Southmoreland grad Austin Goehring shines for Geneva golf despite being fairly new to game

Austin Goehring had hoped to play in the recently completed U.S. Open. Instead, the Southmoreland grad and rising senior at Geneva joined the thousands of spectators for the second round at Oakmont Country Club.

Goehring played in the local qualifier May 13 at Quicksilver Golf Club, but struggles with his irons limited him to a 79, seven strokes from the final qualifying spot. So he made the best of it with his family, watching Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy.

“We didn’t get rained on. We left before the rain,” Goehring said. “We were there for about seven hours, so it was fun.”

Don’t feel too badly for Goehring. He has a long way to go in golf, and he already has come a long way in a short time.

He took up the game only five years ago, and he recently completed one of the most decorated seasons in the brief history of the Golden Tornadoes program. He shot a program-record 70 for 18 holes at Connoquenessing Country Club, Geneva’s home course, and finished fifth in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference championship, giving Geneva its first first-team all-conference men’s golfer.

Not bad for a young man who has had exactly one paid lesson in his life.

“I would say kind of a split between self-taught and a little help from my dad,” Goehring said of his golf training. “Most of the stuff I do, I just kind of watch Tiger’s (Woods) 2000 swing or Rory’s swing, then I film my swing and compare them and then just kind of match what they do.”

For most of his life — 13 years by his count — Goehring had been a hockey player. But when the pandemic hit in 2020 and shut down many indoor activities, he decided to try golf.

The strokes came off quickly. In less than two months, he said, his scores went from the 90s to the 70s.

He was hooked and traded in slap shots for chip shots.

Besides his apparent natural skill, Goehring said what drew him to golf was its individuality. The scorecard didn’t play favorites.

“With hockey, I never had an issue with teammates,” he said. “My biggest problem was, if I go to a tryout, I’m relying on someone else to make the decision to put me on a team or not. And there’s definitely some organizations where, if you knew people, you had a better chance than others.

“The other thing I like about golf more than hockey is the amount of work I put in, I get the same amount of results back. Whatever I put in, I get out of it.”

What he has gotten out of it is his name all over the Geneva record book. The men’s golf team just completed its fourth season, and Goehring has produced the Golden Tornadoes’ top four rounds.

His 70 came during the fall portion of the 2024-25 season. In the PAC championship — two rounds in the fall at Avalon Lakes near Youngstown and two rounds in the spring at Mill Creek Golf Course in Boardman, Ohio — Goehring shot 72-79-77-75 to place fifth and earn his first-team all-conference honor.

“As far as the school record goes, it was cool, but I try not to focus on that too much,” he said. “And then, with the first-team all-conference, it was definitely the best finish I’ve had so far in playing in college, but my game still wasn’t at the point where I wanted it to be.

“So that kind of gives me a little bit of motivation and a little bit of comfort that I didn’t play the way I wanted to but still ended up having a decent finish.”

Goehring continues to just scratch the surface of his golf game, and he is working on his mechanics and accuracy with his driver to prepare for next season. As for being relegated to spectator at the U.S. Open, Goehring is hoping to be on the other side of the ropes some day.

“I definitely have aspirations to go as far as I possibly can,” he said.