For elite golfers such as Fenwick’s Stephanie Mroz, the game of golf is more of a mental battle than a physical one.
Mroz is a member of The Players Service, an Oak Brook golf academy led by instructors Dan Kochevar and John Perna, which attracts some of the best high school golfers from around the Chicago area. Part of her training is learning to respond after a disastrous round.
Mroz didn’t seem to give it a second thought last week when she shot a 3-under-par 69 at the Class AA St. Ignatius Regional Oct. 7, just six days after carding a season-worst 89 at the GCAC championship at Glencoe Golf Club.
“When you get as good as she is, the mental part will take you far,” first-year coach Fenwick Kitty Delany said. “She stayed in the moment. You can’t think about your score. You just think about every shot and every hole.”
Mroz said the unlikely 89 occurred during conditions plagued by high winds and dropping temperatures. The regional and the Oak Park-River Forest Sectional on Monday, Oct. 12, both were played at Cog Hill No. 1 in ideal weather.
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Fenwick, which won the regional with a 345, shot 381 at the sectional and did not advance anyone to state.
When Delany took over for Joe Conrad, she challenged her golfers to take a more mental approach to the game. She said she talked to Mroz briefly after the conference meet.
“Those days could happen every time you play,” Delany said. “You can have a bad hole, but you can’t let it lead to another hole that could affect you.”
Mroz said she also talked to Kochevar and her father, Richard Mroz, who introduced her to golf and helps with advice.
“Coach Kochevar said, ‘You can’t think about the game as much. Just play your game,'” Stephanie Mroz said. “Do not think about, ‘Oh, what did you shoot and are you under par?'”
For a period of three days at the end of July, no junior golfer was as hot as Mroz, who won three Illinois Junior Golf Association tournaments in as many days. She won at Indian Lakes in Bloomingdale (76) July 28, at Glencoe Golf Club (82) July 29 and at Phillips Park in Aurora (72) July 30. She decided to make changes to her chipping and putting after placing sixth at the IJGA Player of the Year Championship Aug. 10 at the Highlands of Elgin.
“My driving improved a lot, but I wanted to work on my short shots, my short game,” Mroz said. “I worked on my shots from 80 yards and in and I worked on my putting too. I wanted to improve on my eight-foot putts.”
Delany said Mroz is showing her maturity this season.
“I think Stephanie has progressed well (this season),” Delany said. “Last year she was new on the scene as a freshman. I think she came out of the blue. This year, I think there is more for her to improve on. She’s prepared to handle the pressure. Everyone knows who she is now.”
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