JAMESTOWN — Not that long ago, Mylee Michel wasn’t able to golf.
“I had a hip problem and I found out that it was my hip flexor,” said Michel, a senior for the Jamestown High School golf team. “… I couldn’t golf because it would lock up and I barely could lift my leg up. I got a lot of stretches to help with it that I have to do almost every night.”
Those stretches seem to be helping.
Michel is one of the most experienced golfers on the Jamestown roster. The senior has been playing golf since she was in fifth grade and started to play high school golf in seventh grade. Michel said she has stuck with the sport because of the mental challenge and varying nature of the sport.
“My grandpa is the one you who pushed me to do golf,” Michel said. “My grandpa and I have a very close relationship and golf is something that we bond over and that is why I think golf is so special to me.”
Michel began her final golf season with the Jays on Aug. 4.
“My feelings on the first day of practice was a bittersweet moment because I was so excited to start of the season but also sad because it is my last year,” Michel said.
Michel is currently golfing as the Blue Jays’ No. 1. The senior has carded a 90 or better at all of the tournaments she has played this season.
“Golf is a sport where you can do really good one day and terrible the next,” Michel said. “Even with that, I get to see how all my hard work paid off. It’s challenging but also very rewarding. You also get to meet a lot of new people and make close friends.”
Michel’s best score this season is sitting at an 82, earned at Souris Valley on Sept. 8.
“My goals for this year is just to do better than I did last year,” Michel said. “I would love to shoot in the 70s but really I just wanna have fun and enjoy my last year.”
As of Sept. 8, the Blue Jays have golfed nine tournaments. The team only has two tournaments left on the schedule before the postseason begins. The 2025 West Region Golf Tournament is scheduled to be held on Sept. 22 in Dickinson. The state tournament will be held the following week at the Fargo Country Club.
“The golf season is very busy with having one or two tournaments per week,” Michel said. “It is pretty hard to find time to just actually practicing on things I need to work on so I take it upon myself to go practice on my own time whether it’s on weekends or just whenever I have time to.”
Michel’s training during the offseason involved spending time at the driving range and playing rounds of golf with the focus of making good contact with the ball.
“Over the summer I played in many scrambles just to get better at handling the competitiveness and also working on getting used to playing with different people,” Michel said. “My game has progressed because I have learned how to deal with the up and downs in golf better and I have better course management.
“Golf has been a really great experience even though it is one of most challenging things I have ever had to do,” she said.
Katie Ringer is a sports reporter for the Jamestown Sun. Katie joined the Sun staff in the summer of 2019 after graduating from the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire with a degree in journalism. She can be reached by email at kringer@jamestownsun.com or by phone at 701-952-8460.
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