Aberdeen Central has four golfers back in the lineup for the upcoming season, including one who is a six-year member of the varsity.
Senior Cole Brust is back for his sixth season with the squad. Brust finished runner-up at the Eastern South Dakota Conference Tournament last season with a round of 69.
He will be joined by fellow returners Ridgley Wasem, Easton Kludt, and Maddox Dinger.
“Maddox is excited about golf. He hasn’t been playing that long,” said Central coach Matt Brust. “He’s only been playing a few years, and he’s come a long way in a short amount of time.”
Brust, now in his sixth season at the helm of the Golden Eagles, noted that Class AA golf features a multitude of elite competitors.
“AA golf is insanely competitive,” Coach Brust said.
Aberdeen will get a chance to see those golfers when the Class AA State Tournament takes place at Lee Park Golf Course this fall.
While Central will be familiar with the course, Brust said it will not give his golfers a home-course edge.
“It’s certainly fun to have it in your hometown,” Brust said, “but it’s not going to provide any sort of competitive advantage.”
While there is certainly a physical component to the sport of golf, a big key is also having the right mindset, especially when things don’t go as planned.
“It’s always a grind. Even when it’s going well, it’s never all good,” Brust said. “Even in good rounds, you’re going to have to grind through a bad hole, or a bad shot, and recover from it. That’s a constant. And if you’re not in that mindset of being able to forget about the last one, it makes for a long day.”
That mental toughness is something that players have to figure out on their own, and there’s not an easy solution to the issue.
“There’s no magic potion. You have to be able to hit a bad shot, as bad as it is, you have to focus on the next one,” Brust said, “because if you’re still thinking about the last one, you’re not going to do any better than the time before.”
The Golden Eagles get their season started today at a tournament in Brandon.
In addition to the state tourney, Central will also have a home meet when it hosts the Hub City Invitational on Tuesday, Sept. 1 at Lee Park.
While the Golden Eagles will be hosting the state tourney this fall, Brust said the focus will be on short-range goals and improving from meet to meet.
“Small steps are going to be crucial,” Brust said, “and take an inch forward here and there, and we’ll see how far down the road we get at the end.”
