In golf, you have to check your pride at the door, according to Andrew Donner, the Steamboat Springs girls golf coach. 

The golf team sent all four of its regional players to the state championship for the first time in program history earlier this week. The Sailors tied for fifth place in Class 3A, a year removed from a third-place state performance. 

“Following up third with a fifth is really good,” Donner said. “These girls are at such a disadvantage compared to these other teams. The season technically starts at the end of February when we’re in the middle of ski season.”

The girls begin the season hitting into nets in the high school wrestling room. They occasionally have the opportunity to train at indoor simulators around town, but without swinging clubs on grass until April, it is nearly impossible to get a true feel for the game. 

On Sunday, the girls traveled to Boomerang Golf Links in Greeley for a practice round ahead of the state championship rounds Monday and Tuesday. 

After avoiding some gnarly tornado warnings and threatening weather, the girls managed to get their first looks at the course. Donner said the team was not there to play a round of golf, but instead learn the course. 

“You’re just trying to figure out what you’re going to hit off the tee and a lot of chipping and putting,” he explained. Other things to look for are the “speeds of the greens, how firm the greens are, how the ball is reacting when it hits the greens, especially on chip shots or from 50-yards and in.” 

It was a challenging first round for the girls Monday, battling high winds and a tricky course. Senior Kaitlyn Grommeck managed a birdie on both the front and back-9 holes, shooting an 84. 

Junior Katharina Cosby equaled that score, managing to limit big numbers on her scorecard with nine pars. 

Donner said that while the girls struggled to find the hole and left several shots on the course in the first round, they came back with a great mentality on Day 2. 

The girls managed to brush off bogeys on Tuesday, coming back hungry for a par on the next hole. Cosby managed an eagle, birdie punch on the third and fourth hole to go 3-under-par through the first five holes. 

She closed the day out shooting a 79, for sixth place in the state from her combined round scores. Right behind was Grommeck with an 82 to place eighth in the state.

Maddy Moline’s scores of 104 and 106 were good for 52nd place as an individual. Brynn Becker shot a 119 and 100 for 65th.

Steamboat’s performance was strong enough to take fifth and defeat Severance, the top team from the regional championship last week. 

Donner said this is as talented a golf team as he has ever coached, and he looks forward to working with the returnees next year. 

“Golf is not an easy game and the best players shine when it’s the hardest, and I thought our girls did a great job (at state),” he said.

Results
2025 CHSAA State Golf
Boomerang Golf Links

Team Top-10 — 1. Holy Family, 476; 2. Mullen, 507; 3. Lutheran, 519; 4. Northridge, 528; 5. Steamboat Springs, 533; 5. Berthoud, 533; 7. Severance, 561; 7. Littleton, 561; 9. Palmer Ridge, 577; 10. Palisade, 602.

Individual Sailors Scores — 6. Katharina Cosby, 163 (+19); 8. Kaitlyn Grommeck, 166 (+22); 52. Maddy Moline, 210 (+66); 65. Brynn Becker, 219 (+75).