I don’t know if there was even a girls’ golf team when I attended high school at Minnehaha Academy in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I remember a boys’ golf team, and seem to recall that they were less than stellar. As a matter of fact, I don’t even recall ever hearing any of the guys on the team talking about golf at all. Usually not a good sign of a strong team.

So I was skeptical when my mother, who is still a librarian at Minnehaha, introduced me to “a fantastic young golfer” a few years ago. Her name was Katie Detlefsen.

All I could think was, If she’s such a great golfer, what’s she doing at this school?

Boy, was I wrong.

You see, Katie just won her fourth State Class 1A High School championship in a row. She is the only high school golfer, male or female, in Minnesota history to win four state championships, much less consecutively.

And Katie didn’t just squeak by. She won this last one 12 strokes ahead of her nearest competition, despite a double bogey on the closing hole. She won by 10 strokes as a freshman, 12 as a sophomore, and 9 as a junior.

Simply put, she obliterated her competition.

But rather than attend some golf-centered high school/training facility down south, Katie stayed with her family and friends in frigid Minnesota, getting as much practice as possible indoors and on the putting green in her parents’ backyard.

No wonder she’s achieved celebrity status in Minnesota. She even stars in a slide show on the Minneapolis Star-Tribune website.

Katie will be attending the University of Central Florida on a full athletic scholarship in the fall, on her way down a path that is far less common that it used to be: high school domination, college golf, high-level amateur competition, and then on to…well, let’s just leave it at that for now. We’ve all seen how hype and over-reaching can damage youth and waste potential.

Katie Detlefsen, recent graduate of Minnehaha Academy, has dominated Class 1A girls’ high school golf for four years.

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