LIVE OAK — Prior to the high school golf season even starting, Suwannee coach Damon Wooley had a good feeling that his son Dawson was about to take another step forward.
During a conversation over the summer, Dawson Wooley — the Reporter’s reigning Boys Golfer of the Year — told his dad that he didn’t want golf to define who he was.
“I think up until that point he felt so much pressure to win everything or do the best and always try to be perfect because he has that personality,” Damon Wooley said. “I think he realized that golf wasn’t life. I think that lifted a burden off him, to go out there and pay a little freer.”
That growth on the mental side of the game, as well as the freed up play that it released, helped Wooley repeat as the Reporter’s Boys Golfer of the Year after leading the Bulldogs back to the Class 2A state tournament.
“I just handled the mental aspect of the game better this year than I probably did last year,” he added.
There is still more room for growth there from Wooley though.
Call it a slide or a relapse or whatever you want, late in the regular season, Wooley didn’t mentally handle a tough day on the course very well.
At a home meet at Suwannee Country Club with Columbia and Belmont Academy, the in-team competition to top one another and be the low scorer caught up with Wooley. Heading into the last hole at 2-under and in a battle to take the low honors among the Bulldogs, Wooley had an errant shot off the tee and it didn’t get better from there.
Soon enough, Wooley went from 2-under to 1-over and the frustration was about to boil over.
After finishing out the round, the frustrated Wooley went to bang the bottom of his shoe with his putter.
But a mishit left part of the putter slamming into his toe, which broke.
“To say I was mad was an understatement,” Damon Wooley said, noting he held his son out of play for two weeks to let it heal.
It also offered a valuable teaching lesson for Wooley, who led a deep Suwannee team with an area-best 37.4 nine-hole average.
“I told him what he did was selfish,” Damon Wooley added. “Not only did he hurt himself but he hurt the team. That his actions affects everyone else.
“That probably taught him more about golf and life in general than just having a great round.”
It was a lesson learned.
“I learned not to get too worked up about things, which I’ve been working on for a long time,” Wooley said. “I guess when I crossed over that point, it helped me manage my mental game much better because I realized…there are consequences.
“The main takeaway from that is it taught me even when you’re having a bad day, it’s not the end all, be all. It’s still a game. You’re meant to be out there having fun. It’s not worth damaging clubs, damaging your body.”
Once Wooley got back, he made up for lost time as he helped Suwannee back to its goal of playing at state as a team. While the Bulldogs didn’t repeat as district champions, the team kept advancing through the playoffs, even earning an at-large state bid despite a fourth-place finishing in a deep Region 1 field.
Wooley, after finishing sixth individually at the district tournament with a 74, matched that score at the region tournament where he tied for third. He then tied for a team-best 12th place finish at the state tournament at Mission Inn Resort + Club in Howey-in-the-Hills.
Suwannee, as a team, placed 11th at the state tournament, its best finish after two straight years of placing 14th.
It was one of the highlights of the year for Wooley, along with Suwannee winning the Ann and John Ives Invitational and having a great day at the Big Bend Championship.
Wooley tied for second at the Big Bend, ninth at the Ives Invitational and also was the medalist twice.
Still, perhaps the most memorable round Wooley played this year also came even before the high school season began.
Shortly after having that conversation with his dad about not letting golf define him, his grandfather, Johnny Wooley passed away in early July. The following week, Wooley was supposed to play in a tournament at Hawkstone Country Club as part of the Gainesville Junior Tour.
He hadn’t practiced for a couple of weeks and wasn’t sure he should play.
Damon Wooley told him it would probably be good for him. It would get his mind off the hard times the family was going through.
“There’s no expectation, just go have fun,” Damon Wooley recalled telling Dawson.
He went out and shot the lowest score he’s ever had in a tournament.
When his dad asked how that happened, what made the difference in the great score, it turned out to be the change that Dawson Wooley already had made mentally.
“He goes, ‘Yeah, honestly I wasn’t even thinking about golf today. At all. I didn’t care what my swing looked like. There was no pressure to make any score. It was just to play golf,’” Damon Wooley recalled.
Dawson Wooley added: “It’s what my grandpa would have liked me to do. That’s what I was thinking. ‘I’ll go play and have fun and what happens, happens. If I shoot 100, whatever.’ I went out there and didn’t play with any pressure. Just relied on my abilities to carry me through it.”
That, and possibly one other thing, according to Damon Wooley.
“I also said I think there was a bigger power helping you swing that club today, Pops was looking down on you,” Damon Wooley said. “I think he played this season for something (bigger than himself).”
ALL-AREA TEAM
Dawson Wooley
Suwannee, junior
The LCR’s two-time Boys Golfer of the Year led the Bulldogs back to state with an area-best 37.4 nine-hole average, tying for a team-best 12th at the Class 2A state tournament. It capped off a postseason where he placed sixth at the District 2-2A tournament with a 74 before tying for third at the Region 1 tournament with a 74. He also tied for second at the Big Bend Championship, tied for ninth at the Ann and John Ives Invitational, and was a medalist twice.
Carter Cannon
Suwannee, senior
Posted a 37.7 nine-hole average, tying for third at the District 2-2A tournament with a 73, tying for 14th at the Region 1 tournament with a 76 and tying for 18th at the Class 2A state tournament. Also placed third at the Ann and John Ives Invitational and was a medalist twice.
Ty Hurst
Suwannee, junior
Posted a 38.9 nine-hole average, tying for ninth at the District 2-2A tournament with a 76, tying for 24th at the Region 1 tournament with a 78 and tying for 70th at the Class 2A state tournament. Also tied for fourth at the Ann and John Ives Invitational and was a three-time medalist.
Gavin Barnes
Lafayette, senior
Led the Hornets with a 38.5 nine-hole average, tying for sixth at the District 3-1A tournament with a 76 and tying for 23rd at the Region 1 tournament with a 78. Also tied for fifth at 1A Public School Championship and was a five-time medalist.
Cooper Kerby
Lafayette, 7th grade
Posted a 38.8 nine-hole average, tied for third at the District 3-1A tournament with a 75, and finished 54th at Region 1 tournament with an 88. Also placed fourth at 1A Public School Championship and was a three-time medalist.
COACH OF THE YEAR
Damon Wooley, Suwannee
His Bulldogs won the Ann and John Ives Invitational, placed third at the Big Bend Championship and had a 9-1 record in non-tournament matches. In the postseason, Suwannee posted a runner-up finish at the District 2-2A tournament and a fourth-place finish at the Region 1-2A tournament before ending the season placing 11th at the Class 2A state tournament.