Anyone who has seriously played the game of golf understands the intricacies of a game that beckons its committed followers to embrace its formality, grace, and storied past. Most of the players on Ware County’s Lady Gators state championship team grew up hitting balls in their backyards under their watchful eyes of their fathers, grandfathers, and coaches. Some started to play the game when the clubs were as tall as they were, but as they continued to brush irons through grass, they learned to strike the dimpled white golf ball into the air with perfect flight. Everyone of these girls – Bailey Buie, Megan Carter, Sutton Rollins, and Kylie Wheeler – are definitely good Georgia girls. While they all love bushy-haired Bubba Watson and the genuine, confident Jordan Speith, the girls have immense respect for greats like Arnie and the Golden Bear.
While these ladies embrace the past and certainly dream about playing storied courses, it will be the memories of Maple Ridge Golf Club, where they finished the 2015 season as GHSA Class AAAAA Girls State Golf Champions, that they remember for the rest of their lives.
Hole eight at Maple Ridge has trees to the right with an uphill flight path into the fairway, and Bailey Buie’s second shot was one that set her up with an opportunity for a birdie putt, which she sank.
“Playing number eight was one of my favorite memories of the championship,” Buie said. “I did not play well through the first seven holes, and on hole eight I sunk a 25-foot putt for birdie. That putt gave me the boost of confidence I needed and helped me find my rhythm.”
Buie found consistency, and freshman teammate Sutton Rollins rolled in a birdie on the final hole to give the Lady Gators a ten-shot win for the championship over Dalton.
Longtime Ware County girls and boys golf coach Tony Wheeler knew that this could be a special season. This was his 15th year coaching golf, spending the first 11 at Ware County Magnet (before it closed) and the last four years at Ware County High School.
“It really was not this golf season that I realized we could win a state championship,” Coach Wheeler said. “We finished third in the state last year, and I really didn’t think we played as good as we could have in the state tournament. I also knew Sutton was coming up from eighth grade, and she has a good golf game. When the state tournament was over last year, my vision became to win the state championship this year. The one key to all of this was, we had to improve and work hard.”
Region 3-AAAAA is one of the absolute toughest football regions in the state. Golf can also make that claim, and Ware’s girls found themselves battling against a perennial golf power, Glynn Academy, in the Red Terror Ryder Cup, which foreshadowed events to come.
“Bailey Buie and Megan Carter were just tremendous,” he said. “It was a two-person scramble, and they won the tournament with a 64. They were four shots ahead of the field. The weather was just awful. The wind chill hovered around 40 degrees, the wind blew at gusts over 30 miles an hour, and it was misting rain. They were so focused, and on about the fifth hole, I really thought they would win.”
Georgia golf legend Bobby Jones once said that ninety percent of competitive golf is played between the ears. Wheeler saw that kind of complete mental focus from his team at the regional tournament at Pine Lakes at Jekyll Island.
“Sutton Rollins and Kylee Wheeler both had one hole left, and were playing very well,” Coach Wheeler said. “Sutton stood on the tee box and blasted a hybrid right down the middle, with water on the left, to make a par and shoot her career low, which was an even par 72. Kylee had the same scenario almost. She was struggling breathing and was so nervous on the last hole. She hit a shot in the water, but made a great bogey to shoot 82; which was her career low. The key to this was, I knew we were getting better, and that was the main thing. I tell them we have to be good one day, and it is at the region tournament. If we advance, then we have to be good one more day.
Though they won the championship as team, golf is an individual sport.” Serious golfers have no offseason; even if they are playing other sports for the school, they will still play tournaments in the summer and fall when their schedule permits. The driving range and the putting green is as important to become an accomplished golfer as the free throw line to a great basketball player.
“I coach the boys and girls golf teams, and I think my favorite memory is just seeing the improvement from start to finish in 16 weeks,” Coach Wheeler said. “I know that might sound strange, but some of these kids have improved so much in a short amount of time. As we go throughout a season, they learn strengths and weaknesses of their game. As they go along and work at that, their confidence grows and grows. I know these kids are state champions and that says a lot; but their character and integrity are state-champion material too. I have really good kids and that is such a bonus.”
This championship was even made more special because Wheeler’s daughter, Kylie, was on the team, and she will always remember coming off number 18 and receiving a huge bear hug from her dad.
Senior Bailey Buie will be playing golf for Armstrong State University next year, but nothing will ever top her memory of experiencing the championship with her dad.
“My true favorite memory of that day would be looking at my dad after we realized we had won,” Buie said. “I remember that moment so vividly. My dad has taught me everything I know about golf. And in that moment, we looked at each other, and I knew that all the practices, all the swings, everything that we had worked for lead to this moment had paid off.”
Excellence in athletics is the standard at Ware County. From the 10-0 regular season region champion Gators football team led by first year head coach Franklin Stephens to every other sport, Ware County sets the pace. Attributes simply make Wheeler’s job, purpose, and vision stronger and clearer. Not to mention fun.
“I know all coaches want to win a state championship, and they know the hard work it takes to just have a chance to compete at that level,” Coach Wheeler said. “Coaches normally coach multiple sports, and I think they take that to whatever sport they coach. I would like to thank a lot of people. Thanks to Okefenokee Country Club and its members for allowing us to play and practice out there. Mike Ranew has been great to us. I would like to thank Mr. LeBrun (superintendent), Dr. Tim Dixon, and David Shields for allowing us to travel and play a full schedule. Some administrations at school will not allow that. They have been so supportive in allowing us to do our own thing. I would like to thank our Athletic Department and Booster’s Club for financial support. We also have businesses and people in the community that have been supportive with donations. I would like to thank our parents for supporting their kids all year. I would like to thank my wife because she has sacrificed so much for me to coach. Most of all, I would like to thank the Lord for giving me the opportunity to work and coach kids that are just fun to be around and that have good morals. We are truly blessed to be the Class AAAAA State Champions.”
Bogeys to Birdies: Ware County Golf Champions
By John Wood
Photography by Jennifer Carter Johnson
