How Ames girls golfer Elizabeth Duncan can earn a top-10 finish at state in Class 4A

A little over midway through her third season, Elizabeth Duncan has been a part of some challenging golf meets for Ames High School.

The weather can wreak havoc on the very best professional golfer's game, let alone a young golfer in high school. Combine that with a tough course, and things can go downhill in a hurry.

Duncan had to deal with that Monday at the Turk Bowman Invitational. Competing on a difficult course at the Veenker Memorial Golf Course in Ames, there was also a strong, howling wind for the golfers to contend with.

But Duncan did not wilt in the adverse conditions. She stepped up to shoot a 40 on the front nine and a 44 on the back to card an 18-hole score of 84 and place eighth individually in a tough field that featured defending Class 3A state champion Gilbert.

“It was brutal out there,” Duncan said. “That’s something you have to adjust to, and that’s a lot of what golf is —adjusting to different conditions you’re going to play in each day.”

Duncan's calm demeanor and confidence helped her overcome the obstacles to put up a strong score. She has developed those qualities over years of competitive golf learning from Veenker golf course manager and PGA professional Greg Dingel and Ames head coach R.J. Voss.

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She managed to qualify for the state meet individually in each of her first two seasons, placing 21st in 4A as a freshman and 14th last year as a sophomore. This season Duncan has an 18-hole average of 82.67 according to Varsity Bound, just under fellow junior and two-time state qualifier Emersen Motl's 82.33 and her 9-hole average leads the team at 40.33.

Duncan is on pace to better her 2023 averages of 45.6 (9 holes) and 87.1 (18).

“She was in the gym almost two hours every day,” Voss said. “That has certainly helped this year.”

Duncan's added strength has helped her drives and play on the fairway.

“I worked a lot in the offseason to build up some strength,” Duncan said. “I felt like I’ve added some distance on my clubs, which has helped a lot.”

As far as her short game, Duncan is happy with how her chipping is going. Her teammates think she is a good putter as well.

Macy Button transferred to Ames from Spirit Lake this season. She admires Duncan's work on the greens and notes how it has helped her improve her own game.

“My teammates have helped me with my game,” Button said. “Liz is an amazing putter.”

Duncan enjoys playing golf games with her teammates. But she swears mini golf has nothing to do with how well her putting has gone at times this season.

“Honestly, I’m a really bad mini-golfer,” Duncan said. “Those (putting) drills are my favorite to come out here and do."

Motl also shot an 84 on Monday and she ended up placing sixth. She has been golfing with Duncan for a long time.

They grew up learning the game from Dingel, and they have been two solid rocks for Voss to lean on at the high school level. Motl also likes Duncan's work on the greens.

“Our games complement each other,” Motl said. “My putting wasn’t where I wanted it to be last year, and I know she’s a great putter. Stuff like that. It just goes together.”

But Voss stresses that there will always be plenty to work on when it comes to the short game.

“You can always putt better,” Voss said. “We’ve had a lot of three-putts this year. That’s been our Achilles’ heel, but we’re working on that and we’ll get better.”

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As much experience she has gained playing at a high level the past 2 1/2 years, Duncan knows there is still a lot of work to be done to get where she wants to be at the end of the season.

She wants to place in the top 10 individually at state. The 4A state meet will again be at the Otter Creek course in Ankeny, and after the rounds she shot there the previous two seasons, Duncan knows she has a shot to achieve that goal in 2024.

“Freshman year at state I had my two best rounds there, and last year I did too,” Duncan said. “It’s just a feel-good course I guess.”

But her ultimate goal is to help her team succeed.

Ames placed ninth as a team at last year's 4A state meet. The Little Cyclones entered Monday having won three tournaments and both of their dual meets, and they ended up shooting a 358 at the Turk Bowman Invite to take second, 18 strokes behind Gilbert.

“Our goal was to try to beat Gilbert,” Voss said. “We came up a little bit short, but the team played very well, led by Elizabeth and Emersen.”

Estelle Wong, Leah Becker and Jessie Lohman have all had strong seasons alongside Duncan, Motl and Button. Duncan and her teammates can keep it up for another month, the Little Cyclones could end up one of the top teams in 4A.

“I want to qualify as a team again, place in the top five and be up there with those top teams,” Duncan said. “I know we can do it.”

Joe Randleman covers high school sports for the Ames Tribune. Contact him at jrandleman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JoeRandleman

This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Ames girls golfer Elizabeth Duncan is stepping up her game in 2024