![Grand Blanc’s Kate Brody, here following through on a putt, has posted a tournament personal best 62 this season.](/sites/default/files/2022-08/220831_Brody_2H.jpg)
Senior Season Setting Up as Brody's Best of Storied Grand Blanc Career
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
August 31, 2022
Grand Blanc’s Kate Brody entered her senior golf season a bit conflicted.
The 2020 Lower Peninsula Division 1 Final champion knew her game was as good or better than it’s ever been, but she wasn’t happy with some recent results.
Then she shot a 62.
“I just was hitting every shot kind of right where I wanted to,” said Brody, who shot 10-under par at The Fortress in Frankenmuth on Aug. 25 during the Saginaw Valley League Preseason Tournament. “I wasn’t really thinking about much while I was playing. I’ve never played that well before. There was probably only one shot that I wasn’t happy with.”
The 62 was a personal best in tournament play for Brody, and could be the spark for the final year of an already illustrious high school career.
Brody has never finished outside the top four at an MHSAA Finals event, taking third as a freshman and fourth as a junior. She was named first-team all-state by the Michigan Interscholastic Golf Coaches Association after all of her first three high school seasons, and has committed to play golf at the University of Wisconsin when this school year is done.
But Brody wasn’t happy with how her summer season had panned out, and even on the day she shot 62, said she didn’t feel all that confident until she got to the first tee box.
“I didn’t have as good of a summer as I wanted to playing in tournaments around the state,” Brody said. “I wasn’t nervous going into my senior season, but I knew I was going to have to keep working hard to shoot the scores I wanted to. I feel like my game is definitely better than the last couple summers. I think I’ve gotten smarter on the golf course. I’ve definitely gotten better near the green with my chipping and putting, and I’m hitting it a lot farther, too.”
That leaves the main ingredient for Brody’s success in her own head – and she’s mastering that approach as well.
“My mental game has gotten a lot stronger,” she said. “I know that I’m going to have bad shots and a couple bad holes. I’ve tried really hard to keep it together and honestly forget about it and move on.”
All of that work has made this level of success possible for Brody, but she started with quite a foundation.
Brody’s parents, Jenn and Doug Brody, are the LPGA professional and head professional, respectively, at Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club. Jenn played at Michigan State and on the LPGA Tour, and was inducted this past summer into the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame.
Kate started playing at 4 years old, although she said there are pictures of her holding a club earlier than that. She didn’t start playing competitively, however, until she was 11.
“I don’t think my parents really wanted to push me into it,” she said. “I just really liked coming out to the golf course in the summer. It was just fun for me. I didn’t really take it super seriously until middle school. I also played travel soccer and basketball when I was little. Those were my main sports over golf until like seventh grade.”
Golf became Brody’s main focus right around the time Glen Bauer took over as coach of the Grand Blanc girls program. And he knew before she took a class at the high school that he had something special.
“I started coaching when Kate was in eighth grade, and I tried to get her on the varsity team when she was in eighth grade,” Bauer joked. “Some young players, you know right away if they have what it takes to be a great golfer and a great person. She just was so far advanced from pretty much everybody that’s been here as a freshman. A lot of that is DNA, but it’s also what she had worked on since she was 4½.”
While Brody grew up rooting for the Spartans, and had a coach who was pulling for her to wind up at Michigan, it was Wisconsin that got the jump on recruiting her and never fell back to the rest of the pack.
Badgers coach Todd Oehrlein was in contact with Brody the first day he was allowed by rule, and a visit to Madison in October of 2021 sealed the deal.
“I could tell that he and (assistant coach Kristen Simpson) really wanted me,” Brody said. “I wanted to go somewhere I felt wanted and felt like I would be valuable to the team. I really felt a good connection with my coaches at the start, and that was a big part in the decision. As soon as I stepped on campus, I really fell in love with it. It blew me away, everything about it. I didn’t have a lot of interest in visiting other places.”
Brody’s commitment came shortly after her junior season wrapped up, and she admitted the recruiting process had created excess pressure in the past.
Now, it’s one less thing to worry about as she tries to focus on the matches and tournaments immediately ahead while working toward the bigger goal of another Finals title.
“Those big goals are always in the back of my head,” she said. “I think it’s really necessary to have them to achieve what you want. But when I’m going to the next tournament, it’s not like I’m thinking about the state championship. I’m thinking about that round. When I’m off the course, I’m thinking of that bigger goal.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Grand Blanc’s Kate Brody, here following through on a putt, has posted a tournament personal best 62 this season. (Middle and below) Brody, as a toddler and a few years older, took to the game at a young age and made it her main game during junior high. (Photos courtesy of the Brody family.)
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Northville Sets Pace, Cui Takes Next Step
October 19, 2019
By Tom Lang
Special for Second Half
EAST LANSING – Division 1 girls golf is experiencing a youth movement.
Okemos sophomore Allison Cui won the MHSAA Final individual title in that division Saturday by shooting the second of a pair of 73s for a weekend 146 and three-stroke edge over junior Anci Dy of Traverse City West, who shot 76-73-149 for the 36-hole tournament at Forest Akers West on the Michigan State University campus.
Freshman Kate Brody of Grand Blanc was the first-round leader with a 72 but finished at 150 total, good for third place ahead of two golfers at 151 to round out the top five – Utica Eisenhower junior Ariel Chang and Plymouth sophomore Bridget Boczar.
“I’m just absolutely ecstatic,” Cui said. “I never thought that I’d be able to get this. I knew I had potential to, but for it just to all come together and have it work out in the end is amazing. So, to win it this year means a lot to me.”
Last season Okemos played in Division 2 and Cui tied for first place as just a freshman, but succumbed in a playoff to then-senior Kay Zubkus, who is now playing golf at Oakland University.
Cui said this win could be credited to solid putting, and good course management.
“I was able to pretty much two-putt from a lot of spots, even if I was far away from the hole,” she said. “But I also think it was about course management, playing smart and knowing where to hit the ball in good places to miss. I think that really helped lower my score.”
Cui was a participant in Augusta National’s Drive, Chip & Putt national finals in 2017, and Brody is heading to Georgia in April as the most recent winner of the DCP Regional contested at Oakland Hills Country Club.
When comparing her experience at Augusta National with wearing the Finals title medal around her neck, Cui replied: “Honestly, they’re both such different experiences, but this win and doing that are about the same.”
No. 1-ranked Northville won the team title for a second consecutive season, also with the help of youth like junior Katelyn Tokarz and freshman Samantha Coleman. Led by senior captains Sedona Shipka (who tied for ninth overall) and Sufna Gill, the Mustangs pulled away from the field by shooting 322-324-646. Taking second was Grosse Pointe South, with scores of 336-342-678, followed by Plymouth (352-338-690) in third, and Grand Blanc and Okemos each totaling 692.
“All year one of the challenges has been to meet the expectations the girls set for themselves last year, because almost every tournament we went to people told us we were going to be the state champions again. So maintaining our focus throughout the season,” said Northville coach Chris Cronin, pointing to the reasons for his team’s successful repeat run. “And I think the other thing these girls do is they just compete, from start to finish. Whether it was the first tournament of the year to the last tournament of the year, to 9-hole matches, they always compete. So, I think that’s the one thing that’s made us successful.”
Shipka said she took her role as co-captain seriously as the team prepared for another title run.
“For me this year has all been about the team, all about the girls, just making sure they’re happy,” she said. “And making sure they’re where they need to be to be successful.”
Gill, who placed fifth at the Division 1 Final last year, said the team dynamic is what led to a second season of elite success.
“I think we’ve all worked really hard,” Gill added. “We’ve all played together. We win as one, we lose as one and I think we’ve definitely been consistent and we’re just really proud of ourselves and our teammates for carrying us the whole season.”
An additional highlight was enjoyed by Macomb Dakota sophomore Helen Buk, who sank a hole-in-one on the 155-yard 12th hole.
PHOTOS: (Top) Okemos’ Allison Cui lines up a putt Saturday on the way to winning the Division 1 individual championship at Forest Akers West. (Middle) Northville’s Sedona Shipka also putts Saturday while helping the Mustangs to the team title. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)