Pleasant's Dina Shah focuses on self on golf course

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Pleasant senior Dina Shah watches her tee shot during the Division II girls golf district tournament at Darby Creek this fall. Shah is the Fahey Bank Athlete of the Month for November among Marion County girls.

MARION — On the golf course, it’s Dina Shah versus Dina Shah.

“I feel like I try to compete with my scores rather than compete with someone else’s scores,” the Pleasant senior said. “In a big match, I would obviously want to compete with other girls, but most of the time, I’m just trying to beat my own scores and get closer to par score or under par score, that sort of thing.”

Her approach to the game served her well.

For the second straight season, Shah was named Mid Ohio Athletic Conference Girls Golfer of the Year and as of press time is among the nominees for Central District Player of the Year in Division II. It also garnered her the Fahey Bank Athlete of the Month Award for November among Marion County girls.

The last award wasn’t on her radar.

“To be honest I didn’t know about it until a couple weeks ago, but I’m really happy that I was awarded this,” she said of the Fahey Award. “I’m really honored to get it, but to be honest, those were not my goals. My goal was to play the best I could. Those awards that came with it, I’m really happy that they did.”

For Shah, and her older brother Minoy who qualified for the boys state golf tournament when he was a senior, it is more of an internal game than it is a chase for trophies and accolades.

“She’s a very smart player who usually put it in the right spots. She didn’t take unnecessary risks,” Pleasant golf coach Jeff Davis said. “Usually I was spending most of my time with the other kids because I knew she was fine. I’d come around and ask how are you doing? ‘I’m terrible.’ I’d look at her scorecard and she’s three-over through six. I’d say, ‘Dina, you’re doing fine.’”

Shah’s focus was laser-like and her demeanor was stoic. Bad shot or good shot, no one could ever tell what kind of day she was having on the course.

“One of the big things was even if she hit a bad shot, the hole wasn’t over. I saw her make some incredible recoveries and still come away with a par,” Davis said.

During a tournament at the Vernon View Golf Course in Mount Vernon, Shah hit one over the green and up a hill in a patch of dirt and potholes. Thirty yards from from the hole and standing above the green, she stuck her chip to within 10 feet and saved par with a putt.

“That kind of stuff happened a lot,” Davis said. “Most of the time, she kept the ball in play. She had a very good short game, and she made putts.”

The coach knew he had a special one during her freshman year when she was forced to play on the highly competitive boys team due to not enough girls to fill a girls squad. During a cold, windy evening going against the first-place Galion Tigers, she was filling the No. 5 spot in the lineup. Pleasant was trailing by a couple of shots, but she soldiered home with a 44 that flipped the score for a two-stroke win for the Spartans.

“You could always count on her to be solid,” he said.

And when the Spartans had enough for a girls team during her junior and senior years, Shah could be counted on to be spectacular.

She averaged a 37 for nine holes this season, playing at the tough Marion Country Club. She also was medalist in matches or tournaments 11 times this year.

“She’s set a standard that I don’t know if it will ever be met again,” Davis said. “She’s such a great teammate for the other girls. She’s always trying to do her best, but she’s interested in the team doing their best, too. I think Maura (Murphy, a Pleasant junior and No. 2 player) helped her immensely because they are both competitive and both very good. They kind of pushed each other. She’s been a tremendous teammate and player for us.”

In Pleasant’s first two seasons with a girls program, the Spartans dominated the MOAC for championships by 50-plus strokes in the tournaments and going undefeated in the regular seasons. They also made the highly competitive Division II Central District Tournament the last two years.

“I really enjoyed these past two years with the girls. I really liked my season this year. Other than the districts game, I’m pretty happy with my scores,” she said.

Rarely did a bad shot turn into a worse shot with Shah. She was largely unflappable on the course.

“Even if I’m having a bad day or a good day, I try to talk with the other girls I’m playing with,” Shah said. “I try not to get too upset over a bad shot or a bad hole because I know every time I get upset, the next hole I continue doing worse. I try not to have one hole affect my whole game.”

Shah has never thrown a club in anger. She’s never had an outburst while playing.

“It’s definitely taken years to not get upset over it,” she admitted “A lot of my tournaments this year in the first nine I played bad, and then the second nine I did good and I got a good score. I try not to let my emotions affect me too much.”

Even in her worst moment, she kept her composure, which is a testament to her strong character.

Leading the D-II district by a few shots while standing on the 18th tee box and knowing she was a hole away from clinching the lone state qualifying spot, Shah saw it all slip away in the course of 10 minutes.

“That was definitely the worst hole of my high school career,” she said of her closing 9 on the final hole. “I was so upset when I finished my round. It was not what I was expecting when I went onto that golf course that day, but I was happy that I played the other 17 holes really well.”

Shah knew where she was on the leaderboard, but said that’s not why she failed to finish the way she wanted.

“I think I got nervous with the water by the green and that’s just how it goes, I guess,” she said.

Davis wondered if adrenaline played a part in the final moments as he said the approach shot “jumped on her.”

“She was pretty upset right after it happened and that’s where having a good team around you and you’re all good friends helps,” the coach continued. “They sat down and talked with her and had her smiling after a little bit. When we got back from the bus ride, she went through what it was that she was thinking. There was no fault with it.

“It all makes sense and that’s golf. Sometimes you hit a really good shot and it doesn’t turn out very good. That’s what happened to her there. She’s handled it great.”

Indeed, Shah refuses to let the final strokes of her last high school match define her as an athlete.

“I know that match was my last match, but it was also just another match like everyone. I’m focusing more on practicing and not making those same mistakes,” she said.

Shah is a top 10 student in her senior class who will graduate with her associate’s degree in the spring. She hasn’t made a college decision and hasn’t ruled out playing golf at the next level, but she’s leaning toward studying pre-law at Ohio State’s main campus.