Perseverance Pays Off

It Just Might Take A While

Anyone that knows me for very long, knows that I am very passionate about three things. My family, My business and golf. About a year ago, my two oldest daughters decided to play golf. They both made the High School Varsity team last year. (there were only five girls on the team) They both had ability, but in golf, scoring well takes awhile. They struggled through the season, but they loved it, even though they consistently finished near the bottom in tournaments.

This past winter, the youngest, Payton, now a Sophomore googled her name. The first thing that popped up was "Lawrence Golf Team Struggles" and it listed the individual scores from a tournament last year. Taylor Covert 139, Payton Covert 140. Remember, higher numbers in golf are bad. She was mortified. "Why can't it be about me being an All-American in girls wrestling or something!" (which she was two years ago)

Quietly fueled by this, the girls decided to put extra effort into getting better in the off season. They worked hard. Especially Payton. (Taylor had a boyfriend and her priorities were a little different) Every day, starting in March, she asked to play. The worst part was that for two months, Payton was actually getting worse. So much so that the Father in me was wondering if she should just give it up. But, she kept playing and practicing and smiling the whole way. "I know I'm not very good, but I'm having fun," she would say.

She wanted golf clubs for her birthday in May. We got them for her, even though I wondered if she would keep trying much longer. Then at the end of June, a funny thing happened. Payton started hitting a few good shots every round. By mid-July, she was hitting more good shots than bad. By the time August hit, she was hitting only a handful of bad shots each round. She was getting pretty good.

This year, the girls had recruited many more players for the team and worried about making varsity again. I assured both of them that they would be fine. They had both worked hard enough to make it. They did. As a matter of fact, their coach was so impressed with their improvement that he used them for an example to the rest of the team about what hard work would do. He had no idea what Payton went through!

Now, to the best part of the story. The girls had their first 18 hole tournament of the year this week. It was in Lawrence at one of the most difficult golf courses in the area. It was the first part of the League Tournament, so the nerves were acting up.

I told my wife on the way there to see the girls finish that it would be great if they both got under 120 for the round. That is 20 shots better than last year and at a harder course.

When the scores were tallied, Taylor shot a 114 and tied for third best score on the team. Awesome! A 25 shot improvement over that 139 last year. Payton carded a 105, best on the team and a full 35 shots better. I don't think she has yet to touch the ground. Hard work does pay off. Great job girls! I am so proud.

Below is the text of the interview with Payton from the Lawrence Journal World after the tournament :

.........But a look beyond the “You don’t have to put my score in the paper, do you?” comments uncovered a few sweet stories hidden in the rough.

Take LHS sophomore Payton Covert, for instance. Last winter, after a rough first year with the LHS golf team, Covert “Googled” herself on the Internet just to see what popped up. The first link on the list of possible matches was a story about the LHS golf team’s struggles, complete with the fact that, at that particular tournament, Covert shot a whopping 140.

So ashamed of the high score was Covert that she spent the entire summer working on her game.

She sank putts late into the night, chipped until her arms grew tired and hit shot after shot at any driving range that would have her.

The result? Monday, Covert shot the low score for LHS, a 105 at the challenging LCC course.
“I was embarrassed by that,” said Covert of the Google incident. “And it really motivated me to improve.”

During the best round of her life — her previous low was a 112 — Covert’s putting was strong, her decisions sound and her risk-taking minimal, all necessary ingredients for a good score at an unfamiliar course.