Brylee Crouse of Kingston eyes a shot in the 2023 5Star Preps Masters golf tournament Saturday, July 29, 2023, at Three Ridges Golf Course in Knoxville. (Photo by Tanner Walker/5Star Preps)
ALL-TIME RECIPIENTS // 5SP GIRLS GOLFER OF THE YEAR
2018 — Alyssa Montgomery (Central)
2019 — Lexanne Halama (Farragut)
2020 — Lexanne Halama (Farragut)
2021 — Brylee Crouse (Kingston)
2022 — Lauren Davis (Halls)
2023 — Brylee Crouse (Kingston)
BY DAVE LINK
Kingston senior Brylee Crouse rarely misses a day to work on her golf game, even when temperatures plummet below freezing.
“I have a little hitting bay and putting mat in my garage,” Crouse said on a cold, cloudy day. “I’ve just been turning on the heater and trying to do as much as I can there.”
Crouse knows it’s going to take dedication when she takes the next step of her golf career at Middle Tennessee State University.
She committed to MTSU on May 31 and signed Nov. 20.
Her visit to the campus in Murfreesboro last November sealed the deal on her college choice.
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“I pretty much knew from the start that’s where I wanted to go,” Crouse said. “I love the coach (Chris Adams) and I love the school, and just being around the girls I felt so welcomed and I felt like I’d be a good part of team. And I love their facilities. I feel like you can’t beat what they have and I’m excited to improve my game when I’m there.”
Crouse, the 5Star Preps Girls Player of the Year, finished her Kingston career on Oct. 12-13 with a second-place finish in the Class A state tournament at Sevierville Golf Club.
She followed an opening round 73 with a 72, finishing 5-over 145 and 10 strokes behind Summertown’s Karlie Campbell (68-67—135).
“I struck the ball well,” Crouse said. “It was just making putts. I just couldn’t get them to fall. They’d sit on the edge or they’d lip out, and our opposing team, they were making everything that they had. I kept it pretty low for out there. I was just frustrated with how everybody else’s putts were falling and mine weren’t.”
Kingston finished second in the team standings (12-over 292), five strokes behind Summertown.
Crouse was fourth in the 2022 state tournament and fifth in 2021, when she was the 5Star Preps Girls Player of the Year as a sophomore.
Kingston was second at state in 2022 and third in 2021.
Crouse was a three-time medalist in District 3-A and Region 2-A tournaments.
“I was really confident going into state with winning the individual title in district and region those three years,” Crouse said. “It just didn’t turn out the way I’d hoped, but I’m still proud of the top-10 all three years.”
Crouse’s home course is Lakeside Golf Course in Kingston, and she also plays at Oak Ridge. Her swing coach is Jason Gandy at Willow Creek.
Crouse is working on all aspects of her game right now.
“My main goal is to obviously get a good feel around the green because that’s where most of your good scores are going to come from,” Crouse said. “But I’m also trying to figure out a good swing pattern that I can just do over and over and over again. I just want to not like perfect it but get pretty close before I start up in the summer and go to college.”
She wants to be an impact player at MTSU.
“My main goal is to make the travel team,” Crouse said. “I feel like it’s going to be a big change, though, and I’m going to have to get adjusted really quickly because we’re going to be starting up in August right when I get over there.
“I’m going to have to adjust quickly but I hope to just really improve my game and be able to be one of the starting players that gets to travel and go to all those different places and play.”