Knox said. “But you learn to make the best of it.”

And how does Knox make the best of it? A little at home practice.

“I kind of play around at my house. Just chipping in the yard, so it makes it a little bit easier,” Knox said. “I actually live on a farm, so it’s a lot easier just to go chip around there.”

Although chipping is what she focuses on at home, she also takes advantage of the land her family owns.

“We have a big pasture. I’ll just go hit a junk ball or something. See how far I can hit it, or if I need to work on my drive,” Knox said. “We have trees, so I’m like ‘Hmm, let’s see how far I can get it into the trees sometimes.”

Having to play many courses on the road, Knox sees it as an opportunity to grow.

“I kind of just think of it as an opportunity to learn more about my game,” Knox said. “And how to take different shots.”

HOME COURSE ADVANTAGE

Aberdeen’s Cole Brust finished eighth in his division during the SDGA JR Tour, only two strokes out of a second-place finish. The Central standout was just happy to play at a familiar course.

“Oh, it’s pretty good to know just like what you’re doing, where to hit it,” Brust said. “I guess it’s always fun to have it at your home course. I feel like you have an advantage.”

Brust said the key is having played the course many times and knowing the layout.

“Just having a ton of experience on this course. Essentially just playing it for the last how many years?” Brust said. “You just know the whole course pretty much.”

Having more experience allows Brust to play more aggressively than on other courses.

“It would make me more aggressive here, just because I know where the miss is, and other places,” Brust said. “Just kind of play to the middle of the green.”

Brust explained his routine when playing at Moccasin Creek.

“Probably just driving, just putting your tee shot on a good place for your iron shot,” Brust said. “Try to hit a good approach and try to make birdie.”

He said he does have a favorite hole on the course.

“Probably 14. I just like the tee shot and the second shot over the water. Par five, try to make Eagle,” Brust said. “I do pretty good, unless you hit it into the water on the tee shot.”

Even though Brust enjoys the home course advantage, he still enjoys hitting the road for tournaments.

“I mean I like traveling to other places, obviously,” Brust said. “But it’s just really great to have one here.”

To see Monday’s complete results, click on the following link:

https://www.golfgenius.com/pages/5100926