FRENCHTOWN — One of the best female golfers in the state calls Frenchtown home.
Katie Lewis is is fresh off winning her three consecutive Class A state championship. But her passion for the sport started early as she played with her dad, who learned to play golf because of his job in sales.
"He needed to learn how to play golf and so he was out on the golf course like every night and my mom, because there's three of us, she said, 'Hey, take the kids,'" Lewis said. "So he took us and I ended up being the one that ended up falling in love with it and just playing out with him all the time."
After falling in love with the game, Lewis learned to play golf in one of the hardest states to do so. Because in Montana your game can be interrupted by heavy rain, wind and snow.
“Being from Montana, you got to be a Montana-tough kid,” Lewis said. “When it starts raining or the wind's going crazy, you can't just be like, 'No, I'm not going to practice today.' You go out there and you play and you just kind of figure out, deal with the elements.”
When Katie was in middle school she had her current golf coach, Tim Yeager, as a teacher. The two bonded over the game when she was younger. In 2021 the golf coaching position opened at Frenchtown and Yeager knew he wanted to be part of something special.
“When the job opened up and I knew that she was going to be a freshman, I just (thought) you what an opportunity to be able to coach a kid that's not only a great golfer but a great kid, just (an) awesome student,” Yeager said.
“Every teacher loves her, she has so many friends, she's just the personality, how good of a kid she is. So I knew coming in that it was going to be a special run.”
Lewis’ state title run was also historic as she was the first golfer from Frenchtown — girl or boy — to take home a state title, a feat that she accomplished three times.
“It's something nobody can take away from you. I'll always have that here and I'll always have that special place in my heart for Frenchtown,” Lewis said.
After her historic high school career, Lewis is now looking to take her game to the next level by committing to the school just a short drive away from her hometown, the University of Montana.
“I’m super excited. I think I have the best coaching staff you could ask for. I think it will help me more than I know,” Lewis said. “To just have this knowledge that they have and expand upon my game to make it even better.”
The coaches are not the only reason Lewis chose the fairway close to home.
“There's just no place like it. You won't find a community like the Griz where people are always fired up for game days and are waiting hours on end at tailgates,” Lewis said. “You'll never find a community or anything like that outside of here.”
