It’s almost phoenix-like, this rise that has seemingly came out of nowhere to put this program somewhere.
Over the span of the last two years Shepherd’s golf programs have risen from the ashes of being irrelevant to very relevant on the state level.
Before the 2015 fall season Shepherd High School didn’t even have a girl’s golf program, yet over the span of the last two years head coach Julie Prout has led the Lady Jays to back-to-back Tri-Valley Conference titles and to two top-15 showings in the MHSAA state finals. Talk about going from zero to sixty in a hurry, wow.
On the boys side some eight years ago the Jays had all of six players come out for the team, thus there was no junior varsity team and little likelihood of one spawning in the near future.
Yet that didn’t stop varsity boys coach Mike Willett and JV coach Mike Halliwill from trying and their persistent efforts are currently paying off big time for the Jays. One season removed from winning their first conference title since 2004 the Shepherd boy’s program is on the cusp of winning back-to-back TVC titles for the first time in program history and going back-to-back for the first time since 2003-04 when they won a pair of CSAA crowns.
As it stands the Jays lead the TVC race by 90 strokes heading into next week’s conference season finale at Pine River Golf Course in Standish. Through five TVC jamborees the Jays have posted a team score of 824, some 90 strokes better than Freeland which is a distant second. In short, the Jays are going to win the conference title next week and from there they’re looking to win a second-straight Division 3 regional title and improve upon their 2017 13th-place finish in the state finals in early June. Some three or four years ago no one knew what was percolating with the Shepherd golf program, but now people are starting to take notice.
“We have a recipe that’s working, for sure,” said Willett following Wednesday’s home conference jamboree at Maple Creek Golf Club. “From six kids and no JV team to where we’re at today, we’re in a good spot.”
Willett said that some eight years ago the initial sojourn was basically just getting kids to come out for the program. Once he and Halliwill had full teams both started having some success, which led to more golfers coming out. With 19 golfers currently in tow the program is one of the better stories in the state.
“We’re going to graduate four of our top six this year but we have 10 freshman and two sophomores that are shooting scores that would beat some varsity teams, that’s where we’re at,” said Willett. “It’s fun to be a golfer (at Shepherd).”
As it stands the Jays have six of the top-13 golfers in the TVC this season as Max Skeel is ranked No. 1, Logan Yuncker is ranked No. 3, Scott Sura is ranked No. 4, Kyle Bendele is ranked No. 5, Zach Bendele is ranked No. 6 and Nate Gall is ranked 13th.
Skeel missed all last season with a hip injury but has stormed back to take the conference by storm. Following Wednesday’s even-par round of 36 he moved into the No. 1 spot despite playing through an injury to his other hip. The remainder of the roster has been equally great this season.
“I thought we’d be better than last season but this team has exceeded all expectations,” said Willett. “They’ve been great.”
In terms of what lies ahead for the Jays, well it’s going to be interesting for sure.
As for Wednesday’s match Skeel was first overall with a 36 while Yuncker and Kyle Bendele added in 42s. Sura chipped in a 46 while Gall had a 47 and Stone Smith had a 50. Shepherd won the jamboree with a 166.
Alma, which is in third place in the overall team standings, was second Wednesday with a 177. Freshman Brandon Fandell scored a 43 with Jaden Jerome and Drake Martin carding 44s. Kody Kenny also carded his best round of the season for the Panthers with a 46.