With special senior season on the horizon, Sullivan golfer gets creative while at home
SULLIVAN, Ill. (BVM) — Most golf courses across the country span several acres of land and play around 6,000 to 7,000 yards. But there is one course that was built in Sullivan, Ill. this spring which is a little bit different.
Drew Rogers is a golfer at Sullivan High School. Although boys golf is played in the fall in Illinois, Drew was still looking for a way to keep his game sharp over the spring. Since he could not play at any courses for over a month due to stay-at-home orders caused by COVID-19, Drew and his father, Troy, decided to get creative by building a golf course in their backyard.
Drew has been golfing ever since he received a kids set of clubs from his dad at 3 years old. He played a lot of sports growing up including swimming, soccer, baseball, and basketball, the latter of which he has continued to play throughout high school.
The soon-to-be senior really began getting serious with the game of golf during his middle school years, however. Drew grew up near Sullivan Country Club, where he began playing the game more and more with his dad. The golfer won the first tournament he ever played in at age 12 – the Decatur Junior Open – and before long, the 16-year-old had become a six to seven handicap golfer, regularly breaking 80 during 18-hole rounds.
Over the last three years, Drew has been an integral part of a successful Sullivan High School golf program. The team lost just one match during his freshman season but would fall short of the state tournament, losing in sectionals. But the Redskins have not lost a regular season match since, qualifying for state in both Drew’s sophomore and junior seasons.
The team has finished fifth and eleventh at state over the last two years. As the leader of this team, Drew placed sixth in sectionals and won regionals individually to help the Redskins to the second state appearance last fall. Clearly a dominant team within the state, Drew is proud of how the Sullivan golf program has been able to reach such heights.
“It’s obviously really cool and not many teams can say that in any sport,” Drew said about his team not losing a match since 2017. “I’m proud because we have built a golf program that can hopefully carry on to the future. We have just come together as brothers and have been able to have success.”
This fall, Drew will now be the senior leader of the team. As a sophomore, the 16-year-old looked up to then senior golfers Caden Ellis and Leighton Burcham, who Drew credits for helping him and the rest of the team see what it takes to succeed at this level mentally and physically.
“Caden was a really good player. He really showed me how hard you had to work to be good at this game and he really paved the path for the rest of us to keep this going. Leighton always helped me not be so down even if I was playing bad. He’s a really fun and positive guy and is also a really good player,” Drew said.
Although the 16-year-old is not necessarily known as a vocal leader, he is excited for the opportunity to take over the roles of those before him in his final year of golf at Sullivan.
“I’ve never been a real talkative leader, but this past year I really tried leading by example. I try to just keep us on track while still having fun. One of my goals in my senior year is to be a better leader and work on making my teammates better and not just myself,” Drew said.
The Redskins have a lot of potential once the golf season rolls around in the fall. Returning four players from last year’s state team, including their top three golfers who will all be seniors, Drew believes a top-five state finish is well within reach for Sullivan. He also personally hopes to qualify and finish in the top 10 individually at state.
But as we all know, the sports world took a complete turn in the spring due to COVID-19, and golf was among one of the sports most affected. Although courses were open for a few days in March when the weather got nicer, stay-at-home orders in the state of Illinois forced the shutdown of golf courses until May 1. For avid golfers like Drew, it was hard not being able to go play a round.
“It was real tough because I was thinking about playing all winter. I was finally able to go play again after basketball season ended but then everything happened. It was real frustrating but all you can do is push on,” Drew said.
To combat not being able to hit the links, Drew and his dad came up with an alternative idea – building a golf course in the backyard. It is something that Troy and his brothers did when they were young, and the difficulty of this pandemic was the perfect time to recreate it for the next generation.
The course, which the Rogers family calls ‘The Links at Centerfield,’ consists of 18 different holes which all finish at the same cup. There are several different tee boxes which play to holes of all levels of difficulty, including four par fives, six par fours, and eight par threes.
Being able to hold competition and play the backyard course not only gave the family something fun to do while having to stay at home, but it also helped Drew keep his skills sharp.
“I think it helped me keep a feel for the game quite a bit. I’d say I actually improved my chipping since playing out there. Obviously it’s really nice to get out of the house and do the thing I love despite being cooped up for a couple of weeks,” Drew said.
Obviously, the smaller proximity of the yard can create some tight spaces, with a few holes even running alongside the house. But, impressively, only Troy has hit the house so far. Thankfully no actual damage was done to it, but Troy has had to take the two-stroke penalty that comes along with hitting it.
The Rogers family will keep the possibility of playing the backyard course open in the future, potentially holding an annual tournament with family and friends. But with golf courses back open and in full swing, Drew can now improve his game at all levels for the future.
The 16-year-old has begun to visit colleges over the past year and will look to play collegiate golf. Drew plans to study business, with a specific interest in accounting. He is also intrigued by the PGA programs which are offered by many schools he has taken a look at so far. And of course, professional golf has certainly not been ruled out.
But first, the golfer has business to take care of with his teammates at Sullivan this fall. Based on the team’s run of success and development Drew continues to show, another state appearance for the Redskins and a high state finish for the rising senior seems well within reach.