Jeff Moeller, sports correspondent

When he was younger, Richmond Hill’s Ledger Conley played a variety of sports, like soccer, basketball, flag football, swimming, and baseball. But eventually, the senior landed on golf as his sport of choice.

“I started golf because of my dad (Barry) when I was 4 years old,” recalled Conley. “He bought me a set of clubs, and we went to the golf course. I fell in love with the sport after that. But I didn’t take golf seriously until I was about 10 years old. I quit all other sports and focused on just golf.”

Conley recently played a major role in the Wildcats’ record ninth-place finish at the GHSA Class 6A tournament at Bentwater Country Club in Acworth. He shot a 78 the opening day and followed that with a 73. Conley, who also won the 6A individual tile last year, helped his team to the area championship.

This year, Conley slumped after he had a banner season last year. Conley’s play earned him a scholarship to Jacksonville University. One of his favorite moments occurred last year when his best friend, Will McNeely, caddied for him.

“I haven’t had the greatest year, but last year was definitely the best year I have ever had in my golf career,” said Conley. “It involved winning the state tournament and three other high school events, playing in the US Junior, coming second in the GA Junior championship.

“I also was a part of the Georgia v.s. South Carolina match play tournament playing for Georgia’s team and winning my third club championship in a row.”

Head coach Ron Smith only coached Conley for two years, but he was impressed with the young golfer’s overall game.

“He was already well on his way to becoming a player who was good enough to win a state tournament and get a Division I scholarship opportunity,” said Smith. “What I heard when I first got to Richmond Hill was what a good group I was going to get with the three juniors with Ledger being one of them.

“I had heard a lot about Ledger. He didn’t disappoint for sure with his work ethic, his overall golf game, his drive to want to be better but just as important his overall character and how he handled himself in the classroom and in the hallways.”

Besides the successes, Smith also has been captivated by how Conley has handled his difficulties. Smith cited a few tournaments last year as well as the individual state title that nearly slipped away from him.

“He also handled adversity very well,” said Conley. “He had a couple tournaments that he could have won his junior year. He had two narrow misses at key tournaments.

“At the state tournament, Ledger had a three-shot lead with nine holes to play there and double bogeyed 10 while his competitor from Harrison birdied it to erase the lead. Ledger then birdied 11 to get the lead back and made two more birdies coming in to win by three.”

This season, Smith saw Conley take another step forward despite a mediocre regular season in leading the team to the area championship.

“After the last regular season tournament, he (Conley) couldn’t believe his senior season was winding down and he hadn’t won yet,” noted Smith. “ He said ‘maybe I can win area.’”

“And he went out and did it and led us to our first area championship. At that tournament, I saw Ledger take a big step in terms of leadership. There was a point in the round as we were starting to finish that we had taken the lead and would have to hold on while we waited for four other teams to finish. Ledger sent a message out to all the guys to tell them ‘we’re in a good spot, just keep making pars’ and the guys responded to that.”

With an average hovering around 70 and a plus-four handicap, Conley has turned his struggling short game to his advantage.

“The main part of my game I had to improve was my short game,” said Conley. “ When I was young, I could hit the ball well. But when it came to my short game, it was very bad.

So, I focused hard on it, and now it’s a strong suit of mine.”

He also has had to deal with the game on the green and the game in his mind.

“Golf is definitely more mental than physical,” stressed Conley. “ If you don’t have a good mental game, it can cause so many problems in the game. It is already a hard game as it is, but you are making it harder if you don’t have a good head space. I would say it is 80 percent mental and 20 percent physical.”

Now, Conley is excited to take his game to the next level in Jacksonville.

“I want to be able to do the best I can at that level of competition,” said Conley. I know golf is the best fit for me and something I know I could play for the rest of my life.“