Gaining strokes

As the spring moves forward, the Vestavia Hills High School boys golf team wants to keep doing what it’s been doing all season — with one notable exception.

The Rebels have played solid golf and the team has seen gradual improvements from each of its players for the duration of the spring, and they want that to continue. 

However, they have often finished third behind Spain Park and Mountain Brook. Once the postseason comes around, Vestavia Hills wants to flip that script.

“We’re just a couple strokes behind Spain Park and Mountain Brook and that’s been our main competition this year,” said second-year coach Kent Fullington. “We look forward every day to working and finding our team at the right time. We want to peak at the end of the year.”

Fullington has reason to be optimistic. A pair of Auburn commits, junior Austin Coggin and sophomore Ryan Eshleman lead Vestavia Hills on the course and have performed well at the state tournament in the past. In 2016, Coggin won the individual state title. Eshleman finished low medalist runner-up at state last spring.

“The stakes are higher, so everybody is on their Ps and Qs,” Coggin said of the environment at the state tournament. “We’ve both been there, but for the other guys, it’s a different atmosphere for them.”

Both players are excited about spending their college days on the Plains as well. Auburn’s program has risen in quality in recent years and was ranked as high as No. 6 in the country through the middle of April.

“You need to always keep getting better, because the competition at the next level is going to be harder,” Coggin said. 

Eshleman said he was looking forward to the top-notch facilities Auburn offers.

Last season, the Rebels were unable to hurdle the high bar set by Mountain Brook and finished second to the Spartans in the section tournament and state tournament.

Mountain Brook posted a phenomenal 279 on the first day of the tournament, to Vestavia’s 293. That 14-stroke lead was enough for the Spartans, even as the Rebels carded an even-par 288 on the second day, six strokes better than Mountain Brook.

Mountain Brook finished with a two-day total of 573, eight strokes better than Vestavia’s 581.

Luke Couch, Cole Hunt, Sam Maze, Logan McKenna and Thomas Cochran have cracked the lineup at various points of the season for the Rebels and will be critical if Vestavia Hills has its sights set on a possible blue map.

“It’d be really sweet this year,” said Eshleman. “We’ve made it through sectionals the last three years. Once we make it through sectionals, we’ve got to make sure to pull it out this year.”

Eshleman said the key is to “make it easy on yourself” at the state tournament, which means putting the ball in the fairway and on the green in regulation. 

And if at all possible, avoid “big numbers.”

“Ideally, if we [Coggin and Eshleman] can go low and they play well, we’re good,” Eshleman said.

Fullington believes he has two golfers at the top of the lineup that can help the Rebels pull off victory at the state tournament, set for May 14-15 in Muscle Shoals. 

“I’ll take these two guys any day of the week on their best day,” he said. “When they bring their best, I don’t think anybody else comes close. If we hit our stride at the end of the year, I think we’re going to be a tough team to play against.”

Editor's note: The Rebels finished third in Class 7A, Section 3 tournament on Monday, April 30. Austin Coggin qualified for the sub-state tournament as an individual, but Vestavia Hills did not advance as a team.