After a year away, Marshall County golf champ Trinity Beth is back on course
Marshall County’s Trinity Beth took her junior year off from high school golf to focus the college recruitment process.
A varsity golfer since seventh grade, Beth has already won two individual KHSAA state championships and has been honored as Kentucky’s Miss Golf three times. She was also part of two team state titles for the Marshals while in middle school.
All things considered, Beth has accomplished plenty.
“I just decided I didn’t want to miss out on any recruiting visits, and I wanted to experience that in full,” Beth explained about last season.
This year, Beth is back — and in a big way.
On Sunday, Beth’s two-day total of 12-under par in the All State Championships at the University Club of Kentucky gave the Georgia commit her third big green trophy in the annual Kentucky Golf Coaches Association event that brings all of the state’s top golfers to Lexington.
That put her three strokes ahead of 1st Region-rival Madison Glisson of Ballard Memorial, who also shot a blistering 6 under on Sunday but could not close the gap.
Beth’s round included an incredible string of five consecutive 3s on the scorecard to finish the tournament. She had four birdies and an eagle on the back nine of the U Club’s 5,522-yard, par 72 Big Blue Course layout to go with three birdies and a double bogey on the front for 6 under. She also shot 6 under on the par-71 Wildcat Course in Saturday’s first round.
Standing over an errant drive on No. 18, she shrugged off the advice of her father and coach, Aaron Beth, who heads up the Marshals’ girls golf and girls basketball teams.
“He just thought I should take cart path relief, but I didn’t want cart path relief,” said Beth, whose ball came to rest with a nice lie on the edge of the 17th hole’s back tee box. A more precise drive would have likely put her on the 18th green on the slightly downhill dogleg right hole listed as 371 yards from the girls’ tee. That’s not a typo.
“I knew I could have driven the green if I hit it straight, but left was OB (out of bounds), so right was my only place to miss,” Beth said.
She didn’t miss her next shot. The short pitch landed softly on the green and rolled to about 2 feet. She made the birdie putt.
“Obviously, I hit it and hit it to 2 feet, so I was right, there,” she said, laughing.
Beth said she’s enjoyed being back with her teammates. Her score helped the Marshals finish fourth in the team standings.
“It’s been fun. It’s a lot different than my tournaments all summer, but I really like the team aspect,” she said. “We spent four days up here, so just having all that time with my team is really fun.”
One difference, Beth said, is the length of the courses. Her junior golf events tended to be a lot longer than what she sees in high school.
“I learned that I don’t work on my wedges as much,” Beth said. “So being back at high school has really helped me work on my 100 yards in.”
Next week, Beth will compete in the 1st Region Tournament in her hometown of Calvert City on Sept. 22. Then it’s hopefully back at Calvert City Country Club for the KHSAA State First Round on Sept. 29, followed by the State Final Rounds at Bowling Green County Club on Oct. 7-8.
That’s a lot of golf between Beth and more history. The last girls golfer to win three KHSAA individual titles was Caldwell County’s Emma Talley (2008, 2010, 2011). Only three girls have won three or more since the KHSAA began sanctioning championships in 1965.
She’ll likely have last year’s Miss Golf and defending state champion Athena Singh of Rowan County in the field of other contenders. Singh finished fifth at All State on Sunday, 10 shots back.
“I’m ready. This gave me a lot of confidence shooting 12-under these last two days,” Beth said. “So I’m excited for the rest of the season.”
