Hunter Freeman was late coming to the party. But once he got there, he became the life of the party.
The Ironton Fighting Tigers senior golf standout did begin playing golf until he entered high school. Freeman began to focus on his game and kept improving until he helped lead his team to the state tournament this season and earned a scholarship to play for the Shawnee State Bears.
“I decided I wasn’t going to play football and I needed something to fill the time and I just kind of liked it so I stuck with it pretty hard,” said Freeman, who plays five to six days a week during the summer.
“My freshman year I don’t think I had a round under 100. I came out my sophomore year and shot a 77 to start out my first 18-hole match, so my progression was pretty amazing, Later on my junior and senior years I started to travel and I started winning and getting some of the awards,” said Freeman.
One award was this past season when he was named to the Southeast Golf Coaches All-District first team for the second straight year. And to top that off, he was voted the District Golfer of the Year.
“I’ve watched Hunter grow the east two or three years he’s played at Ironton. He just keeps getting better and better each time he plays,” said Shawnee State head coach David Hopkins.
“He’a very dedicated to the game and he’s dedicated as a student also. That’s a plus. He’s going to get better as he plays for us. All our guys get better. They all work together and help each other.”
Freeman joins former Ironton women golfers Sidnea Belville and Emily Weber as members of the Shawnee State program.
“We’re happy to keep the Ironton to Shawnee State pipeline open with the two girls last year and Hunter this year,” said Hopkins.
“Ironton always has good players. You can go back to the state championship teams I coached against in high school and Josh Zornes who had four great years. We haven’t gone wrong recruiting Ironton kids, so hopefully the pipeline will stay open.”
Although Freeman looked around at several colleges, he said Shawnee State was always at the top of his list.
“This was the best fit for me and I liked the program,” said Freeman.
The four-year journey for Freeman ended with the Ironton team reaching the state tournament. He was happy that the team had helped bring successful golf back to the fighting Tigers.
“As a team, we did something that hasn’t been done in 15 years. The program had went away for a little while and came back strong. I hope it continues to stay strong. A lot of players made big jumps on our team,” said Freeman.
“Individually, I was pretty happy for myself. There are some things I wish I could have capitalized on. ( didn’t win every tournament I wanted to, but in the end I had a pretty solid year and came out with some good awards.”
Freeman said he doesn’t have any set goals for college but to just help his team win.
“I’m just excited to get in there and see where I rank and meet everybody. I’d like to get in the lineup as soon as I can and contribute,” Freeman said.
Freeman plans to major in chemistry and eventually be a pre-med student.
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