Girls Golfer of the Year: Shyell Lowe helped lead Oswego Co-Op program to new heights

Knowing where you want to hit the little white ball is a heck of a lot simpler than lining up your shot and putting it there consistently.

No one in the area did it better this fall than Oswego East senior Shyell Lowe, who not only has a great last name for a sport where the lowest round wins, but has the honor of being named the 2023 Record Newspapers Girls Golfer of the Year to go along with it.

“I loved my senior season and had more expectations this year,” she said. “I wanted to go to state after being injured last year and going the year before. Another goal was for the team to win sectional, and we finished high up and close. We broke a lot of records [like the lowest 18-hole score as a team]. We were conference champions and we won the regional which we didn’t expect to win but knew it would be close. We had a lot more bonding on the team and we got some new freshmen to join.”

Lowe and fellow senior Katelin Hong led Oswego Co-op to the Southwest Prairie Conference title as the duo took the program to new heights. While Hong earned MVP honors in the SPC, Lowe came back stronger than ever after injuries sidelined her a season ago to win medalist honors with a 73 in the Class 2A Plainfield North Regional at Whitetail Ridge Golf Course in Yorkville on Sept. 28.

Lowe also led the team with a 74 at the Class 2A Burlington Central Sectional at Whisper Creek Golf Course in Huntley on Oct. 2.

At the Class 2A state finals, she finished tied for 26th place, firing rounds of 75 and 72 to finish with a two-day score of 157 at Hickory Point Golf Course in Decatur.

“I know she was extra motivated after her sophomore year and then being injured her junior year,” Oswego co-op coach Brian Chandler said. “She took on a role as manager her junior year and was nothing but positive in a leadership role, not just focusing on herself, but helping the lower level kids. She was then able to come back and fit right back into her role as a leader.”

Being sidelined was foreign territory for Lowe, like a sand trap or water hazard, but she stayed strong and persevered.

“I was in Florida and my hands started to hurt and I had tendonitis and golfers elbow on both arms,” she said. “That was really annoying. I also played clarinet, which involved my wrist and arms, so I stopped that and I didn’t play badminton in the spring. So, I was disappointed that I couldn’t do anything. I was just there watching the team, but it gave me a different perspective. Since I usually played varsity it gave me a chance to see JV and just seeing different people and people behind the scenes gave me a different perspective.”

Like her ability to know where to hit her shots, whether from the tee, fairway or in the rare instance when she finds the rough, Lowe is beyond her years when it comes to what she plans on doing next.

With a 3.9 GPA, she’s now hunting for the right college. She’s eyeing a destination where she can continue ascending toward a professional golfing career as well as another profession that will ideally allow her to spend most of her time on the golf course rather than an office. She also plans on modeling golf clothes in college after getting a good taste of the experience modeling for Oswego East’s Black Student Alliance Club.

Lowe wants to help women in the corporate world learn how to play golf. She got the idea after serving as a guest speaker for the Lisle-based Golf For Life, an organization that serves as a mentor and coaching resource to develop youth and aspiring golfers through clinics, training and workshops, utilizing golf as a platform for achieving sustainable life values that will enhance their success through high school, college and life.

“It’s been a topic of discussion for me and my dad for a few years now after I participated as a guest speaker for Golf for Life,” she said. “I played nine holes with the daughter of this woman from Golf for Life and showed her some little tips. After we finished, [the woman] said why don’t you just teach women how to golf on a corporate level and I thought that’s not a bad idea, because at first I had that idea, but had thrown it out the window because I’m not in these businesses so I don’t necessarily have that experience. But then after talking to some more people they said I should do it and so that’s why I want to do it.”

She wants to share her love for the game while helping others.

“I also want to help African-Americans and LGTBQ+ individuals as well, because I have that experience and I know what it takes,” she said. “I could be a role model for those groups of people as well. And I am very interested in business with my dad being a sales manager. I love business on top of golf so I want to be my own boss so I’ve connected the dots on how I can do that.”

Continuing to expand her horizons, Lowe is learning Chinese, with dreams of one day playing in the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) or Ladies Asian Tour. She’s already played in 15 states in addition to The Corn State.

“I really like traveling and talking to different people and talking in Chinese,” she said. “I like seeing and playing different courses. Golf is a very social thing. I like that a lot. It’s fascinating. Basketball plays on the same court but with all the golf courses it’s a completely different experience from West Coast to East Coast.”

Like many kids, Lowe gave a lot of other sports a try before she fell in love with being on the golf course.

“I’ve played golf ever since I could hold a club in my hand at 1 or 2,” she said. “I was born in Florida and we moved up here when I was 3. I played soccer, basketball and some other things, like volleyball, which didn’t work out. In basketball, I didn’t like that atmosphere or memorizing plays and stuff so I stuck with golf because I was good at it and I really liked it. And you can get so many more opportunities from it.”

Lowe fit in right away when he joined the golf team as a freshman, but was emotionally raw.

“I was very nervous freshman year and not necessarily the best at handling my emotions,” she said. “There were a lot of ups and downs so I wasn’t consistent and working on a lot of things emotionally and skill wise. I’ve improved a lot since then.”

Those improvements were evident in the biggest matches during the regular season and throughout the post-season.

“Some of her biggest matches came against the toughest competition when we needed some great scores,” Chandler said. “During her freshman and sophomore years she’d hit the driver to hit it far and by senior year she was having conversations about what type of shot to hit, where do we want to put it for the next one so we can thrive on it and future preparation on a hole and a plan of attack. She’s very aware and has matured over the years.”