Jun 21, 2025
Cassadaga Valley sophomore Jocelyn Wintersteen putts for a birdie at Cassadaga Country Club during a practice round as Cassadaga Valley/Maple Grove teammate Brandi Meder looks on earlier this season. OBSERVER file photo by Christian Storms
One of the biggest aspects to golf is the mental side of the game and being able to rise to the big moments.
Cassadaga Valley sophomore Jocelyn Wintersteen found herself in one of those big moments last Sunday at the New York State Federation Golf Tournament at James Baird State Golf Course, but she didn’t even know it.
Without live scoring, Wintersteen, her coaches and her family were unaware how well her opponents were doing, but with her approach shot on the 18th green she was left with a 40-foot birdie putt to end her season. Just like any other scoring opportunity, she went through her routine and then took her putter back and through the ball.
To her excitement, the ball found the bottom of the cup to cap a 1-over 74 round.
“I was like, ‘That’s awesome,’” Wintersteen said Thursday. “Everybody was there watching. All the tournament directors, everybody that played there in the tournament watched it all.
Cassadaga Valley sophomore Jocelyn Wintersteen is pictured with the NYS Federation girls golf championship banner with runner-up Delaney Abel, right, and fifth-place finisher Ciana Tzuo at James Baird State Park Golf Course last Sunday. Submitted photo
“On No. 18 I hit the drive pretty good,” Wintersteen continued. “Then all I wanted to do was hit it in the middle of the green because I didn’t feel that I needed to make a putt. I hit one right up there and about 40 feet. It was a no-pressure putt because I really had no idea where I was. I lined up as I normally do and it just happened to be my putt because it was dead center of the hole and went in.”
However, even more excited than her were the rest of the competitors and the tournament directors as the birdie tied Wintersteen with Corning/Painted Post’s Delaney Abel and Rye Country Day School’s Jade Zhao at 1-over, setting up for a playoff.
“I had no idea where I was throughout that tournament,” Wintersteen said. “I just played my own game and, yet again, I did not care about the competition. In the end I didn’t even know what I shot.”
With the event running late, it went to a scorecard playoff which determined the winner based on the golfers’ success on the hardest hole, which was the 412-yard par 5 No. 10. That just happened to be the best hole of the day for Wintersteen as she scored an eagle, earning the sophomore the New York State Federation golf championship.
“I’m very glad that I got the opportunity in the first place,” Wintersteen said about winning. “Even though I didn’t technically make it, I did want to show and prove that I was very capable of being there. But being this young it is really interesting to see what I can do in the future.”
Cassadaga Valley’s Jocelyn Wintersteen hits an approach shot during a practice round at Cassadaga Country Club earlier this season. OBSERVER File Photo by Christian Storms
Not only was winning the Federation Tournament a surprise to her, but even qualifying for the competition also earned a belated celebration after finishing tied for 12th at the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships at Mill Creek Golf Club in Rush the week before.
“I got a phone call a couple of days later saying I had a chance to go there,” Wintersteen said about the federation tournament. “I used that as an opportunity to learn about the tournament for the upcoming years. I wasn’t expecting to win it. My goal was to be in the top 10 and I would have been happy. I just wanted to go there, experience the competition and play as well as I could.”
Wintersteen jumped on the opportunity to compete in the event and it allowed her to showcase that she belongs right with the best girls golfers in the state.
Getting to that point already as a sophomore has taken plenty of hard work and dedication by Wintersteen, mostly over the summer at her family’s course, Cassadaga Country Club.
“She finally understands the ‘P’ word, which is practice,” Jocelyn’s dad, Steve, said. “When you’re younger you don’t think that, all you want to do is play. That was the ‘P’ word. We had a tournament out here the day before she went to states and she was on the practice green for the entire time the tournament was out there playing. She spent three or four hours just on the practice green putting, chipping, putting, just constant.”
Even after qualifying for the state tournament as an eighth-grader and then a freshman, Wintersteen was underwhelmed by her success on the links. Knowing that talent could get her only so far, she knew that a strong mental approach to the game would take her to the next level.
“The past couple of years haven’t been as well as I’ve hoped,” Wintersteen stated. “I really started nailing down over the summer this past year. My goals going into this season were more so focusing on the mental side of the game, (making) sure I don’t get into my head and just play through it.
“I tried definitely to not to get mad over certain shots,” Wintersteen added. “I would just go with the flow. If I had a bad shot, rebound on the next shot.”
All of her offseason work yielded great results in the regular season competing in the Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association and then at sectionals to qualify for the state championships for the third straight year.
“I got my second undefeated title this year,” Wintersteen said about her season. “Going through each match I didn’t think about that, I didn’t stress about it, I just went through and played my game. That led up to sectionals and I didn’t play as well as I wanted to, but I did as good as I needed to.”
Over her first two trips to the state tournament, she did not see a ton of improvement in her two-day score, shooting a 183 at The Edison Club as an eighth-grader and then 183 in her freshman season.
That all changed earlier this month at Wild Wood Country Club when, after her first nine holes, Wintersteen was in the lead and then by the end of Day 1 was right in contention, shooting even par and two strokes back of the leader.
”Compared to last year’s states, I wasn’t as mentally understanding of it,” Wintersteen said about her previous trips to states. “Obviously, I knew it was a big tournament, but as my game has gotten better over this past year I’ve been more mentally aware of what I am doing and where I’m at right now. This year especially I really focused on not overthinking it, but realizing where I’m at and how I need to compete.”
Wintersteen fell out of contention for the public school championship on Day 2 after posting an 83, but still tied for 12th overall which was a drastic jump from tied for 57th as a freshman.
“It was different, very different,” Wintersteen said about her success at states this season. “I was not expecting it. I obviously had goals for the year, it wasn’t that high. … First day was very slow so it was already a mental challenge to stay with it and not be impatient waiting. I was just walking with my head high. I wasn’t worried about any of the girls I was playing with. I didn’t care where they were at or if they were beating me and I just kept playing my game.”
It is the top six golfers from each of the four associations, the NYSPHSAA, the Catholic High School Athletic Association, the Association of Independent Schools and the Public School Athletic League of New York who qualify for the New York State Federation Championship to determine an overall champion in the state.
With a couple of girls unable to compete last weekend, a spot opened up for Wintersteen and she certainly made the most of it.
After going 2-over on the front 9 at James Baird State Golf Park, Wintersteen began the back with an eagle-3 en route to a 36, which was 1-under and 1-over overall on the par 73 course. Three girls were tied at 74 after 18 holes — Abel, Zhao and Wintersteen — but it was Jocelyn’s eagle that kickstarted her strong back 9 to secure the championship at New York’s top girls high school golfer.
“The first seven holes were a little all over the place,” Wintersteen said about her round. “But I started adjusting as I needed to throughout the round and I finally got into a rhythm on holes 8-18. As soon as I got to No. 10, a long par 5, I can typically hit the ball really far so I like getting up to par 5s and try to reach them in two. … I was confident going with my eagle and that hole right there was pretty much what did it all.”
The 2024 champion of the NYS Federation tournament was Sophia Li of Hunter College High School in Manhattan and next year she will be competing at the NCAA Division I level with Dartmouth College. Wintersteen still has time before making a college decision, but her goal is to compete at the next level as a Division I golfer, and winning the NYS Federation tournament is certainly a step in the correct direction.
“I would love to play golf in college,” Wintersteen said about her future. “Obviously, the hope is DI, but I would settle for DII or DIII if it meant that I was able to play more. If it were to come to be that I succeed in college, I would love absolutely to go further. But right now the hope is to get to college.”
Not straying too far into the future, Wintersteen will continue her endless rounds at Cassadaga Country Club and tournaments over the summer, perfecting her craft to add to an already impressive golf resume.
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