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There are different ways to prepare for a round of golf.

Some take a bucket of balls and head to the driving range. They want to be warmed up and prepared for the 18-hole test that awaits them.

Yep, in preparing for our first Press vs. Preps assignment, a man has got to eat, right? Well, different strokes for different folks, I suppose.

That wasn’t the only difference between the guys who cover the athletes and the athletes themselves when it comes to playing on the golf course.

I was looking forward to this Preps vs. Press Challenge more than any other this summer. First, I play golf at a decent level. I’m not great, but I’m definitely not terrible. And it’s the sport I still play on an occasional basis.

So when Bill Knust, the Sun Tribune sports writer, and myself got Liberty High’s Devin Montague and Park Hill’s Ethan Calvert — both state qualfiers — to meet us at Shoal Creek Golf Course to play a round of golf, there was some genuine anticipation about what would happen.

Could we hang with some of the best high school players in the state?

When we arrived at the course (after some pretty sweet chicken legs, I might add), we couldn’t find our high schoolers.

Perfect, I thought. They aren’t taking this seriously.

But then, we walked around to the back of the clubhouse. And from that moment on, I knew we were in trouble.

There they were on the practice range, getting ready to inflict some serious pain on some out-of-shape sportswriters.

They take their games seriously. They don’t miss around.

Rats.

The format was pretty simple. Bill and I would scramble for a score while Montague and Calvert would each play their own ball.

And it was evident early that we had absolutely no chance to be in any way competitive.

Both of them were coming off their spring seasons and they were in top form. The thing that impressed me the most was their length off the tee. Montague and Calvert easily hit it 50 yards past us on each hole.

Another thing that was great to observe was their drive to succeed. This wasn’t just another round of golf.

You got the sense that every time they played, they viewed it as a chance to get better.

And yet, at the same time, they had a lot of fun. They had a great time competing.

The two knew each other pretty well through years of playing against each other and it showed. There was quite a bit of laughter in-between some great shots.

Calvert, a senior, beat Montague, a junior, by a stroke at the Class 4 state tourney. And both played well in their rematch.

While the Knust-

Goodwin pairing carved up the course for a 44 on the front nine, Montague shot an even-par 36, a score that could have been much better if he could have dropped some medium-range putts.

Calvert had some problems early with his driver, but quickly solved them to shoot a 41.

On the back nine, the Knust-Goodwin tandem split up and I played some pretty bad golf. I was in enough sand to build an ornate sand castle and struggled home with a 48.

It was not my finest hour.

Devin and Ethan were solid and consistent. Calvert fired a 36 to finish with a 77 and Montague had a 37 to post a 2-over-par score of 73.

It was a true pleasure watching some players who really know what they are doing navigate around a challenging golf course.

What they did wasn’t easy, but they made it look that way. And that is the sign of a great athlete.

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