The medalists from the 2013 4A boys golf tournament. (Jenn Roberts-Uhlig/CHSAANow.com)
Coronado junior Isaac Petersilie has started to hear from colleges. It started with Colorado colleges and he’s got feelers out to some out-of-state ones as well.
But don’t get ahead of the present, Petersilie insists.
It’s not how the reigning Class 4A boys golf champion got here. It’s what he’s focused his game on since he won the state tournament at Hiwan Golf Club with a 4-over, two-day total of 144.
“Last year I was trying to play best I could,” Petersilie said. “This year, mainly I’ve been focusing on each shot at a time.”
That’s included revamping his pre-shot routine and a renewed focus on his wedge play.
As he’s started to fill into his body, Petersilie has seen his approach shots become shorter.
The emphasis on the short game has made him better, but he again points to the mental aspect as his strongest part.
Coronado’s Isaac Petersilie. (Jenn Roberts-Uhlig/CHSAANow.com)
“I’m trying to take all the variables taken out of it. Then just hit the shot,” he said. “I’m taking out the guesswork — the distance, the slope, what I want to do with the shot, how it will come out of a lie. Everything that can change the shot.”
Last year Petersilie showed that mental game.
Petersilie said he thought around even par would win the thing. Where others in contention blew up, Petersilie never had worse than a bogey in the 36-hole championship.
He finished one shot ahead of Cheyenne Mountain’s Wilson Belk. The two each went into No. 18 tied. Petersilie admits he thought he had to make a par to send it to a playoff. He didn’t realize Belk’s bogey on 18 had given him the win.
Thinking he needed a par to send it to a playoffs helped “focusing a little bit and helped me not get ahead of myself,” Petersilie said.
The junior, however, will have a loaded 4A field to compete with.
Belk returns as do Valor Christian all-staters Jake Staiano and Valor Christian’s Ross Macdonald; Montezuma-Cortez’s Jakob Rudosky; and Silver Creek’s Jackson Solem.
“There are a lot of great kids returning,” Petersilie said. “That’s definitely a good thing.”
Although Petersilie wants to be in the now, and said he’s focusing on consistently doing well each tournament, he does think about that state championship in September.
“I mean, I would say (winning state) would be one of my goals,” he said.
Class 4A boys golf
Defending individual champion: Isaac Petersilie, Coronado
Defending team champion: Valor Christian
Returning all-state athletes: Petersilie (junior), Cheyenne Mountain’s Wilson Belk (senior), Valor Christian’s Jake Staiano (senior), Valor Christian’s Ross Macdonald (senior), Montezuma-Cortez’s Jakob Rudosky (senior), Silver Creek’s Jackson Solem (sophomore).
Regular season begins: Aug. 7
Regionals: Date: Sept. 16 and 18.
State meet: Sept. 29-30, Walking Stick Golf Course in Pueblo.