Apollo’s Macey Brown walked away from the 2021 Girls High School Golf National Invitational in Pinehurst, North Carolina, excited for what’s in store for the future.
Brown ended the first day sitting at plus six, plus 13 on day two and plus 26 to round out the tournament. That earned Brown a 57th finishing mark out of 222 golfers.
While she may not have shot up to her standards, Brown was thrilled to be able compete amongst the best in the country.
“It was really fun,” Brown said. “The courses were really really pretty. I mean you’re at Pinehurst in the national tournament, you can’t really ask for anything better than that. I played with some really nice girls all over the country and it was a really good opportunity… I just think it was great to be able to play for the future,” Brown said. “It was nice for now because that level of competition is really good to get your mindset into, but I think it really helped me out for the future.”
Apollo Head Coach Jarrod Carter said that she’s got enormous potential and this was a way of success breeding future success.
“I think the experience is huge…” Carter said. “Just being able to meet and talk and have a good time with girls that have the same interest in trying to be competitive at golf was good. I think she figured out at times that she can compete with these girls. She played with some girls that play in tournaments every weekend all summer long. They really work hard at their game and I think she’s pretty close to being there.”
One big takeaway the pair understood after competing, was that there would need to be a big focus on Brown’s short game going forward.
“You know in golf, you don’t always hit every green,” Carter said. “You’ve gotta depend on your short game… It’s really honing in on that short game. Learning the different chip shots, the flop shot. When to bump and run, when to put a sand wedge in your hand and get up and down bunkers.”
That being said, Brown is coming off of a few years working on a major swing change since joining Apollo High School.
With her now driving the ball extremely well and showcasing the talent she has amongst the best golfers around, Carter will be pushing Brown to go on the attack and prove it even more.
“Your (Macey’s) mindframe is always in defensive mode,” Carter said. “I said ‘you’re always trying to prevent a mistake, you’re always trying to prevent a bad hole.’ I said ‘I need you to have the mentality of I’m going to go out and shoot four under today and be on the offense.’ That means you’re rolling every birdie putt past the hole and giving it an opportunity to go in and try to make chip shots. You’re that talented that that’s what we’re going to start focusing on.”
Along with this, Brown’s biggest takeaway was that she must strengthen her mental side of the game in order to elevate to higher levels of success.
“Mentally, you have to be very tough… ” Brown said. “You really have to get your mindset into ok I need to focus. This is just another golf round that I play every single day and when you mess up you have to let go. And that was something that was hard on me because I would mess up and I would keep it with me.”
Brown feels that if she can do that and sharpen her short game going forward, that she’ll be more than poised to return and finish higher in next year’s national tournament.
