Columbus North’s Joseph Perkins is The Republic Boys Golfer of the Year. He is pictured at The Republic in Columbus, Ind., Wednesday, June 26, 2024.
It’s not about how you start, it’s more about how you finish.
That was the case for Columbus North junior Joseph Perkins, who played his best golf at the tail end of the season. He won the Greensburg Sectional championship in a playoff, and then had the lowest score for the Bull Dogs at the Providence Regional competition.
The main thing Perkins mentioned that helped improve his golf game this year was maintaining his mental focus.
“The biggest for me was just keeping it together. In previous years, if I had a bad hole or hit a bad shot, I kind of let it get to me, and then it ruins the rest of the round,” said Perkins, who is The Republic Boys Golfer of the Year. “This year, I just told myself that I’d stop doing that. If I had a bad hole, I told myself to do good on the next one and keep pushing through and staying with it. It resulted really well because some of my best rounds this year had some of my worst holes.”
The Bull Dogs went through a major lineup change this year after four seniors in the starting lineup from last year graduated.
After playing mostly JV last season, it meant the perfect opportunity for Perkins to show the coaching staff that he was one of the main guys this year.
“I think honestly, it was just being a good leader because we had a lot of young guys this year, a lot of freshmen, and if the older kids are loud and disrespectful, the team kind of collapses,” Perkins said. “I think it’s being a good leader and staying positive through stuff. You can still have a good time, but you’ve got to set the tone, then everybody works better together and gets better results.”
Perkins finished the season with a 39.4 average per nine holes played. He shot 74 in the sectional and won in a three-way playoff on the first hole when he scored a birdie. He also led the team in the regional with a 76.
“Joseph is a hard worker. Going back from last year to the start of this year, it was obvious he worked really hard on his game,” North coach Doug Bieker said. “In the middle of the season, I think he stopped trying to be perfect. It’s great trying to get better, but sometimes golfers want to always change things and always want to try new things. In the middle of the year, Joseph committed to playing with the swing and the game he had at that time. Once he committed himself to accepting what he had to work with, he scored better, and his game got better.”
Perkins is weighing his options on whether he wants to pursue college golf because he runs a successful business called Perkins Property Service, which keeps him pretty busy in his time away from the golf course. He believes running the business and playing golf is going to consume a lot of time that he doesn’t have once he graduates high school.
“I’m stuck in a hard place if I want to do college golf because I run a pretty successful business and I’m doing outstanding with that,” Perkins said. “I would like to play golf in college, but it’s a huge time commitment. It’s a big financial responsibility, and so I haven’t really decided yet. If I get some good offers and everything aligns, then maybe the college path is a path I’ll take.”
Perkins still has another year before making his next big decision. He’s proud to see all of his time he spent improving his game over the last year pay off for him this past season.
“As far as the season goes, this is obviously my best ever. It was a fun ride. It was a good time talking to coach a whole lot,” Perkins said. “It goes back to the leadership stuff. This year, when we went to regional, we had everybody with us. I feel like the team just had a lot of good chemistry this year. I never showed up to practice and dreaded it because it was always a good time.”
With almost the entire team coming back next year and adding an entire year of varsity experience, Perkins and the Bull Dogs will have their eyes set for bigger results.
Bieker hopes Perkins continues to improve his game in order for the team to get to the next level.
“That’s the concern when somebody gets a whole lot better that they just stop working at their game, they stop playing tournaments and they stop really trying to get better,” Bieker said. “Next year, this team has a great chance to improve on this year, and he’s going to be a big part of that. I think Joseph is going to keep working hard, and I look for bigger and better things from him next year, for sure.”
The 2024 Republic All-Area Boys Golf team:
Joseph Perkins, Columbus North: The junior averaged 39.4 per nine holes and was sectional medalist.
Brady Schneider, Columbus North: The junior averaged 38.5 per nine holes played.
Austin Perry, Columbus North: The freshman averaged 40.3 per nine holes played.
Carter Greene, Columbus East: The junior averaged 39.1 per nine holes played.
Pierce Arnholt, Columbus East: The senior averaged 39.8 per nine holes played
Ben Luedeke, Columbus East: The senior averaged 40.9 per nine holes played.
Jake Grider, Jennings County: The senior averaged 39.6 per nine holes played.
Davey Shaw, Jennings County: The junior averaged 40.3 per nine holes played.
Hunter Pappano, Hauser: The junior averaged 40.8 per nine holes played.
Honorable mention:
Brown County: Wesley Arndt, Clay Austin. Columbus East: Mason Reeves, Keaton Stephenson. Columbus North: Carter Battin, Alex Clark, Tyler Dillingham, Luke Friend. Edinburgh: Wyatt Burton. Jennings County: Jack George, Aaron Lewis, Eli Simmons.
