All-Region Golfer of the Year: Jade Haylock, Leavitt

Jade Haylock enjoyed the high school golf season this fall.

The Leavitt junior also made a sport that many struggle with look easy, shooting a nine-hole average score of 37 and winning her third straight Class B individual girls state championship. She also has been chosen as the Sun Journal All-Region Golfer of the Year for the second straight season.

“My game came together towards the end and I had a lot of fun this fall,” Haylock said, “and my golf team made me look forward to practice and going out to play with my friends on the team. I think enjoying the game and being excited to go out to practice helped out a lot. I just had a great mindset: I would shoot low scores, and that would only bring confidence into the next tournament that I had, thinking I can shoot a low score.”

Leavitt’s Jade Haylock chips out of a bunker during the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference golf qualifier Oct. 3 at Natanis Golf Course in Vassalboro. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

She was the low medalist in nine of the Hornets’ 11 regular season matches, and her scoring average is two strokes better than it was in 2022.

Jade said going low throughout the season is a result of adding 15-20 yards to her tee shot from 2022, along with spending time in the gym. She also added more shot types to her arsenal, like a knockdown shot, which helps control the ball’s flight.

Her coach and father, Harry Haylock, said Jade is learning to think her way around the course.

“She has jumped one more level as far as her development and engagement of the game,” Harry Haylock said. “She understands what needs to happen on the golf course in order to be successful. That’s just not in tournament play, but in practices being more focused and having a goal.”

Jade said she enjoyed teaching the sport to the Hornets’ newcomers, such as Zach Wallingford and Thomas Pratt.

“For the most part, they were very open to any changes or any info that we had to give them,” Jade Haylock said. “They would go out there and devote time to it. You can see how excited they were to go out and practice.”

Leavitt’s Jade Haylock lines up her next shot during the Class B golf state championships in October at Natanis Golf Course in Vassalboro. David Leaming photo

Jade understood team success would be a little more difficult in 2023 after losing some key team members of the 2022 Class B state championship team, and she tried to not put too much pressure on herself this season.

“I didn’t put too much pressure on myself,” Jade Haylock said. “I know it’s definitely a team event and we are all going out there and trying our best. I went out there thinking we might not do our best, but I am going to go out there and shoot a good score and we will see what happens.”

Jade Haylock did her best to get the Hornets into the state championship at the KVAC qualifier — she shot a 5-under-par 67 for 18 holes at Natanis’ Arrowhead Course.

The round, however, didn’t get off to a hot start.

“I started out with a double bogey, and I started making birdies,” Jade Haylock said. “I’d say after the fourth hole when I was a couple under par, I knew it was a great course to shoot low on.”

The 5-under 67 was the lowest round of her career. Harry said Jade was 7-under at one point during the round.

Leavitt missed qualifying as a team by one stroke.

The following week, Jade shot a 1-over 73 on Natanis’ Tomahawk course to defend her girls individual championship, which she has won all three years of her high school career.

“I had a good mindset going into states,” Jade Haylock said. “I knew there wasn’t much competition out there, but knowing that it’s a time that I can go out there and go low.”

Jade didn’t have many high scores in the state tournament.

“The message was to avoid the big numbers,” Harry Haylock said. “Like I said to the kids over the years, pars and bogeys are your friends. Bogeys aren’t going to kill your round. If birdies happen every now and again, that’s awesome, but stay away from the doubles or triples.”

Jady Haylock’s high school season ended on a bit of a sour note at the 32nd annual New England Interscholastic Boys and Girls Golf Championships at Mohegan Sun Golf Course in Baltic, Connecticut, on Oct. 30. She shot a 79 to finish for a tie for 10th and the lowest Maine finisher. She was near the top of the leaderboard before falling off in the final holes with a bogey and a double bogey.

Harry Haylock said the big numbers weren’t due to mental errors but bad breaks, like the ball clipping a branch on a tee shot and the ball landing in the penalty area, from which she had to chip out.

Still, it was a learning experience for Jade.

“That taught me I needed to play under pressure, play in more tournaments, and get used to that feeling of competition, knowing my game could make or break at any second of the round,” she said.