COLORADO SPRINGS - As he chips toward a specific flag in the practice area at Kissing Camels Golf Club, Coronado’s Noah Keller can’t help but state what he feels is the most obvious critique about his game.
 
“This season hasn’t been great for me,” he says.
 
He smacks another ball and watches as it lands and releases toward the target, coming to a stop close enough that on any weekend round with his buddies, it’s a gimme and he gets to pick it up.
 
What’s he learned this year, his final year of playing high school golf, is that there are no gimmes. Keller was a three-time state qualifier heading into this season. He finished second at last year's regional at Desert Hawk and was one stroke outside of a top-10 finish at the Class 4A state tournament at the Country Club of Colorado.
 
That effort was a result of what happened his first go around at state. He was near the bottom of the leaderboard at Flying Horse but quickly realized that his ability was only limited by the amount of effort he was willing to put into getting better.
 
“Golf is a sport where you can be as good as you want to be, it’s just all about how hard you’re willing to work,” he said. “I found that since my freshman year where I didn’t put up the scores that I’ve wanted and since then I’ve worked as hard as I could to make it to my fourth state tournament.”
 
His season started strong with a second-place finish at the Doherty Spartan Invite at the Colorado Springs Country Club. He grabbed top-five finishes at Silver Spruce, Cheyenne Shadows and Shining Mountain.
 
And that’s what he considers not being great. There hasn’t been a win, but to see his name near the top of the leaderboard after any given round has never been a surprise. Even when he feels like he’s struggling on the course, he relies on what this game has taught him throughout the course of his life and he keeps battling. Because there’s really no other choice.
 
“This game has matured me in so many ways,” Keller said. “I would say that it has prepared me to go through some really difficult times in life. Things can keep pushing me down and I just want to set it all down and let it beat me up. But it’s taught me that you have to stick through it.”
 
As he chips away, his mind turns to City Park Golf Course in Denver. He and the rest of the 4A qualifiers head there on Monday to battle it out for a state title. Keller is the only Cougar to qualify for state but given the closeness of the high school players in Colorado Springs, he certainly won’t be alone when he tees off. The kids that play for Cheyenne Mountain, Lewis-Palmer and Palmer Ridge are kids that Keller sees frequently and wants to see succeed right there alongside him.
 
“Golf is the one sport where despite wanting to win, everybody cheers for everybody,” he said. “If someone throws a good round out then they throw a good round out. I’m going to give them a high five.”
 
As he chips away, the bag of golf balls he set down to hit is running low. He doesn’t have many shots left. He takes careful aim and makes sure to make every single one count.
 
Like his high school golf career, there aren’t many swings left so each one is more important than the last. It will all culminate at City Park starting on Monday.
 
“I have two rounds to make something happen at state,” he says.
 
And there are no gimmes, so he knows that each shot in those two rounds is going to be his best effort.