ROGERS -- Kennedy Walters admitted one bad shot on the golf course might lead to a bad round last year, but Rogers Heritage golf coach Jay Gilstrap said she's showed great maturity in a year's time.
The 15-year-old has been able to remain composed and handle adversity, to prevent a bad shot turn into two and see her score sky-rocket. Thanks to a better mental approach her scores have been down into the 70s this season, after she was consistently in the mid-90s a year ago.
Profile
Kennedy Walters
School Rogers Heritage
Class Sophomore
Height 5-foot-4
Notable Had an 18-hole stroke average a shade above 100 last season, but has cut that drastically to 80.3 this season and has a low score of 76. … Finished 21st in the Class 7A state golf tournament as a freshman. … Chose to pursue golf seriously in seventh grade, after spending nine years in competitive dance.
"Last year, one bad shot, then my next shot wouldn't be that great," Walters said. "Then I'd get even madder, maybe throwing a club, slamming it into the ground. And that's never good. This year if I hit a bad shot, I know I just need to focus on the next one."
Gilstrap said she's made some mechanical improvements to her game, too, but the better mental approach has been the biggest factor in seeing her scores drop dramatically.
"Shooting low-to-mid 90s down to upper 70s, that's an extremely big jump for somebody to do in one season," Gilstrap said. "She's done a nice job with it.
"I was absolutely pleasantly surprised by her growth. I knew she had the desire to be better. She has blown me away with the jump in it. I knew there was going to be a progression. But it has been an amazing jump. I'm so proud of her and excited for her."
Walters got started with golf as a toddler going to the course with her father, but focused on competitive dance for several years before coming back to the sport a couple of years ago.
"Competitive dance was my thing," Walters said. "Golf's always kinda been there. I started taking lessons my other coach he said 'Hey, you've got a pretty good swing and you could be pretty good.' So I just started working more."
She now works almost every day on some aspect of her golf game and that's also led to the marked improvement.
"I feel like it connects, once I started working more and putting more time in and seeing improvements, I was like 'OK, I can get more the mental part of it now.'" Walters said. "And it all just started coming together."
One specific strength for Walters is her length off the tee. At only 5-feet-4 inches, she still drives the ball longer than most girls her age.
"It's all in the mechanics," Gilstrap said. "Golf is a game that you can have the biggest people there and the smallest people there and they can hit the same length. It's about getting every cubic inch of her body and her swing. The timing of it, everything, that's how you get it."
Gilstrap said her short game's also gotten much better.
"That's her biggest improvement mechanically this year," Gilstrap said. "We're all going to miss greens.You get up and down from there, that's going to dictate your score. She's improved significantly there. Her putting has gotten much better, more confident. But especially her chipping and short game. Watching her around the greens when she's 20, 30 yards off, there's confidence just beaming with her knowing 'I'm going to get it up close.'"
Walters said being able to hit her driver consistently was something that helped her gain confidence that she could play the game.
"That was the one part of my game that I struggled with for the longest time," Walters said. "Once I finally got that figured out, it was kinda like 'Oh, I can shoot these score' and I'm not playing outta trees. That happened last year, a lot."
Walters has an immediate goal of a top 10 finish at this year's state tournament, but she's also looking into the future with thoughts of playing college golf. She set her sights high with the idea of playing just down the road at Arkansas, which has put itself on the map as one of the top programs in the country.
Gilstrap said he thought Walters as more of a Division II golfer last year, but with her leap forward it's not a stretch for her to entertain the idea of playing at the Division I level.
"She's well within the numbers to start looking D-1 and anticipating that. Think of how much she's matured in one year, what can happen in the next two years?"
If Walters continues down the same path, she could have a chance to play college golf not too far from home.
Sports on 09/21/2017