High school student athletes put in a lot of work to be good at their sport. But in order to be able to compete, they also have to be successful in the classroom. Enid’s Peter Shepherd says that in order to do it, you have to be willing to put in the extra time.

“To balance school work and golf is a lot of work,” he said. “That is because we are playing right when school is wrapping up and it’s stressful to get all the work done and still get the practice in.  I overcome that by paying attention in class and just staying up a little later to get all my school work done.”

Peter is a freshman at Enid High School. Along with playing golf, he is also in the school’s choir. There have been people in his life that have helped Shepherd get to where he is today.

“Some of my role models for golf are Jordan Speith and Justin Thomas,” Peter said. “They show that having fun and winning go hand-in-hand. My brother, David, motivates me to be better and to work hard one hundred percent of the time.”

While he is still an underclassman with a lot more varsity playing time ahead of him, Shepherd has a moment that he would call the highlight of his career so far.

“In my short career, my biggest moment has been placing top ten in my first high school varsity tournament at my home course,” he recalled. “It was a great feeling.”

In order to improve his game, Peter also depends on his teammates to help him get better each day.

“I enjoy working with my brother a lot because he is very talented and great competition for me to practice against,” he said. “I think our team’s least appreciated member is our coach. He puts a lot of work into managing our team and waking up so early every morning there is a tournament.”