Winter in the Midwest is never easy on golfers.
Fortunately, for Lexi Kilcoin and other junior players around the South Bend area, the Lifestyle Junior Golf Tour hosted several indoor tournaments on the simulators at The Blarney Stone.
That allowed Kilcoin to continue to develop her swing as she waited for the spring season to arrive.
“It went really well,” Kilcoin said of the winter indoor season. “I had been improving tremendously. I was shooting even par or a couple over par, and of course, I had a couple bad rounds here and there, but overall I have improved tremendously. I definitely think every week has been a good plan for improving.”
Kilcoin’s low score during the tour was a 35 and she also shot 36, 37, 39 twice and 40 twice.
In addition to the indoor tournaments, Kilcoin took advantage of the few unseasonably warm days to hit the outdoor range.
Playing indoors against other top junior players allowed Kilcoin to fine-tune her short game and also to develop the mental focus she’ll need to compete at a high level this fall.
“These are all girls that practice as hard as I do and they are all in their No. 1 or No. 2 spots at school,” she said. “It makes you, not that you’re directly playing with them, but it makes you better because they’re there and I know they are just as good as I am so it makes me want to work harder. It really helps you focus.”
Another benefit to playing indoors this winter, Kilcoin and her St. Joseph High School teammates spent time together bonding and working toward their goal of qualifying for the state tournament next season.
“Playing with my teammates helped me get better and helped the team as a whole because we’re working on our goal of getting to state,” Kilcoin said. “Seeing the commitment that the girls are coming every weekend and committing two hours of their Saturday shows that they’re committed to helping the team and themselves improve.”
During a recent run of warm weather, Kilcoin hit the range and was pleased with the improvements in her own chipping and pitching.
“I have improved so much,” she said. “I went outside the other day, of course, my long shots still need some practice because indoor doesn’t help you work on that as much, but I was outside the other day and my chipping around the greens was really, really good. Overall, I think you always need to improve on putting, but I really need to get my driver fine-tuned because it’s hard to use it in a simulator so I haven’t been practicing with that as much. I need to keep working on that before the season and as the weather gets warmer.”
Spring has arrived but the weather hasn’t quite cooperated.
Once it warms up and courses dry out, Kilcoin plans to spend as much time as possible on the area courses preparing for her senior year this fall.
In the meantime, she’ll continue to fine-tune her swing using the SWINGYDE Swing Trainer, a golf club attachment designed to create correct golf swing positions.
“There’s a certain drill I’ve been doing and it’s helped so much,” Kilcoin said. “I use it every night. It’s a simple attachment to your club to help your swing and it’s helped drop my scores like crazy. You swing back and it helps you stop where you need to stop and then you can maximize all your power.”
Kilcoin also plans to volunteer at Unity Gardens this spring.