VYPE: What are your personal goals this year and how is the season going?
Cody: My personal goals this year are quite simple, to win the state championship as a team and to finish in the top 10 individually. In addition, I have been working on taking my short game to the next level by focusing on my putting and short wedges. This season is going good, has had ups and downs as most do, but overall has been successful. The team won our invitational tournament at South Lakes Golf Course, and I placed fourth individually shooting 70-73. We have been improving every day as a team and we look forward to competing in the state championship at Jimmie Austin.
VYPE: What is the most fun you have had in the last year?
Cody: The most fun I have had in the last year was hitting the first tee shot at the 6A State Championship at Forest Ridge last year. Due to injuries freshman year and covid sophomore year, last year was the first state championship I played in. The adrenaline that was running through my body and everyone watching on the first tee box will be something that I will never forget.
VYPE: Who is your favorite teacher from any grade or coach and why?
Cody: My favorite is my current golf coach Dustin Miller; Coach Miller is a coach that cares about your game but more importantly he cares about you as an individual. Coach Miller is always pushing the team to be better and something unique that separates him from other coaches is that he coaches each athlete differently. Every player is different and is motivated by different things, Coach Miller figures out what each player needs in order for them to perform at their highest level while also coaching them to be a great person.
VYPE: What is your favorite athletic memory?
Cody: My favorite athletic memory was qualifying and playing in the Boys Junior PGA Championship last summer. In June of last year my dad and I packed up the truck and drove to Lexington Kentucky where I competed against the best junior golfers in the country. The event was absolutely spectacular with leaderboards on the course and everything you would expect to see at a championship tournament. Having the opportunity to compete against the best of the best in junior golf and having my parents there to support me is truly something I will never forget.
VYPE: What teammate has left the biggest impression on you and why?
Cody: The teammate that has left the biggest impression on me has been Jamen Parsons. Jamen and I played together since middle school and being the older guy he not only taught me how to play the game, but also taught me how to be a leader. When Jamen was a senior last year, he showed me how to lead the team and also showed me how the game of golf works. Since seventh grade we would be working on crazy shots together and figuring out how to get ourselves out of jams when we hit a ball a bit out of the fairway. As I was looking to play golf at the collegiate level Jamen was the older guy helping me through the process, giving me coaches contacts and helping me through the recruiting process. Jamen not only showed me the ropes and how to be a great golfer, but he also helped me be a better person and role model for our younger athletes.
VYPE: Who on your team has the best impression of your coach and who says the funniest things during games?
Cody: Buddy Wehrli has the best impression of our golf coach; he has the same demeanor and has perfected the facial expressions. Whenever he is re-stating something that Coach Miller said he will say it in his voice, and it sounds the exact same. Jacob Cameron says the funniest things on the golf course when we play, his “trash talk” as he calls it always has everybody laughing and talking about the jokes he makes for weeks. Jamen Parsons and I still talk about the first round we played with Jacob when he was a freshman and the jokes he was making, and we knew he was going to be a good one to play with to keep things light.
VYPE: You can pick any place for a summer vacation, where do you go and who do you take with you?
Cody: If I had a choice to go anywhere for a summer vacation I would go to Augusta and play Augusta National. I would take my dad with me as he taught me the game of golf and we have talked about playing Augusta since I was little and the experience it would be.
VYPE: If we gave you 500 dollars and you had to spend it in the next 24 hours, how would you spend it?
Cody: If I had 24 hours to spend 500 dollars, I would go buy some new hunting clothes and duck calls that I have been looking at recently. I am always looking at new clothes, calls, and other hunting gear in my free time to see the new technology that has come out in the hunting world.
VYPE: Here is your chance to say hello, goodbye or thank you to anyone you wish.
Cody: I want to thank all of my coaches from my dad, my golf coach Dustin Miller, Derrick Vest my first golf coach, Scott Karpe, my swing coach Ryan Rody, and the head pro at Southern Hills Country Club Cary Cozby. Each of them has helped me take my game to the next level and each one of them has helped me develop as a player. Whether it was when I was first starting golf or throughout high school, every one of them helped me become the golfer and person I am today.
