To find Frankie Thomas, Junior, at any point this past summer, you’d have to go to the Meadowbrook Country Club driving range.

Thomas said he spent most of his time perfecting his technique on the range.

“I practiced pretty much five to six times a week, and I would work out afterwards,” Thomas said. The training is nothing new to the 2nd team All-Metro athlete, however.

“I’ve been working to improve my game since I was about 3 or 4, just hitting balls around the house, but for the past few years I’ve been practicing much harder and much more,” Thomas said.

This hard work and dedication has paid off. Thomas recently competed in the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship in The Woodlands, Texas, tying for 92nd. As incredible of an accomplishment this is, Thomas said that he could have done much better.

“I really think that I didn’t play too hot, but it was a good experience,” Thomas said. “Not many kids get to say that they went to Nationals, and it was fun. There were a lot of good players, and the atmosphere was cool. It was awesome to be around some of the best players in the world.”

However, Thomas said that he will use the defeat as a learning experience for himself.

“I can definitely learn a lot,” Thomas said. “The mentality of golf is a lot different than other sports. You get to see how the best players hit, how they react to bad shots, and just their overall mindset during the round.”

After a very successful season the year before, Thomas, as well as Austin Schettler, junior, think that the team will be very successful this year.

“We’re going to have a really good team next year and a great team next year,” Thomas said.

“We could probably win State,” Schettler said.

Schettler has no doubt about the success Thomas can bring to the team.

“He’s a great player with a great short-game and works really hard on his game,” Shettler said. “He will be really good this year.”

Coach Eric Schweain said Thomas is the type of player that leads by example. “Frankie’s talent isn’t something that comes natural to him,” Schweain said. “He works on it, non-stop, during the summer. To me, a true leader will work hard like that. He shows the other guys how to work at it and encourages them to do the same.”

Thomas said he is ready for the upcoming season.

“I’m going to win State. It’s just going to happen. Hands down, it’s happening,” Thomas said. “Well, no guarantees, but I definitely think I can do it.”