s tu d e nt s pot l i ght by Maisie Fitzmaurice Photos courtesy of Justin Warner
Playing Under Par Rising junior golfer at Coffman is already a standout player
At the end of the 2022 season, Dublin Coffman golfer Luke Warner earned an Ohio Capital Conference honorable mention and landed in the top 20-some golfers in the state. For a sophomore, it was an impressive finish. And he’s just getting started. 34 • August/September 2022
Coming from the Sells Middle School golf team, Warner immediately gained attention for his chops on the fairway. He earned a spot on Coffman’s varsity golf team as a freshman, a rare feat for the highly competitive team. “He’s a very good player,” coach Scott Sutherland says. “As a freshman, his length that he hits, it really helped him because usually what holds freshmen back – and sophomores, younger golfers – is they just can’t keep up with the distance of the older players,” he says. Aside from technical skills, Sutherland says Warner is a great player to coach due to his outgoing personality and willingness to accept feedback to improve his skills. “One thing I like about Luke is he likes to talk through a lot of golf shots with me and that’s not always the case,” Sutherland says. “Some golfers like to just stay to themselves, play their game.” But his positivity on the course isn’t the only thing that gives him a competitive edge. Warner does his homework before he even picks up a club, often studying information about the course and the competition. “You want to come into it with a game plan,” Warner says. “I’ll go on to Google Earth and kind of map out some yardages on there just to see what I want to hit off the tee, maybe see where I want to leave myself with layup shots and stuff like that.”
Still, Warner says he isn’t immune to the pressure of big tournaments. He says staying focused on the game is important to playing his best. “It’s definitely mentally draining,” Warner says. “You’re out there for about four and a half hours playing in a tournament and you’re only hitting the ball for about 15 minutes of the four hours. So you really just have to stay present in the moment and just focus on your game.” Warner says his first state tournament was particularly nerve-racking for him. “I’ve never been in that environment,” Warner says. “Just all those people around the first tee watching, you getting your name called, and that big of a tournament – I’ve just never had that before.” Changing His Swing Warner didn’t always aspire to be a golfer. Up until this past season he was actual-
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