Golf star, Dylan Esch, made an appearance in a handful of tournaments this summer, showing what he can do on the course. This young golfer has caught the attention of the rest of the field of high school golf, striking fear in the eyes of his competition moving into the school year.

Dylan played on the Kansas Junior Golf Association (KJGA) tour, the Teen Series Tour in Oklahoma, and in the Saline County Junior Championship this summer. Going into the school year, he was feeling pretty strong coming out with a nice 5th place finish on the KJGA Tour. Dylan started off a little shaky, shooting an 85, 15 over par, placing 23rd in the first KJGA tournament of the summer at Wamego Country Club. 

The second tournament of the KJGA Tour was a two-day in Hutchinson at Carey Park. Dylan shot an 81 on day one, and a 79 on day two for a total of 160 strokes, or 18 over par, placing 10th. The third tournament was in McPherson, at Turkey Creek Golf Course. His frustration was centered on a struggle to shoot the scores that he knows he can in these first tournaments of the summer, shooting an 83 at Turkey Creek and placing 9th. The last regular season tournament on the KJGA was at the Salina Municipal Golf Course. This was his best tournament score of the summer so far with a 78, 8 over par, placing 9th again. 

Though a 5th place finish wasn’t bad, Esch aimed to be better and knew he could compete at a higher level. Instead of playing in the KJGA Tour Championship, he decided to play in the U.S. Kids Teen Series tournament that holds more stiff competition. This tournament was held at Battle Creek Golf Course in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Dylan played the best he’s played yet this summer in this two-day tournament. On day one, Dylan shot a 77, 5 over par, and was in 2nd place. On the second day, Dylan played even better and shot a 75, 3 over par. So he shot a 152, 8 over par to win the runner-up trophy. 

Dylan’s last tournament of the summer was the Saline County Junior Championship. This was also a two-day tournament, but on the first day it was played at Salina Municipal Golf Course, and on the second day, it was played at Salina Country Club. Dylan shot a 73 at the Municipal and a 74 at Salina Country Club and finished in first place!

With the school season nearing, Dylan is looking to make a bigger name for himself than he already has. After training all summer, he is looking to not only compete at a high level, but to win state. What seemed like an impossible task last year now seems like a goal that is very attainable with the right amount of dedication and work.