Consistent rounds carry Dogies to strong finish at Moorcroft — Breaking 100 together

Coach Brad Troftgruben has been saying all season that the Dogies would be competitive once all four golfers kept their scores under 100, and on Friday in Pine Haven, they did just that. With every Dogie breaking the century mark and placing in the top 20 individually, Newcastle earned a third-place team finish at the Moorcroft Invite at Keystone Country Club.

Senior Ty Stith led the way with a career-best round of 88, good for fifth place overall in the 53-golfer field. Freshman Adryan Wolfe followed closely with a 90 that tied him for ninth, while fellow freshman Asic Dawson and junior Coen Tavagie each came in at 97 to share 20th place. The team’s combined score of 372 trailed only Sundance at 340 and Niobrara County at 362.

“That course is a little bit more gettable, and I knew it was going to fit us well,” Troftgruben said.

He was especially pleased with how his players avoided the costly mistakes that had hurt them in earlier outings.

“We need to get rid of those big number holes — the triple and quadruple bogies — and they did that well,” he said. “There’s a lot of penalties and out of bounds on that golf course and water hazards, but they took the big problems out of play. They played the safer shot, and just played more consistent golf all the way through.”

Troftgruben pointed to Stith’s back-nine surge as an example of that improvement.

“Ty really turned it up on the back nine and really got in the groove,” he said. “He drove the ball well, and that has been his missing link.”

He also noted that Tavagie battled through a rough stretch without letting it affect his team contribution.

“Coen struggled a little bit, but was able to grind it out,” he said. “He didn’t let the day get out of hand, and stayed in it to help the team score. I was proud to see everybody just grind all day.”

The coach said he was encouraged by the way the players handled adversity together.

“Those boys have a number in their head they want to shoot that day, and it is easy to let that go after a couple of bad holes, but nobody did that this week,” Troftgruben said.

The Dogie girls also made their first scramble appearance of the year at Pine Haven, joining mixed teams with players from other schools to gain competitive experience. Preslee Fitzwater, Abigail Tacy and Addison Fitzwater all took part.

“I am really excited for the girls,” Troftgruben said. “All of the girls were very limited on golfing experience when they came out. We couldn’t guarantee any of them would even get to see a meet, because a player has to get to a certain level where they don’t interrupt the pace of play at the meet too bad. They all did really good.”

He said the girls settled in quickly once they got a feel for the format.

“They got split up and played on scramble teams with kids from different schools,” he said. “Once they got three or four holes into it, they were having fun and happy they did it.”

The day’s highlight came when Preslee Fitzwater’s scramble team won the event.

The Dogies now turn their attention to the postseason, with the 3A East Regional Tournament in Torrington on Thursday and Friday, followed by the 3A Boys and Girls State Golf Tournament in Cody the next week.

“We’ve got to come up with some money to pay for their meals and stuff while they are out there,” Troftgruben said. “Rooms are expensive at the end of tourist season and beginning of elk season.”

He added that community support has already been crucial in helping the program continue to grow.

“We’ve been getting donations because the program is self-funded,” he said, noting that additional contributions will be needed to support the team’s growth.