Ravenna High School senior Abbie Retherford won the Metro Athletic Conference girls championship earlier this month, making it the third time in four years she won the event.
Tom Nader/Portage Sports

By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

You never know what could jumpstart the love of a sport.

For Ravenna golf standout Abbie Rutherford, it was an unsuspecting trip to a sporting goods store.

The shopping trip was actually not for her, but her dad, who was looking for a box of golf balls for an upcoming outing.

But then something caught Retherford’s attention.

As she walked down the aisle with her family, a set of blue and gold golf clubs, the perfect colors for her family rich in Kent State tradition, had captured her imagination.

“I wanted those clubs,” remembered Retherford, who was in seventh grade at the time.

Instead of her parents saying, “Maybe next time,” they picked up the clubs and purchased them.

And, in the process, initiated their daughter’s golf career.

Initially it was not a career at all, but simply a hobby.

Retherford would take free weekly lessons held in Newton Falls on Saturday mornings, but those graduated to more training, practice rounds and eventually junior summer tournaments.

Now, Retherford graduates as one of the most decorated girls golfers in the history of Ravenna High School, which has never fielded a girls team.

So, Retherford, along with the girls that have come before her (Amanda Powell, Emilee Woolf and Courtney O’Donnell) play on the boys team from the boys tees.

As a prep player, the only time Retherford gets to play against other girls is at the Metro Athletic Conference, which she earned championship honors at as a freshman, junior and senior. It was very nearly a four-peat for her at the league tournament, finishing as a runners-up as a sophomore.

Her medalist honors at this year’s league tournament came in dominating fashion, with Retherford distancing herself from the second-best competitor by 10 strokes.

Ravenna High School girls golf standout Abbie Retherford has a nine-hole average of 41.2 playing from the men’s tees.
Tom Nader/Portage Sports

“Abbie is a natural leader,” said Ravenna golf coach Terry Kekic, who has only spent five years in the last 67 years not coaching. “She has a special drive, she is a true competitor. She has been a privilege to coach.”

Playing from the men’s tees, Retherford’s nine-hole average is 41.2 and she consistently drives in the 275 yard-range.

Quite a difference from what she remembers the game being like when she started.

“I couldn’t hit the ball at all. It would not go 10 yards in the air,” Retherford laughed. “But my trainers said they could sense that I was athletic and that I just needed to fix a few things and that things would start to click for me.”

Two years later, as a freshman, that is what began to happen.

“I think as a freshman, I began to adapt better,” Retherford said.

Part of that adaptation was finding the balance between her competitive drive and the understanding that golf is filled with mistakes.

“A player of Abbie’s talent, sometimes it can be hard for the game to be fun because expectations can be so high,” Kekic said. “Abbie, though, is always at her best when she decides to just play golf.”

In addition to her continued hard work to grow as a player, Retherford took a mental approach that helped her simplify the game.

She became a goldfish.

Well, at least think like one.

“Goldfish swim to one side of the tank, then forget what they are doing and swim to the other side of the tank. For me, I have to be able to forget my last shot and focus on the next shot,” said Retherford who also used to play soccer and basketball, but stopped both after the seventh and tenth grades, respectively.

The approach has worked and success has consistently followed.

Retherford now shifts her attention to postseason golf.

Last year, she very nearly broke through for a berth to the state tournament, missing the opportunity by just a couple strokes at Sable Creek.

The memories of those missed shots have been driving motivational tools for Retherford throughout the season.

In all of her rounds this year, she has carded only two bogeys or worse all year.

An incredible testament to her consistency and ability to get herself out of jams.