The Thunderbolts continued their season this week at Pipestone Golf Club, competing in one of the strongest fields they'll face all year. Facing scorching temperatures and a beautifully maintained—but demanding—golf course, Northmont rose to the challenge, finishing 5th out of 23 teams with a team score of 326.

The field featured more than 130 golfers, making the top-five finish even more impressive. Most importantly, the team showed significant improvement from the opening tournament. After emphasizing keeping the ball in play, the Thunderbolts dramatically reduced penalty strokes off the tee and put themselves in position to compete with some of the area's top programs.

Team Scores
Carson Auxier (Senior) – 76 — 5th Overall
Jonas Roberts (Senior) – 81 (Birthday Boy & Bounce-Back Round!)
Alex Webb (Sophomore) – 83 (Bounce-Back Round • First Competitive Round at Pipestone)
Wade Wallace (Sophomore) – 86 (First Competitive Round at Pipestone)
Eli Morgan (Senior) – 87
Jack Luttrell (Junior) – 94 (First Competitive Round at Pipestone)

Player of the Match

Carson Auxier earns Player of the Match honors after carding an outstanding 76, good for 5th place overall in a field of more than 130 golfers. Carson's consistent play helped pace the Thunderbolts and demonstrated the type of steady golf that keeps a team in contention.

Coach's Corner

One of our primary goals after the season opener was improving our play off the tee, and the team answered that challenge. We kept the ball in play much more consistently, eliminating many of the costly penalty strokes that hurt us at Hueston Woods. That improvement played a major role in shaving 19 strokes off our team score.

Now it's time to take the next step.

While we drove the ball much better, we know we left plenty of strokes on the course around the greens. A number of three-putts and missed chip shots kept several players from posting even lower scores. Those are the kinds of mistakes that quietly add several strokes to a round.

Over the next week, our practices will focus heavily on chipping, putting, and scoring around the greens. As our short game continues to improve, we're confident our team scores will continue to fall.

It was also exciting to watch several players continue to grow. Jonas Roberts celebrated his birthday with a strong bounce-back round of 81, while Alex Webb responded nicely after the opening tournament with an 83.

A special congratulations goes to Wade Wallace, Alex Webb, and Jack Luttrell, who each competed at Pipestone Golf Club for the first time. Pipestone is one of the toughest courses on our schedule, and gaining experience there will be invaluable as the season progresses.

The progress this team has made in just one week is encouraging. There is still work to do, but the foundation is being built. We look forward to carrying this momentum into our next competition.

Go Bolts!