Bear Creek Golf Course wasn’t in midsummer shape Tuesday afternoon. The Forest City track didn’t feature luscious green fairways, flowers in full bloom or trees adorned with leaves. Rather, players from Forest City, Lake Mills and Eagle Grove dealt with typical spring conditions like yellowish, dry grass, bare trees and gusty winds.
Despite the inopportune circumstances they faced, the Indians, Bulldogs and Eagles all got something out of their triangular meet. The Lake Mills boys won the event with a team score of 167. Forest City came close to that total with a final tally of 176.
Eagle Grove won the girls’ division of the event, hitting a final mark of 201 strokes. Lake Mills placed second in the girls’ competition with a score of 224.
Lake Mills head coach Travis Laudner said early season events, like the one his team played Tuesday, are important — even if the Bulldogs have to fight through conditions that aren’t conducive to carding low scores.
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“Every repetition is valuable the further along into the season you get” Laudner said. “We know we’re going to have challenges every year with the weather and so forth, and we just gotta battle through it. The more holes they get in, the better off they’ll be come postseason play and certainly deep into conference play.”
Last year, Lake Mills won the IHSAA Class 1A State Boys’ Golf Championships with a two-round total of 673. The Bulldogs lapped their state tournament competition, finishing more than 15 strokes ahead of second-place East Buchanan at Ames Golf and Country Club.
Lake Mills’ Bennett Berger sat atop the individual leaderboard at the end of last year’s 1A state boys’ tournament, posting an eight-over-par score.
Berger, however, is no longer with the Bulldogs. He graduated last spring and has since started to pursue some individual goals as an amateur golfer.
Laudner hasn’t tempered expectations for his now-Bergerless team. The Bulldogs haven’t singled out any specific benchmarks they’d like to hit this season because they’re not sure how high their ceiling might be as reigning state champions.
“I mean, I’m not going to set any goals as of now,” Lake Mills ace Garrett Ham said. “Our goals are going to be to improve as a team, get that score lower, and once we get later on in the year, we can really make those goals.”
Ham is a three-year starter for Lake Mills, and he’s hoping to fill the big shoes Berger left behind. So far, the junior hasn’t shied away from the challenge.
Ham has embraced the opportunity to lead Lake Mills and play against the best high school golfers in North Iowa. In Tuesday’s triangular meet at Bear Creek, Ham carded the lowest score of any individual, firing a 3-over-par 37. Ham narrowly edged Forest City’s Jack Harms, who carded a 5-over-par 39.
“I’ve always just kind of looked up to (Berger),” Ham said. “He’s always kind of been a leader there. I guess I’m in that position now. So, I’m just trying to do the same thing that he’s done for the last two years for me. So, that’s really the goal — taking over his spot, leading this team to another state tournament.”
Laudner acknowledged Berger isn’t a readily replaceable player. The Bulldogs’ coach, however, said his team still has enough firepower to make it back to the postseason.
Lake Mills’ strength lies in its depth. Laudner noted that his team is less top-heavy this year than it was last season. He added that the Bulldogs have more than seven players that can post competitive scores each week.
Last year, Lake Mills relied on its top four players and didn’t get much help from its No. 5 and No. 6 golfers. The Bulldogs had two players with nine-hole scoring averages over 50 in their lineup in 2022. This season, none of Lake Mills’ starters average more than 50 strokes per nine-hole round.
“Yeah, that’s what’s encouraging about this team going into this year,” Laudner said. “We’re a lot deeper than we were last year. It was kind of a four-man race last year, and five and six were along for the ride. They did contribute a little bit here and there, but we were pretty top-heavy. Now, I’ve got not only five and six, but seven, eight and nine pushing those guys too from the JV ranks.”
The Bulldogs have not been dubbed unbeatable by their Top of Iowa Conference brethren yet this season. Forest City head coach Matt Harriman said his team was looking forward to its matchup with Lake Mills Tuesday.
“These triangular meets at the beginning of the season are kind of a baseline of where you’re at,” Harriman said. “You know you’re going to see them farther down the line. A lot of these teams are in 2A, so we’re going to see them come districts and regionals.
"So, being able to kind of see where we’re at, knowing that it’s early, and knowing that there’s still three or four more weeks of practice before the conference meet is really going to give us a good idea of where we’re at right now.”
Lake Mills received one of its toughest tests of the season from Forest City Tuesday. The Bulldogs have beaten most of their opponents by 10 shots or more in 2023.
Lake Mills has only been bested one time this season. At an April 11 triangular meet, the Bulldogs finished two strokes short of the North Union Warriors’ team total of 172. The best score Lake Mills has posted this season is 159.
“The last couple years, us and Lake Mills have gone back and forth,” Harriman said. “Unfortunately, Lake Mills has had the upper hand in most of those meets. I think with a lot of guys coming back from last year, we’re starting to get a little bit more competitive with them.
“You know, hopefully we’ll start to see our strides as the season goes on. We’re hoping we can really kind of catch them here at the end of the season. We hope to be right there with them come conference time.”
The Bulldogs and Indians are both scheduled to play later this week. Forest City will travel to Eagle Grove Golf Course on Friday for a nine-hole meet, and Lake Mills is set to play in a triangular event at Britt Golf Course Thursday.
