Inductees

Down in southeast Missouri, there’s a town where golf truly matters.

Where the high school’s sleek trophy case – complete with ambient lighting – is out of room. Where in the old days of open lunch, the guys would swing by one of the courses to get in more work. And where Buddy’s Pro Shop over at the city course for decades celebrated the game and success on its wood-paneled walls.

This is the story of the Poplar Bluff High School Boys Golf Program.

As 1980 state champion Craig Caringer put it, “We took pride in the fact that we could compete with the guys in the big city. And we worked hard to get there. It didn’t happen overnight.”

It’s an incredible tradition, and why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame proudly inducted the Poplar Bluff High School Boys Golf Program with the Class of 2021. In fact, the Mules are the first boys golf program ever inducted.

Poplar Bluff has 20 top-four finishes at the state meet. That includes six state championships (1938, 1980, 1981, 1988, 1995, 1996). The top fours are most of any public school in state history and third-most behind Rockhurst High School’s 33 and Pembroke Hill’s 22.

The Mules have been runners-up five times (1982, 1989, 1994, 2005, 2017) and earned four third-place finishes (1986, 1987, 2004, 2012). They also placed fourth in 1939, 1940, 1959, 1977 and 2010. Individual state champions have been Caringer (1980), Brent Pennington (1986), Colby Robertson (1994, 1996) and Tyler Hillis (2004).

All-State finishers have been Hills Ponder, Ralph Striegel, Jim Belknap, Tom Hoover, Pete Godwin, Dennis Duncan, John Pennington, Joe Lanning, Robbie Davis, Mike Hall, Will Moseby, Ben Godwin, Danny Cashman, Todd Metz, John Gaia, Derek Rahlmann, Andy McCulleum, Trent Hillis, Ben Brumitt, Carr Vernon and Nathan Woolard.

State championship coaches were E.T. Peters (1938), Dave Porter (1980, 1981), Bruce Power (1988) and Bill Caputo (1995, 1996). Billy Pyland has coached since 1997.

This in a town where, in the summers, parents would drop off their junior golfers at either the old Poplar Bluff Country Club or, in modern times, Westwood Hills Country Club and city-owned Ozark Ridge Golf Course and not return until sundown.

So, imagine gripping that putter, lining up feet and eying a cup on the green for Mules golf, especially in the postseason and with the sun and tradition over your shoulders.

Ponder’s 142 and Striegel’s 155 led the 1938 team.

Forty-two years later, Poplar Bluff won it all again behind Caringer’s state-winning 140, with the 1980 team carding a 592 to beat Parkway West by 24 strokes. Weeks before, Porter had unsuccessfully lobbied officials to allow the Mules to insert a second team in districts. Yes, the roster was that deep.

The 1981 state champs fired a 311, besting Excelsior Springs by six strokes.

A three-peat fell 11 strokes short in 1982.

Pennington, a sophomore, won state in 1986 thanks to a 145 on his scorecard. He took it upon himself to drive teammates to golf courses during open lunch the next two seasons. He ultimately signed with Southern Methodist University before finishing at Southern Miss.

The 1988 state champs overcame a 10-stroke deficit after the first day, reaching the clubhouse with a 593. Ben Godwin and Cashman were in a 147 and 148.

“Danny Cashman and Todd Metz, they kind of won it for us,” said Godwin, who with his dad, Buddy, have combined for three Missouri Amateur titles. “That year, we had eight different guys who could have gone to the state tournament.”

The 1994 team was two strokes away from winning it all. However, Robertson – then a sophomore – captured individual top honors on a 68-68 136, seven shots better than three other players.

The 1995 team won state with a 603, besting Parkway West by seven strokes. Robertson’s third-place 145 was four away from making him a back-to-back winner.

The 1996 Mules carded a 299 to win it in a rain-shortened, 18-hole state tournament, with Robertson winning state himself on a 69.

In 2004, Hillis was the first freshman to win an individual state championship, as he shot a 71-70 141. The 2007 team was within four strokes of winning state, and Hills and brother Trent placed eighth and 10^th.

“The athletes made it special,” Caputo said. “They understood that you don’t develop into a great golfer playing from March to May. I’d see them out in the winter, practicing in the snow. That was the mentality of the whole program.”