Lowest scores coming from smallest player at Heritage

When you see the Colleyville Heritage girls golf team, you will likely see the lowest scores posted by the smallest competitor.

Quinn Barber, standing all of 5-foot-even, is light enough that she should be tethered to her golf bag in heavy winds.

Barber has been playing competitively since age 5. That gave her three years to work on her game after picking up the game at 2.

It didn’t hurt that Barber’s father and older sister are avid golfers. Her sister, Tai, also played at Heritage, graduating last year, and is now playing at Florida Atlantic University.

Asked if she can now beat her father at golf, a voice from over her shoulder commented, “Answer carefully.”

Jokingly, Barber said that her father is a very good player and hard to pass – but she has been able to beat him on the course for a few years now.

The early experience helped Barber place ninth in last year’s district golf tournament and earn a second team all-district nomination. She finished just out of qualifying for the regional tournament.

This season Barber has been much improved, though, picking up her first varsity individual title at Sky Creek Ranch in Keller recently, where she shot a round of 75. She also picked up an eighth-place finish.

Barber has also won her division’s flight in the Fort Worth City Tournament.

“This year I want to stay in the top five to 10th place in all the tournaments, and clinching victory is a higher goal,” Barber said. “When I play, I want to work on my scores to stay consistently in the 70s.”

Her short game and putting are her strongest parts of the game.

“When I was 9 or 10, I didn’t like to go to the practice range, so I practiced chipping and putting,” Barber said.

Heritage head coach Gerald Brown said she’s a 70s-score player and is the team’s number-one girls golfer.

“She has a great attitude with a great work habit and is a good student,” Brown said. “She helps everyone with anything she can do for them.”

Even as a sophomore, Barber is a leader, not giving much technical advice but offering encouragement.

“It’s not very awkward,” Barber said of being a leader as just a second-year varsity player. “I don’t think about it too much and I don’t compare. I’m just making sure my teammates have encouragement if they’re having a rough day. I’m making sure they have positive vibes.”

Barber takes pride in the chemistry of the team.

“The atmosphere of the team is one where everyone supports each other,” Barber said. “That’s not common on a lot of teams. We’re all out there for each other. It doesn’t matter if it’s a freshman boy or a girl. We all go out and do it together.”

The Lady Panthers will be back on the course at Hidden Creek in Burleson this weekend, but Barber said her favorite course to play is Diamond Oaks in North Richland Hills.

Regardless of where she plays, though, Barber plays large.

This story was originally published October 26, 2015 at 3:03 PM with the headline "Lowest scores coming from smallest player at Heritage."