WARDEN — When April 10 rolled around, Everett Cox, a freshman on the boys golf team for the Warden Cougars, hit the green early to work on his putting and chipping prior to the team's match against Chewelah at Sage Hills Golf Course. He said it felt like a pretty normal morning to him as he got in some last-minute practice. 

He said he felt good about that extra practice when going through his first hole in the match. After not being satisfied with his short game, putting in some extra time looked to be paying off. What Cox did not prepare for was his hole-in-one shot on the second hole. When it went in, he had to do a double-take to see if his eyes were deceiving him.  

“I walked up there, and I was like, ‘Man, hopefully this really is in the hole, and I don't look like a big idiot,’ but, yeah, I walked up there, and sure enough, it was sitting in the hole,” Cox said.  

On top of the impressive shot, he finished first in the match, shooting at a score of 85.  

“I had to grab the ball that he hit into the hole on hole three, because there's OB fence line pastureland out of bounds right on three, and he was getting ready to tee up the same ball, so I grabbed it from him so that he could save the ball and put it on his trophy case,” head coach Tim Carlberg said.  

Cox has only been playing golf for three years, he said. His love for the game began when he would go out with his brother and cousin. After a few outings, he was hooked.  

“It's an amazing sport. Like, some golf shots you'll hit, and there's a great feeling behind it, and that's just what I mainly liked about it, and just being outside. I just love it,” Cox said. 

Ever since he was four, Cox had predominantly played baseball before joining the Cougars boys golf team for the first time. He said his swing in baseball was helpful in honing his skills on the course.  

Cox is part of a golf team that is on the younger side, though Carlberg feels confident in his team’s potential.  

“The improvement, the natural ability that they all have, I think the sky's the limit as far as where they can go from here. We've got postseason coming up, and these guys will be trying to qualify for districts on May 6, and I think our top three kids have a real good shot to maybe get to state, so we'll see where it goes from there,” he said.  

In his free time, Cox likes to spend the weekends hunting or fishing with his family, another activity that he has been doing from a young age. He can recall his first kill back in sixth grade and the excitement he took from that. To him, the feeling of a successful hunt and a hole-in-one were comparable.  

“They're both pretty close, but I still think the hole in one takes it,” he said.