Incoming freshman golfer Lyla Hampton from South soaks in her one-stroke victory over North freshman Brady Collins to win Lochmoor Club’s Junior Club Championship this summer. Photo courtesy of Shaun Hampton
The 2022 girls golf seasons have teed off at South and North. The Grosse Pointe News is taking an inside look at what each team hopes to achieve this season.
South
Grosse Pointe South’s girls varsity golf team regularly experienced the sweet taste of victory last season and are poised this fall to repeat that winning formula and then some.
As last season’s MAC Red regular season co-champions and outright MAC Red tournament champs, the Blue Devils have a strong core on their eight-player roster, something around which head coach Shaun Hampton hopes to build the team.
Top players leading this year’s squad are senior Charlotte Peabody, along with junior Cate Hampton and freshman sensation Lyla Hampton — both of whom happen to be the third-year coach’s daughters.
Cate Hampton comes into the season with great momentum after winning the Junior Girls Club Championship at Detroit Golf Club this summer. She also was the team’s Blue Devil/MVP last season.
“Cate is calm and things are coming together for her in the right way,” Hampton said.
Her younger sister, Lyla, who has the lowest handicap on the team, is hot off the heels of winning Lochmoor Club’s overall Junior Club Championship this summer. She beat incoming Grosse Pointe North freshman Brady Collins to capture the prestigious trophy.
“Golf is such an individual sport, but your individual score matters to your teammates. … My hope for Lyla is that she plays for her team and does what she is capable of,” he said. “It’s just a matter of having it click over (to that).”
The strength of play at the top is something Hampton wants to see trickle down and permeate the entire roster. Should that happen, he said, this group has the chance to make some noise in the state tournament.
“We need four players to show up in regionals to qualify for states, with a Top 3 finish to qualify as a team for states,” he said. “If we show continuous improvement and build up for peak golf in the first few weeks of October, then that puts us in position to do some really great things.”
Hampton points to a few secret weapons the team has in place as the season starts. First, the team’s home course is Lochmoor Club. The team alternates three practices a week at Lochmoor with two at the Country Club of Detroit. Practicing close to home on familiar courses can only serve as an advantage to his team, he said.
His strong assistant coaching staff will help on the course as well.
Ryan Allemon, an accomplished amateur golfer out of Lochmoor Club, serves as an assistant, along with Samantha Troyanovich, a professional golfer on the Epson Tour, the official qualifying tour of the LPGA.
Troyanovich is on medical leave due to injury this year, so when Hampton heard the news, he jumped at the chance to add this asset to his staff.
“It’s been awesome,” Hampton said. “Our putting and ball contact has improved, along with all of the stuff she has been working on with the girls.”
Now, as the regular season has teed off, the Blue Devils already are off to a good start by beating Dakota by four strokes last week, despite only having five players due to injury, illness and an unexpected root canal.
For the next several weeks, the team will continue facing formidable competition in the always-tough MAC Red, including Dakota, Eisenhower and Port Huron Northern, the team that looks to be the one to beat.
“(Port Huron Northern) is usually our toughest competition, but my goal is to beat all of them,” Hampton said.
Along with the Hampton sisters and Peabody, this year’s roster includes Tenley Stiyer, Charlotte Glasser, Mattia Palazzola, Ella Telegadas and Savannah Santoro.
North
With only three returning players and six girls in total, the Grosse Pointe North girls varsity golf team is working to build its team strength from the bottom up. Head coach Greg Normand has high hopes for the season and is impressed with the improvements he has seen from the team thus far, but is looking for a few more experienced players. Normand is required to score four team members in each match, meaning one of the three brand new players must be included.
“We are looking for a few more young ladies to come out and play,” Normand said. “We’re a young and inexperienced team so it’ll be interesting to see what transpires.”
Three-year starter Rita Shemmai is the player to watch on this year’s roster. Normand has seen great improvement from Shemmai in past seasons and knows that she works hard to improve her game, both on her own and through observation as a caddie at Lochmoor Club. He believes that she will be a state qualifier and sees her taking the sport past high school.
“I think she’s going to do really well,” Normand said. “I honestly believe she can go to college and play. She has always had a good long game, she hits the ball well and she’s worked hard.”
Due to the lack of experienced players, the team’s number one goal is not to take home gold. Each day, they work to establish the group culture that they want going forward. Normand strives to build players that will use the skills they have been taught to continue the sport throughout their lifetime.
“Whether we shoot 50, 60 or 190, I hope these guys have a good time,” Normand said. “Really the only goal I ever have is that these young ladies are going to be playing golf when they’re 25 and 30.”
While their biggest competition is themselves, Normand and the six members of the team will face a number of strong competitors throughout the season. They are up against Grosse Pointe South on Sept. 14.