Few, if any, boys golfers in the state are off to a better start this season than Mason Lenhart.

The North Oldham High School senior has won four of the first seven 18-hole tournaments he’s played in and currently is second in the Kentucky Golf Coaches Association’s All-State point standings.

Lenhart started the season by shooting a 68 at Heritage Hill Golf Club to win Bullitt East’s Charger Open on July 29. Three days after that he fired a 68 at Nevel Meade Golf Course to win Oldham County’s Colonel Classic by eight shots. Lenhart followed that up by shooting a 67 Aug. 8 at Standard Club in Ballard’s Bruin Invitational. Then, five days after that, he carded a 66 to win the Battle at the Bridge at Old Bridge Golf Course.

It’s the beginning of what Lenhart, who tied for 15th at State last year in his third straight trip to Bowling Green, hopes will be a benchmark season.

Q: When did you start playing golf?

A: When I was 10, and that’s when I really decided I wanted to play serious and competitive. I started taking lessons from Cory Kaufman, the coach I still go to today and I’ve worked with him for seven years now. He’s really helped me grow my golf game. I owe a lot of my success to him.

Q: What was it about golf that you liked?  

A: My dad played from his 20s on and he said he always wished he would’ve started earlier, so he pushed me to start early and I picked it up. I really liked it. I felt like I kind of had some natural ability at it, so it was fun for me.

Q: Did you have success right away?  

A: Yeah. I started off in the Pepsi (Junior Tour) and won my third tournament I ever played in, so I was like, ‘Oh, I think I can do this.’ It wasn’t a good score or anything, it was just there was very little competition. But I liked the feeling of winning so I just wanted to keep playing, (and) win a bunch more, and I have.

Q: Did you play other sports growing up?

A: I played basketball up til sixth grade. I wasn’t that good at that, so I just decided to narrow it down to one sport and just focus on one. I knew I was obviously a lot better at golf than basketball. And in golf, there’s no physical limitations really, it’s controllable. There’s nothing you can do about being under 6-foot (Lenhart is 5-9) and wanting to play basketball, unless you’re a stud.

Q: You’ve gone to State the last three years. What’s that been like?

A: It’s really cool to go to State, because there’s players I know who are just as good as me and they haven’t ever been able to go, so it’s cool to be able to go every year. And I hope I can go again this year. I hope the team can go this year. That would be nice. …I want to win State if I can. That’s kind of like my last goal of high school. I want to win the overall All-State (points) and then State if I can.

Q: What’s your lowest round?

A: In high school it’s 65. I shot that last year at the Battle of the Bridge tournament. My lowest score ever was a 64, which was a 7-under-par and that still holds the 18-hole record for the Musselman-Dunne Junior Golf Tour. It was at Iroquois (Golf Course).

Q: When did you shoot that 64?

A: I was 14.

Q: What are your strengths on the course?  

A: Driving and putting. I drive the ball pretty far for my size (his average his over 300 yards) and I putt pretty well most of the time.

Q: What part of your game do you need to improve on?

A: Chipping, probably. That’s really, I think, the biggest thing that’s holding me back because I’ve won 30 tournaments through junior golf and it probably could’ve been 50 if I chipped how I should.

Q: Do you want to play golf in college?

A: Yes, I’m considering some offers. The University of Dayton, Cincinnati and UK have offered. I’ve been hoping for an offer from Iowa.

MASON LENHART UP CLOSE

School: North Oldham.

Year: Senior.

Sports: Golf.

Student-athlete: Mason, whose favorite subject is math, has a 3.93 GPA. He is in his sixth year on the school’s golf team.

Family: Mason, 17, lives with her mother, Karen; his father, Tony; and his younger brother, Landon, 14, who is a freshman at Trinity. His older sister, Madison, 20, attends the University of Kentucky.

North Oldham coach Larry Dunn says: He’s capitalized on the talent he was blessed with. Everything that’s coming his way, he’s done all the hard work to earn and I’m very, very proud of him.