Photo by Sarah Finnegan.
Vestavia golf coach Kent Fullington, right, works with several players in the first tee at Riverchase Country Club on April 13.
Kent Fullington was elated when he was asked to step into the coach’s role with the Vestavia Hills High School boys golf team. That excitement has not diminished as the Rebels near the end of the 2017 season.
“It’s been awesome,” Fullington said, who has been an assistant with various sports at Vestavia during the past few years. “It’s been great, getting to know these guys. Their golf ability is just incredible. We’re a very deep team this year. That’s a good coaching problem to have.”
Fullington has a deeper roster than most high school teams, so he has options when deciding who will compete at tournaments with his top group. That depth also pushes that group to get better each day.
“Every day, it’s a challenge,” junior Cole Hunt said. “We’ve got seven or eight guys who can shoot a 37 or 36 [on nine holes]. You’ve got to bring your A-game every day. You can’t slack off.”
For senior Chris Hughes, he has seen the program grow exponentially since he began playing with the team in eighth grade.
“This team expects to go into every tournament and be in contention,” Hughes said. “It’s been nice seeing the team grow, and hopefully over the years, I’ve added a little to that. We’ve got a good group of young guys that are definitely going to hold onto the reins after I leave.”
While golf is primarily an individual sport, Ryan Eshleman said the Rebels realize developing a solid rapport as a team can go a long way toward being able to accomplish its goals.
“Even though it’s an individual sport, we’re really good as a team,” he said. “We’ve gotten to know each other a lot better. Traveling together, going to team dinners and stuff, it’s fun to grow, and it’s good for the guys.”
The likes of Thomas Cochran, Jake Awbrey, Will Draper, Cole McPheeters, Jacob Maze and the rest of the Rebels have tested those three all season on the course, pushing them to continually improve.
“It’s unbelievable. We have seven, eight, nine guys that can shoot anywhere from 72 to 75 on any given day, and we just all push ourselves to be the best golfer we can be day in and day out,” Hunt said.
Each golfer on the team has strengths and weaknesses, meaning certain guys are better at different type of courses than others. On the shorter courses, give Eshleman the edge, as he is most confident in his iron shots. Hunt and Hughes have the ability to drive the ball farther and excel on the longer courses.
To succeed on any course, however, a golfer must have the ability to not let one bad hole snowball into multiple holes with a high score. To do that, one has to have a short memory.
“Forget it right then,” Hughes said. “I’m pretty good about it most of the time. I forget really easily.”
Hunt added that in a tournament setting, where players are competing with players from other teams, it is important to respond to a bad hole from anyone, whether personally or by someone else in the group.
Eshleman pointed to a situation at the Tom Bell Memorial Classic, where he was forced to recover from a triple bogey on his second hole. Fullington was able to calm him down, and Eshleman battled back to shoot even par for the round.
For seniors like Hughes and Awbrey, this is their final chance to win a trophy, as the Rebels hope to advance past sectionals and sub-state to get to the state tournament at the Grand National Golf Course in Opelika. But in order to get there, they will take it one address, back swing and follow-through at a time.
“If we focus on one shot at a time, the rest will take care of itself,” Fullington said.
