Freshman Kyle Templeton once cracked a man’s head open with a golf club.

“I was swinging a club one day, and hit my neighbor in the head with the club. It split his head open,” Templeton said.

Of course, this happened before the HHS number one seeded golfer gained the experience and skill that has propelled him from basically a beginning golfer to the number one seed for the high school golf team in just three years.

Templeton began playing golf at the age of seven with the help of his father. He played for about a year, then quit the game for three years. Three years later he picked up the game again, playing regular at Lakeview Golf Course under the guidance of golf instructor John Rodgers.

“I just wanted to do something different again,” Templeton said.

This past year, and summer especially, Templeton has been practicing for the high school season, playing in tournaments all over the state. He played in the First Citizen’s Junior Golf Tour, in which he was points leader, and the Lakeview Junior Tour with fellow HHS team member, freshman Matthew Shifflet.

“I’ve worked a pretty good amount, been working on my mental game a lot,” Templeton said.

Templeton, Shifflet, and sophomore Troupe Armentrout rotated at the first seed, but after posting a 69 at Heritage Oaks Golf Course (on a day that the team posted a combined score of 291), Templeton became the permanent first seed.

With his scoring average in the low seventies, last years individual district champion, Spotswood number one seed Robbie Failes, is in jeopardy of losing his title. In fact, until this season Failes had never individually come in second in a district match, but both Templeton and Armentrout have beaten him this season.

As for the District and Regional tournaments, Templeton is optimistic about the teams chances.

“I think we have a chance for the top three [at Regionals],” Templeton said.

However, if the entire team does not qualify for states, he would like to qualify as an individual.

“I’m going to work hard and get better before Regionals, so that I can shoot a good score and help my team out,” Templeton said.

When this season is over, Templeton plans on playing golf at least three to four times per week. However, he has baseball to look forward to in the spring, so he will not be able to practice as much then as he may like.

“I like golf better, baseball’s getting kind of old,” Templeton said.

When next summer rolls around, he plans on playing almost every day at Lakeview in preparation for next years golf season.

“I think [being one seed] is great for him, he’s getting a lot of good experience, and that will help him out throughout his high school golf career,” Armentrout said.

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