FRUITPORT – Golf is obviously a very difficult game, and top high school competitors don’t reach their level of success by accident.

Most have been out on the courses with older players since they were small, learning the sport slowly and naturally.

But that was not the case for Fruitport’s Mylee Mineni.

When she took up the sport as a freshman, she had never played competitive golf in her life, or ever really thought about doing so.

Then an older friend on the Fruitport girls varsity team encouraged her to try the sport and come out for the squad, so she gave it a try.

Two years later, she’s playing like a kid who’s been out on the greens and driving ranges since kindergarten.

On Friday, Mineni set a new Fruitport girls 18-hole record with a score of 82 at the Rocket Invitational at Lincoln Golf Course, hosted by Reeths-Puffer. Her 38 score in the first part of the tournament also set a nine-hole school record.

Mineni finished in fifth place in the tournament and won the second tournament medal of her varsity career.

It was a pretty cool accomplishment for someone who was a very raw beginner just 24 months ago.

“I was just driving in the fairway, my shots were right on, I didn’t have any terrible holes, and my putts were right on,” said Mineni, who will now test her skills against all of Muskegon County’s top players at Wednesday’s Greater Muskegon Athletic Association Tournament. “I was really excited. It caught me off guard.”

Fruitport coach Brenda Hansen said Mineni finally put her game all together on Friday.

“She played really, really well,” Hansen said. “She wasn’t stressing about one or two bad shots, and that’s all she had. She still has her moments when she is emotional about a bad shot, but now she realizes that even if she shanks one, she has the ability to recover and be just fine.”   

Friday was not the first time Mineni played well at the high school level. She took to the game quickly and has been Fruitport’s top golfer for the past two seasons.

She has actually been shooting really well this season – consistently in the 46-49 range over nine holes – but finished just outside the top 10 at several tournaments before her breakthrough performance at the Rocket Invitational.

“Very much so,” Mineni said, when asked if her not-quite-good-enough outings were starting to get frustrating. “I think I was just worried about every shot. I just struggled. Friday put me in a really good place. Now I know I can have bad holes and still come out good. I can see that I can still shoot pars and birdies.”

Mineni became so good so fast because she loved the sport right away and threw herself into it.

She has taken lessons from college coaches and local pros. She practices a lot with her older brother. She plays a lot during the spring, summer and fall, whenever the weather allows it.

Now all of that work, crammed into two short years, is starting to produce results.

“I gave up volleyball, which I played for a very long time,” she said. “I have no regrets about that. I know I want to play golf in college, so I have to work extra hard.”

While the physical part of the game has come along quickly for Mineni, she admits it was the mental challenge that was tripping her up.

“The last couple of years were definitely a struggle,” she said. “I was new to it. I didn’t know much about what I was supposed to do, but now I realize that’s it’s a mental game, and that’s helped me improve a lot.

“I used to worry about every single shot, but (Friday) put me in a really good place. I know I can have bad holes and still come out good. It’s the game of golf, and I just have to remember that. You’re going to have good shots and bad shots.”

Mineni has a little more pressure on her than other high school players, because she’s the top golfer on a shorthanded team. Fruitport only had four girls come out for golf this season, sometimes shoots with only three, and often does not qualify for the full team competition.  

That means Mineni’s performance pretty much dictates what kind of day the Trojans have in any given event.

But Mineni welcomes the extra pressure and does not ignore the team element of the sport. As a team captain, she says she tries to keep an eye on her teammates and help any way she can.

She said all of her teammates – Tatum Anderson, Lily Borntreger and Colby Thurston – have shown definite signs of improvement this season.

“That’s something I’ve been working on this year, trying to help the other girls a little bit,” she said. “I was in the same boat in my freshman year and the older girls helped me.”