Edgewood's Johnston earns county girls golfer of the year honor
Nov. 8—Annie Johnston's first love is probably basketball.
But when it came to banking on a sport that could help pay her way through college, the sophomore went with her brother's advice and picked up a golf club.
Jimmy Johnston is a freshman on the Heidelberg University golf team. When it came to giving his little sister some advice, big brother didn't hold back.
"He told me basketball is not going to get you anywhere in life," Annie Johnston said with a laugh. "If you want to play a sport in college, you should really try golf. I went out with him one time and it really hit, it was my thing."
It became 'her thing' pretty quickly, evidenced by this past season.
In just her second year of golfing, Johnston averaged a score of 88.2 for 18 holes and was a Division II district qualifier. She dropped seven shots from the previous year's average and has been named Ashtabula County Co-Golfer of the year, along with teammate Avery Vencill.
"It means a lot," Johnston said of the award. "It also is a reflection of my entire team, because I could not have done it without them. Whenever I had a bad hole, they'd always pick me up and they would always encourage me at practice."
Warriors coach Christina Fischer said Johnston got the golf bug immediately after last season, and her commitment to practice time, along with engagement in higher levels of competition, took her to a new level this fall.
"She really dedicated herself to the sport big time." Fischer said. "She participated in the NEO Future tour tournaments. She hit some courses that were more challenging.
"Just playing and competing, I think that made a huge difference in her game going into our season. She had success last year as a freshman, but just that different exposure around more quality golfers in the spring and early summer really elevated her game this year."
Johnston said she put in a lot of work to develop herself into a well-rounded player. One thing she learned was that if she doesn't get out of the tee box well, being versatile with other clubs can make up for that in a hurry.
"My drives were not the best," Johnston said. "But, coach talked to me about if you're not driving the best, you always have a couple of more strokes to make it up. Throughout the year I spent a lot of time working on my irons and my putting."
Johnston qualified to the district with an 85 at the Punderson District Tournament.
Once in the district tournament at JE Good Park in Akron, Johnston fired a round of 92, which lifted her season average a bit, but also gave her some motivation for the next two years.
"It was very tight and the greens had a lot of tricky slopes and cuts in them," Johnston said of the district course. "But, I have two more years and my goal is to get to the state meet."
Of course, she also remembers what her brother said the reason to play golf was.
"I really hope to play college golf one day," Johnston said. "I've been going to some of the meets with him and what they're shooting, I know I'm capable of."
