A young White County girls golf team made program history this season, capturing district and region championships in the same year for the first time.
White County Golf Coach Eric Mitchell led a roster of freshmen and sophomores to the District 6A and Region 3A titles. The championships sent a full White County girls team to the state tournament for just the second time during Mitchell’s 24 years with the program.
“It’s the first time in White County history in the 24 years that I’ve been here, that we’ve had three girls,” Mitchell said. “I had a good girls’ team in ’17 and ’18, but we only took two girls. Since I’ve been here, this is the second girls’ team that has been to the state tournament.”
Mitchell said this year’s success did not begin with the high school season. Several of the players started developing their games as early as sixth grade, with their fathers helping provide lessons and opportunities to compete in tournaments.
Mitchell also pushed the Warriorettes outside their comfort zone during the season. He had them play from the longer white tees typically used by boys to prepare for the additional yardage and challenges they would encounter in postseason competition.
“It’s just the game of golf,” Mitchell said. “If you go out there and you don’t like a hole and you’re thinking bad thoughts, you’re going to hit a bad shot. That’s just the way golf is, it’s probably one of the craziest but greatest games because it’s you against that course. I just want them to have confidence.”
Mitchell said the mental side of the game became especially important as the young team faced more experienced competition. He said Lindsay Golden, Piper and Ava each developed the ability to contribute when White County needed a strong round.
One of the team’s biggest tests came against a program accustomed to reaching the state tournament.
“We went to the Chattanooga Brainerd Country Club and beat Signal Mountain. That was the first time in 12 years that they hadn’t been to the state tournament as a team and we knocked them off,” Mitchell said. “That experience you can’t teach it, and we hope that can propel us over the top. State titles in any sport, you got to have a really good team and you got to have some luck to get the job done.”
Mitchell said experiences against established programs give the Warriorettes something they can carry into future seasons. With the core of the team still early in its high school career, White County has an opportunity to build on its historic season rather than start over.
“They’re all fantastic young ladies: they all work really hard, they’re good students, and represent White County great,” Mitchell said. “We’re so proud of them. We hope to be back there the next couple years, next three years for sure, so that’s our goal.”