Back on the Green

Trisha Green knows what it takes to be successful on the golf course.

The 2008 Jay County High School graduate still holds the school record for 9-hole round (2-under-par-34) and best 18-hold round (77 at regional her junior season).

She also led the squad to a school-record 9-hole score of 176 as a senior.

More than a dozen years later, Green (née Champ) is back with the Patriot golfers as their coach.

“I felt like it was a calling," said Green, 30, who lives in Redkey with her husband Zac, who was a member of the 2006 JCHS Class 3A state runner-up boys basketball team, and their three sons — 4-year-old Brody, 3-year-old Jett and 1-year-old Chase.

Coaching girls golf, however, wasn’t her top choice. A two-sport standout athlete for the Patriots, Green also shined as catcher on the softball diamond. She always imagined herself kicking off her coaching career in that sport rather than the one she played in college.

Green went to IUPUI to play golf but left after one season. After transferring to IU-East and graduating with a bachelor’s degree in business, she worked as a logistics analyst in Anderson.

Two-and-half years ago, her family moved back to Jay County, and that’s when she started to get nudged toward taking over for longtime coach Butch Gray.

“I don’t know how many people told me I should coach golf,” she said. “I laughed it off. But I ran into Butch Gray at the homecoming parade and he asked if I was interested.”

Green was approved for the position in May.

“It’s awesome,” she said. “I'm excited.”

Green got her love for the game of golf from her father, Randy Champ. Playing against him — “he's a pretty good golfer” — also made her ultra-competitive.

She doesn’t like to lose. So she spent a considerable amount of time working on her game in hopes of beating him.

“I practiced all the time,” she said. “I remember after one tournament I played pretty bad, and I just went out to the driving range and hit balls. I practiced my short game, putting. I would go to a chipping green with Dad. Everything was a competition.”

It’s that work ethic she hopes to pass down to her seven-member team, which began practicing Friday morning and opens its season, barring any last-minute changes because of the coronavirus pandemic, Tuesday in the Bellmont Invitational at Cross Creek Golf Club in Decatur.

“I already tried to set up putting competitions (and) chipping competitions,” she said. “Just something to get them a little more competitive.”

Friday's practice started with working on hitting out of a sand trap. Each girl, three at a time, alternated strokes from the sand. Then a new trio of players took their spot. Closest to the pin didn’t have to replace the sand at the end of the drill.

“I’ve made a lot of goals (for the team),” Green said. “I'd love for them to get out of sectional, individuals to get out of sectional.

“I want everyone to beat their personal bests.”

Once the golf season ends in mid-September, Green will shift her focus to what she wanted to do all along — coach softball.

At some of the coaches meetings, Green spoke with then-coach Monty Misscano about being a volunteer assistant. Green said her initial thought was to see how the golf season played out.

But when Missicano resigned, Green spoke with her husband about the possibility of doing both, and applied for the position.

The same day Missicano’s resignation was accepted — July 20 — Green's hire as softball coach was approved as well.

“I’m just having so much fun with the both of them,” said Green, who noted she probably would have been too intimidated to apply for the softball position if she wasn’t already golf coach and gone through the application process.

“It’s completely different coaching golf and softball," she continued. “I think I’ll feel a little bit better once golf is over.”