Murray County High School’s Tori Owens starting playing golf at 4 years old when her dad took her out with him to hit golf balls. Now, Owens is a region champion and is getting ready for the state tournament.

CHATSWORTH, Ga. — When Lee Owens starting taking his 4-year-old daughter with him to go hit golf balls, it had to be hard to envision what it would lead to. It turned out to be the dawn of a bright future.

On April 19, at Elks Lodge Golf Course in Calhoun, Owens saw what those hitting sessions roughly a decade earlier turned into. He watched his daughter, Tori Owens, now a freshman at Murray County High School, shoot a 69 to win the Region 6-3A tournament title.

Tori’s progress came as little surprise to her father, who said he saw something special way back when it all began.

“When we started, I just tried to make sure she was doing everything right,” Lee Owens said. “It showed pretty quick that she had something.”

With the region championship came an automatic spot at the Class 3A state tournament, which is May 16 at Pointe South Golf Club in Hephzibah. It’s been a long journey from the days hitting out behind the house.

“I started when I was four; I had Snoopy clubs,” Tori Owens said during an interview on the putting green at Spring Lakes Golf Club. “I lived out here so my dad took me out to No. 3 and he just let me hit. He tought me keep my left arm straight, head still, eyes on the ball and we went from there.”

Even though the Snoopy clubs have given way to a more state-of-the-art set, the same passion for the game that she had at the very beginning remains. Lee Owens said it was far from a chore to get his daughter to join him on the course.

“I didn’t have to make her at 4,” he said. “She wanted to come out and I wanted to see where it went.”

“At 4, I was like ‘Oh my gosh, Daddy’s taking me out to go hit golf balls just like him.’ That’s basically what I thought,” Tori Owens said. “By sixth, seventh grade it changed to ‘Nah, I don’t want to go do this, it’s so uncool.’ But he made me practice, then honestly this summer going into ninth grade I said I’m just going to go out there and practice. My mom came with me sometimes and then I started going by myself. I came out there for four hours. I was like, ‘I’ve actually fallen in love with this game.’ So without this game I don’t know what I’d do with my life.”

As Tori Owens began showing a high aptitude for golf, her father started getting her involved in tournaments. It started with local competitions before branching out.

“Probably when she was in fourth, fifth grade, we started her in little nine-hole tournaments,” Lee Owens said. “She had some wins there, then probably seventh grade we started her in the travel 36-hole events. She was playing agaisnt good talent and we saw her stack up against them. That’s where we knew.”

Tori competes in events on the Hurricane Junior Golf Tour and said she plans to start playing in American Junior Golf Association events as well. Her long-term goal is to play golf at a Division I college.

Over the years, she has had a few different influences as far as coaches, starting with her dad and also including outside instructors.

“My dad has been mostly my coach,” she said. “About two years ago I started going to Dalton Golf & Country Club to Lowell Fritz. He’s been really great. He teaches the basics and he just knows what to do. He’s old school, doesn’t really do new technology. Just old practical training, go out on the golf course, go out on the range and do what you do.”

Her newest coach this year has been first-year Murray County coach Jake White, who admitted to being amazed the first time he saw her play.

“It was unbelievable,” he said. “She’s really good for being a freshman obviously. But I knew she could comepte with anyobody else I could’ve scheduled with her. … I knew she was going to be really good and she’s going to do good things in the future.”

Good things are already happening including last month’s region championship. It was a day, by all accounts, in which everything came together for her.

“I was just on top of my game,” Tori said. “I was so determined, I just wanted to win.”

“She started out real good, it seemed like she couldn’t hit a bad shot honestly,” White said. “If she did, she’d recover, come back, put one where she need it, then hit a par putt or a birdie putt then go on to the next hole.”

For being a freshman, she’s shown the magnitude of the stage isn’t an issue even going up against much older competition.

“I just play my game, honestly,” she said. “I used to think about, ‘Oh gosh they’re going to talk about how I swing or the way I look or something. Maybe like in fifth grade I did that. But then again, by the time I got into eighth grade I said ‘You know what, I’m just going to play my game and if they don’t like it, oh well.’ I’ve learned to overcome it.”

“You look at her being a freshman, but in my eyes she doesn’t play as a freshman,” White added. “She’s played in so many tournaments, she plays year round and plays against good golfers.”

She’ll be on another big stage next week at the state tournament. Both Tori and her coaches say they want her to stay the course with the way she’s been playing up to and in the region tournament.

“I just want her to keep doing what she’s doing, represent Murray County and play to the best of her ability,” White said. “She gets down there and does really well, finishes top 5 or top 10, we’ll be proud of her. If she gets down there and have an off day, we’ll still be proud of her then. She’s our shining start were excited to see what she can do at state.”