EHS golf hunting the ‘blue’ trophy

Enterprise High School’s golf program has earned the red state runner-up trophy in each of the last two seasons and this year they won’t settle for less than the blue state champion trophy.

In 2019 the Lady Cats won state runner-up and were favored to win it all in 2020 before the season was wiped out due to COVID-19. Then, in 2021 the Wildcats earned runner-up – losing by just two strokes in the state championship – and eighth grader Jon Ed Steed captured second place in the state individually.

“We want the blue trophy this year,” EHS boys coach Rex Bynum flatly said. “We want to win the state tournament and I think we’re the favorites.

“I know you put pressure on yourself when you say that but I feel like we have a great opportunity to reach that goal. We have the talent; it’s just about getting there.”

Helping the Wildcats get there is the fact that four of the team’s top five golfers return from last season’s runners up. While the varsity squad isn’t big in numbers, the talent is not lacking.

“We only have six varsity players but I have four of my top five coming back from last season,” Bynum said. “We have a very good group, we’re just not big in numbers.”

The top four in the rotation will be senior Gibby Charlton, freshman Jon Ed Steed, junior Nick Cook and junior Jackson Bailey, while the fifth spot is up for grabs between senior AJ Castleberry and junior Hunter McCarty. The winner of that competition will take the fifth spot in the rotation, while the other will play individually.

The Lady Cats also return a smaller group than in previous years but like the Wildcats there is no lack in talent as seniors Isabella Holtz, Meridith Black and Hailey Rotenberry return to lead the way. Leading them this year, however, will be new head coach Doug Branson.

Branson comes to Enterprise after having served as head boys basketball and head boys golf coach at Charles Henderson. He was the golf coach for eight years and also coached basketball for three at Charles Henderson. Prior to coming to Troy, Branson was a basketball coach at Pike County High School, Pearl River Community College and Columbus State University. Branson also currently serves as boys JV basketball coach and assistant varsity coach at Enterprise. The Virginia native also played college basketball at Wallace Community College before injuries pushed him into coaching.

“It’s going to be fun,” Branson said of taking over the girls golf program. “It’s a little different for me coming from Troy where I was the boys coach now moving over to the girls but I’m excited.

“You can tell the young ladies are really excited about getting started.”

Branson said he’s going to lean on his seniors in his first year.

“When you come into a (new) situation you always expect your seniors to lead the way and kind of set the tone for the younger girls,” Branson said. “We have three senior girls and then it goes all the way down to middle school age young ladies at the varsity level. Hopefully our seniors have been around here long enough and can set the standard for our other young ladies toward getting us to where we want to be.”

The other varsity players are eighth grader Maci McCarty and seventh grader Shaelyn Kennedy but don’t let the age fool you when it comes to Kennedy. Kennedy, the daughter of former Enterprise football coach Jed Kennedy, is considered one of the top young golfers in the entire country. She’s racked up an eye-popping number of tournament wins across the Southeast, including against much older athletes.

Branson said he hopes that mix of veterans and talented youngsters can help this group build on the foundation that’s been set in previous years.

“I know they’ve had some success here as a program and we just want to build upon that,” Branson said. “With these seniors that have been here and been a part of that hopefully they can keep us moving forward in that direction and keep laying that foundation for a strong program.”