VASSALBORO — Colin Mitchell saw the rankings. The Lincoln Academy junior didn’t agonize over them, but yeah, he checked them out.
Sixth in Class B, 16th in the state, according to the Maine high school golf rankings that made their debut this fall.
“I kind of saw it as an opportunity to prove myself,” Mitchell said after winning the Class B individual state title Saturday afternoon at Natanis Golf Club. “I’m sixth. I’ve got nothing to lose, really.”
The idea for a statewide ranking had percolated in Brian Bickford’s brain for a while. How could Maine Golf, the state’s governing body for the sport, make it happen?
“I always was intrigued by Heal points,” Bickford said, referring to the system by which the MPA ranks teams to seed the tournament in most high school sports. “For me, it kind of brings the state together.”
How does a player from Fort Kent compare with a player from York when they’ve played entirely different courses all season, in different conditions? This ranking system helps quantify what had been unquantifiable.
Bickford, the executive director for Maine Golf, who also coaches the University of Southern Maine golf team, enlisted Alex Grant in the endeavor. A 2024 Nokomis High grad and a member of the USM golf team, Grant worked on creating the ranking system.
An information technology major, the project was right in Grant’s wheelhouse. The rankings include the player’s score, course slope and course rating. To put it in basic terms, the better a player shoots on a tougher course, the higher he or she will rank.
It goes beyond the eye test and score comparisons. Taking a course’s rating into account gives a more accurate measure of a player. A plus-2 on a more challenging course has to be considered more impressive than an even-par round on an easier one, right?
“I wish it was something I had when I was in high school, whether I was ranked 1,000 or first,” Grant said.
Winthrop junior Kaydence Allarie knew entering her round Saturday that she was the top-ranked girl in Class C. She was a little nervous, especially with 18 holes to play rather than the typical nine played in the regular season.
Allarie probably had the healthiest attitude toward the rankings.
“Anything can happen,” she said. “You pretty much just play and do your best. I just wanted to stay consistent and not worry about everyone else. Just be me.”
The more rounds played, the more accurate the rankings should be. Anyone can have a bad day, the kind that makes you want to give your putter a Viking funeral. Anyone can have a great day, too, when every tee shot finds the middle of the fairway and you read every green perfectly.
The rankings work as a complete picture, Grant said. As the season moved from late August to early October, the minimum number of matches required to be ranked increased.
“The more the merrier. It gave you a better ranking,” Grant said.
The rankings, available for viewing at mainegolf.org, rank individual players in each class, as well as teams. Going into Class B state championship, Mitchell and his Lincoln Academy teammates figured through the ranking that Freeport and Fryeburg Academy would be their top competition for the team title.
In Class C, the top-ranked team was Winthrop, ahead of Dexter and Calais.
To the MPA’s credit, they love it.
“I feel a little guilty. People keep thanking me and congratulating me, and I had little to nothing to do with it,” said Todd Sampson, the MPA assistant executive director.
To the MPA, submitting results for the rankings was strictly voluntary this fall. The MPA doesn’t have any plans to use the rankings in determining which golfers play with whom at the state championships. Maybe that’ll change in a few years, when there’s more data to analyze and any kinks or bugs have been ironed out.
Sampson said a few athletic directors have expressed interest in using the rankings as a barometer for choosing all-conference players, since it covers a player’s complete season of work if data is entered dilligently after each match.
For this debut season, the rankings gave high school golfers something to talk about. And for some, maybe a little motivation.