Putting is not something Brooke Graebe enjoys practicing. It’s kind of boring standing there, staring at a little white ball as it slowly rolls into the cup.
The Yorba Linda junior would rather be on the driving range, watching a 250-yard drive fly off into the distance.
But her dad doesn’t dig the long ball. So Graebe putts and putts and putts some more. She’s not even allowed to her listen her iPod while she does it.
“When they start letting you listen to music on the course,” her father, Ron Graebe, said, “then it will be OK.”
His persistence to keep her on the putting green has paid great dividends. She drained a 30-foot birdie putt in the WSCGA So Cal Championships to help her clinch her second consecutive trip to the CIF State Championships.
“A lot of my success is because of (her father). I love working with him,” said Graebe, who has been selected the Register’s Girls Golfer of the Year. “We really push each other hard out there (on the course), and I think that has gotten me to where I am today.”
All of the hard work has showed up on her scorecard.
Related:
2013 All-County girls golf team
2013 girls golf coach of the year: Jerry Cowgill, Troy
This past season she fired a 6-under 30 and a
5-under 31 on the front nine at Black Golf Club. She posted a 2-under 70 at Western Hills Country Club to win the Empire League Championship. She tied for third at the WSCGA So Cal Championship with a 2-under 70. And she carded a
3-over 74 to tie for eighth in the CIF State Championships at Quail Lodge Golf Course in Carmel.
That was a nine-shot improvement over her last trip to the state tournament.
“I love competing, and I knew where I had to be (at state) and love working hard at it,” Graebe said. “My goal was to get back to state. I knew I could do better, and I was really happy with my finish. It was an honor being there and I tried to take all of the moments in.”
Looking at those numbers and her 71.6 average in her postseason individual tournaments makes it difficult to believe she took up golf just four years ago after getting burned out playing softball for the Batbusters U-12 team.
“I think (her success) just comes down to my work ethic,” she said. “I knew I had to work hard to catch up to all of the other girls.”
Her father said he didn’t want to guide her toward a sport, but he was hoping she would change her mind and stick with softball.
The Batbusters were coming off a national championship and she was already getting letters from colleges. But Graebe is getting noticed in her new sport, too, with 10 colleges expressing an interest in having her on their golf team.
“I have been practicing a lot … I still have some catching up to do,” Graebe said. “And with all of that practice comes confidence. Confidence is key on the golf course.”
