Columbus North’s Luke Schneider is The Republic Boys Golfer of the Year. He is pictured in the studio at The Republic in Columbus, Ind., Thursday, June 23, 2022.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
Over the past 18 months, Columbus North senior Luke Schneider found a second home at the golf course.
He’d spend morning, afternoon and evening working on everything from driving, iron shots and chipping and putting.
All that time spent at the golf course paid off for Schneider. He had his best golf season of his career and has been named The Republic All-Area Boys Golfer of the Year for the second year in a row.
Schneider has scored many accolades along the way. He made the All-State and All-Conference Indiana Team. He also was named the Most Valuable Player at the team’s end of the year banquet earlier this month.
This season, Schneider had an average of 34 for nine-hole matches and 74 for 18-hole events.
“Luke worked on every part of his game,” North coach Doug Bieker said. “He was actually one of the first to arrive at practice and one of the last ones to leave. From that standpoint, it was impressive. The younger guys see that from a guy they know who is a really great player. For him, putting that effort in still having to show them what they should be doing instead of leaving practice. Just by his practice and example, I think that’s an important part of his dedication and practice.”
Schneider tied an 18-hole school record by shooting 63 in a dual match against Bloomington North at Timbergate during the regular season. The 63 tied Tyler Duncan’s school record that he shot at the state finals that earned him the state championship in 2007.
Schneider mentioned that after he tied Duncan’s record, he shared a FaceTime conversation with Duncan that lasted only a couple minutes due to Duncan’s busy schedule with the PGA Tour.
When Schneider came into the program as a freshman, he learned from then-seniors Henry Kiel, Drew Smith and Jackson Kerber. He mentioned that those guys helped paved the way for him to begin to take on the leadership role.
“When I was a freshman, sophomore, junior, I got a lot of knowledge from the guys above me,” Schneider said. “Traveling the country and playing in bigger tournaments, you learn so much from other kids around the country. I’ve learned so much that I tried to teach the younger guys below me all the stuff I knew to help them. I think they’ll be really good next year.”
Schneider will have a busy summer of golf ahead of him before heading off to college. He’ll participate in this week’s AJGA Circle K Junior Championship Hosted By Otter Creek. He mentioned he’ll try to play in the AJGA Justin Thomas Junior Championship in August in Goshen, Kentucky. Schneider had the opportunity to meet and chat with the PGA Tour pro and two-time major winner when he participated in Thomas’ event last year.
Schneider recently committed to continue his golfing career at the University of Evansville, where he’ll be reunited with his former North teammate Kiel.
“I think Luke certainly has worked really hard over the last 18 months. He came into the program perhaps even thinking he may have been a little bit better than he was,” Bieker said. “I think he realized when the colleges didn’t come knocking down his door, he started to realize he was going to have to work at it if he wanted to have a chance to play in college.”
One of the biggest departing messages Schneider said during the team’s banquet is to be thankful for everyone that’s helped along the way.
“You’ve got to be thankful. When you look back at it, there’s so many people that have done so much for you,” Schneider said. “Just be thankful of all the people that helped you because without them, you wouldn’t be able to do everything you’d done. I wouldn’t have been able to do a single thing without the people around me.”
The Republic All-Area Boys Golf team:
Luke Schneider, Columbus North: The senior averaged 36.8 per nine holes played and qualified for state as an individual.
Willy Davis, Columbus North: The junior averaged 40.4 per nine holes played and qualified for state as an individual.
Tyler Wilks, Columbus North: The junior averaged 40.0 per nine holes played.
Jack Schiavello, Columbus North: The junior averaged 41.1 per nine holes played.
Max Blandford, Edinburgh: The junior averaged 40.2 per nine holes played.
Jacob Sabotin, Trinity Lutheran: The senior averaged 40.6 per nine holes played and qualified for regional as an individual.
Pierce Arnholt, Columbus East: The sophomore averaged 40.8 per nine holes played and led the Olympians to a regional team appearance.
Jake Grider, Jennings County: The sophomore averaged 43.0 per nine holes played and qualified for regional as an individual.
Honorable mention
Brown County: Cooper VanNess. Columbus East: Spencer Erfmeier, Carter Greene, J.T. Kuhlman, Ben Luedeke. Columbus North: Aditya Banerjee, Damon Gregory, John Merritt, Brady Schneider. Hauser: Chase Martoccia, Caleb Wallace. Jennings County: Jack George.
