By: Jonathan Szczepaniak | Grosse Pointe Times | Published September 24, 2024
GROSSE POINTE FARMS — Golf is arguably one of the toughest sports from a mental perspective.
When you make a mistake, there’s nobody to blame but yourself and you only have a few minutes before you’re holding a club again hoping to make up for the previous poor shot.
Once the idea of worrying about results and possibly making another mistake is taken out of the equation, you’re left with swinging a club on a beautiful golf course, presumably nice weather, and either the company of friends or the peace and quiet of your own bliss.
Grosse Pointe South combatted the mental warfare of golf and it’s paying off for head coach Shaun Hampton and his squad.
“When they’re out there having fun, they play better, and I really try to make an environment where they’re out there having fun,” Hampton said. “I find that, especially in the game of golf, that if you’re out there enjoying yourself and have a smile on your face, usually it goes better.”
The Blue Devils are currently 4-2 in the Macomb Area Conference Red — with both losses at the hands of first-place Macomb Dakota — and have a strong returning core from the team’s state finals qualification in 2023.
Junior Lyla Hampton, daughter of head coach Shaun Hampton, headlines the group after finishing 12th at the Michigan High School Division 2 State Finals last season. The lone graduate from the team was Lyla’s older sister, Cate Hampton.
Lyla Hampton, who also played lacrosse with her sister, has grown accustomed to viewing sports as enjoyable rather than grueling, being surrounded by family and friends whom she can always count on.
Even though her older sister and chauffeur has now graduated, Hampton said South still carries the same type of chemistry.
“We all have really good chemistry,” Hampton said. “It’s just fun. We don’t care. We care, but it’s not super serious.”
Hampton spent some serious time on her short game, which she referred to as her biggest weakness.
Looking to improve, Hampton said it helped having a professional golfer as an assistant coach with Samantha Troyanovich, who golfed collegiately at Tulane University, being on the Blue Devils’ staff.
“My short game was really bad,” Hampton said. “One of our coaches, Sam Troyanovich, she’s a pro, and she taught me a lot for my short game and helped me fix a lot of it.”
Hampton’s strong suit this season has been with the driver, and now her chipping and putting have become a nice addition to her arsenal.
Alongside Hampton, seniors Tenley Stiyer, Murphy Russell and Maggie O’Brien return from South’s 11th-place finish at states in 2023.
Aside from the Hampton sisters, Stiyer had the highest state finals placement (57th) last year out of 106 golfers, and she’s only improved in her senior campaign.
“If something went wrong for Tenley, she used to get frustrated,” Shaun Hampton said. “Now, she just gets past it and moves on, which is a positive thing from that mental perspective. Overall, her game has just improved all-around. She’s come miles in her game.”
Russell has also taken significant strides for South, becoming a more consistent scorer and someone Hampton can rely on each match.
Alluding back to the team’s relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere, Hampton said Russell’s growth has also come from the mental part of her game.
“If Murphy is having fun, she plays well. If she’s not having fun, she doesn’t play well,” Hampton said. “We figured out how to make sure she stays happy in her head, and as long as she does that, she’s fine.”
Creating and embodying that type of atmosphere has also caused South’s varsity numbers to go up from nine in 2023 to now 20 girls on the varsity roster.
Sophomore Alissa Mourad was a first-year golfer last year while freshman Kylie White picked up golf for the first time ever, and now both are contributors at the varsity level.
“It’s just super fun to come to practice every day and hang out with your friends,” Mourad said. “Nobody really cares that much; it’s just about playing golf and having fun.”
“I like golf because it isn’t super serious,” White said. “You just get to come and talk to your friends while hitting on the simulator. It’s a good balance of being productive and having fun.”
While South missed its chances of winning three straight MAC Red titles last season, the Blue Devils have won the last three MAC Red divisional meets.
Having both losses come at the hands of Dakota certainly makes it difficult for South to climb back up on top in the league head-to-head standings, but Hampton and company will look to extend their streak to four years on Oct. 3 when South and the rest of the MAC Red go head-to-head at Lochmoor Club.
Shaun Hampton said the team is becoming more and more consistent each week, but said there is still room for growth.
“A lot of it is we have to get more to, worse case scenario, bogey or double bogey and get rid of the big numbers for some of them,” Hampton said. “We also have to do a lot better at not compounding our errors. If something goes wrong where you make a bad swing or hit one out of bounds, how do you then go make good decisions to only have it be a bad hole instead of a disaster? Sometimes it’s harder than you think.”