Piedmont Golf Begins

The weather is slowly warming up and that means good things for the Piedmont Academy golf team whose coach believes can accomplish big things before the 2023 season is done.

The Cougars will return to the links on Tuesday against Loganville Christian Academy at Bear Creek at 3:30 p.m.

“I’m really excited for the new golf season,” said coach Michael Wilson “I think we have a really good team.”

The 2023 team features junior Ridge Stroud, sophomore Marissa Holder and freshmen Kolby Pounds, Sawyer Freeman, Barrett Downing and Avery McWhorter.

The GIAA is also starting a girls golf division this year. The Lady Cougars will play some matches this spring but won’t compete in the state tournament.

Competing for the girls are junior Teagan Satterfield, sophomores Kylee Keck and Addision Jones and seventh grader Autumn Austin.

Piedmont finished third last spring behind Rivers Academy and Thomas Jefferson. “Both those schools have been moved to different classifications and with us having 4 of 5 players returning from the state tournament, I think we have a good chance at winning state,” Wilson said.

“The exciting part is I really think Ridge, Marissa and Sawyer got the golf bug last year and have worked really hard at the game over the last year. Kolby is our most experienced tournament golfer of the group and I think the combination of that with the enthusiasm by all of them to get out and play and get better gives us a good shot to win state in the end.”

Having a group so close in age is really helpful for the team because it gives them an opportunity to get out and work at something on their own and be with friends, the coach said.

“It shows as they all have cut strokes off their game from where they were last year and these kids really want to win state,” Wilson said. “I think there is a growing desire and belief that our athletic department is in a really good spot right now and we have a chance to win state in nearly any sport we field.

It’s not easy because golf is so mental and you need to be careful about how much pressure you put on yourself but with the right attitude I think this group has a really good chance.”

Piedmont defeated The Habersham School, Covenant and Skipstone in its first match. The Cougars compiled a score of 164 followed by Habersham at 168, Covenant at 196 and Skipstone at 226. Individually Stroud had a round of 38, followed by Holder at 40, Pounds at 42, Freeman at 44 and Downing with a round of 59.

“It was a good first match, especially if you take into account that Kolby had a couple bad holes and finished higher than he averaged for us last year,” Wilson said.

“I know what he’s capable of and it shows that we have enough good golfers to pick up the load when someone has an off day.”