Former Sedona Red Rock High School golfer Savanah Cooper continues her ascent up the golfing ranks after accepting a scholarship to play golf at California State University in Northridge.

“I visited the coach, went to the campus and absolutely loved it,” said Cooper, who will have 70 percent of her expenses covered after attaining a 3.75 grade-point average in one year at Mesa Community College. “I’m rooming with the team captain, I think, and played with one of the girls in my last tournament. She’s super sweet.”

A big selling point for Cooper from the sophomore transfer from Dixie State College in Utah — as was CSUN’s head coach, Gina Umeck.

“We played in tournaments with D-I and D-2 players,” Cooper said. “We have a really heavy sophomore class.”
Cooper, who follows older sister and 2011 Scorpion graduate Whitney Cooper into NCAA Division I athletics, will begin practicing for the season Monday, Aug. 29, after a year in the National Junior College Athletic Association.

“I was always very proud of all the things that she does,” said Whitney Cooper, who played second base for four years at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. “That’s what I was impressed by with golf: You go out there six to eight hours a day, and you’re still not done. I don’t think I could do that.”

Cooper had 33 birdies and an eagle over 22 rounds played in her year at Mesa, where she worked with a strength coach to increase her drive to 250 yards in preparation for the longer courses of college.

Cooper helped the Thunderbirds build a 69-tournament winning streak, including a 19th place individually at the Red Rock Classic on March 8, before they fell to seventh at the three-day Junior National Championships at Daytona Beach, Fla., in June.

Initially, after the 2015 Division III tournament in Prescott, Cooper admitted it was hard to let go and move on.
After giving up so many aspects of a typical SRRHS student’s social life, including most dances, shooting a lower-than-expected score at State was extra-frustrating, Cooper said.

“A lot of times, I’d end up playing from the same tee as the guys,” she said. “That was really hard.

“Then we got to State, and we played an all-girls team and shot 10 shots worse than the guys. For all of us to shoot those scores, it was really unfair to see where our tee boxes were, and some of the shots, compared to the guys.”

So Whitney Cooper, Academic All-Atlantic 10 for two years at UMass, had one piece of advice for her sister after she wrapped up her high school career — “control your controllables,” as mother Jolie Cooper said.

“With softball, you can’t control the umpires, what’s happening around you,” Whitney Cooper said. “The only thing you can control is yourself, and your reaction to what happens.

“You have to take that 1 percent you can control and do as much as you can with it. That’s what separates the good players from the great players.”

Once Cooper started playing at Mesa, the tee boxes were the same as NCAA Division I and II four-year schools — and she had other teammates who were girls.

“Funny thing, if she misses it, she’d rather be in the sand trap than in the rough or the grass,” said father Monty Cooper, who also played college golf at Angelo State University in Texas.

More opportunities for private workouts with a couple of Phoenix strength coaches also helped Cooper, despite having to give up many of her weekends her junior and senior years at SRRHS.

One of them, Kene Benzel, is the No. 1 women’s junior golf coach in the state, and probably the country, Monty Cooper said.

“I want to say he’s had at least 25 to 30 D-I athletes come out of his program,” Savanah Cooper added. “He doesn’t work with us one-on-one that much.

“There’ll be 20 of us on the driving range. I’ll be standing on one side and he’ll yell at you from the other.”

Benzel taught Cooper to swing like top PGA golfers like Rory McIlroy, she said.

“I know I hit it far,” Cooper said. “Just knowing that is such a huge deal. Instead of having to hit a hybrid or long iron, I have a wedge.

“You’re more accurate. It’s a huge deal.”

At CSUN, Cooper will also have the opportunity to be part of something bigger than herself, which she first had a taste of when she visited UMass with her older sister.

“A D-I school, that’s quite an accomplishment,” Monty Cooper said. “Girl golfers aren’t little girls anymore. I’m proud of both my girls.”