Anderson Driving It to State
Friday October 7th and 8th is a day Josh Anderson will remember forever. He competed in the Illinois High School Association 2A State Championship, which was hosted by Weibring Golf Club in Bloomington IL. Anderson shot an 82 the first day, he struggled mainly with controlling his swing with how hard the wind was blowing that day. Josh came back the second day with a better mindset and was able to take ten strokes off his score for a total of 72.
“After the first day, I went out the second day with a new mindset of grinding it out no matter how bad it looks. I learned from the first day how to manage my ball in the wind and I ended up shooting a 72 the second day and moved up 44 places and was 21st overall in state,” Anderson said
Overall Josh was disappointed with his first day score and felt the wind had a big part in why he couldn’t get anything started that day. But he knew that he could have a chance of making it to the second day as long as he kept fighting. Golf is a special sport in which once you approach your next shot, that’s the only one that counts. Josh knows that once he hits a bad tee shot or misses a putt, that he can recover well and make the next shot better than the last.
Anderson had many supporters throughout this season, one being his head coach Mr. Brain Kelly, “coach Kelly has been one of the most influential people I have ever been coached by and I have learned so much about how to bounce back from bad moments,” This was Kelly’s first year as a head golf coach and he is definitely making his mark on his athletes.
When talking with Kelly he mentioned “Josh is going to leave a legacy of excellence,” said head coach Kelly. He also mentioned Anderson came into this season with the goal of making it to state and how he was going to work extremely hard to get there “Mentally, he had a goal of making state and stayed focused on that all season. He understood that one shot would never make or break his round and did a fantastic job of never letting a hole get the best of him.”
As Josh’s season came to an end he was awarded MVP for 3 seasons in a row and plans to play golf while he is attending college.