“[At one practice], she ended up spending an extra hour to get five perfect shots,” girls’ golf coach Jason Amy said.
That work paid off when Floyd finished second in the state championship last week, shooting a 73 and a 70.
“States had a great atmosphere and it was a good finish to the season,” Floyd said. “Amy was a big help this whole season, especially at states.”
Floyd also won sixth place in the USKids World Championships Girls 15-18 and was the top finishing American 
player. Floyd was also named 2017’s Player of the Year for the Big 8 Conference. She started playing golf almost 10 years ago when her dad introduced it her after several years of watching both her parents play.
“[My parents] are my biggest supporters,” Floyd said. “They bring me to all my tournaments and pay for my clubs and clothes.”
As well as being on Northwood’s golf team, which has five members, she also practices privately at Brier Creek with a coach. Her accelerated ability and expertise provides the school’s team with an advantage.
“She does an excellent job of assisting others and helping and trying to make everybody better,” Amy said.
For the school golf team, Floyd practices everyday after school and has workouts in the morning two to three times a week. Amy was aware of Floyd’s rankings prior to him becoming the coach.
“She is part of the reason I wanted to become the next golf coach,” Amy said.
One of the reasons Floyd pursues golf so seriously is because of the feeling it gives her. It allows her to feel superior often times and is an outlet for her stress.
“You have the feeling of being better than everyone else,” she said. “Golf is my way to relieve pressure from school and other stressful parts of my life.”
Being on a school team doesn’t change much from being an independent player for Floyd, and her private coach, Dona Lerner, believes that participating in a team is beneficial for her.
“I think being able to work within the template or structure of a coach’s vision will be invaluable for Kat in her quest to play collegiate golf and eventually professional golf,” Lerner said.
Amy enjoys having Floyd on the team, though it does come with some obstacles for him.
“She needs to be challenged and pushed harder than the other girls,” Amy said. “So it’s almost more difficult because her ability is so good that we have to find ways to challenge her.”
Floyd is very passionate about golf and this is obvious to Lerner.
“There is a burning desire in [Floyd] that makes her want to win and be willing to expose herself to failure in an effort to attain the goal of winning,” Lerner said.
This is obvious to Amy as well when Floyd plays for the school.
“[The team] noticed that Kat is more driven to perfection than most people,” Amy said. “She places a lot of stress upon herself to be the best because she knows what it takes to be the best.”
Floyd is a huge helping hand to her teammates as well.
“She just spreads positivity,” Izzy Smith, one of Floyd’s teammates, said. “It’s never intimidating to play with her because we look up to her and watch her to learn.”
Floyd sets goals for herself and shares them with her coaches.
“When I asked her what her goal was, she said to win states,” Amy said. “Whatever her goal is, is my goal. I don’t set the bar for them; they create their own goals.”
The team achieved their goal of winning conference this year and four of the team’s members continued to regionals.
As a team, “[the girls] have done a phenomenal job of working together and achieving goals,” Amy said.
They are a tightknit group of girls that help each other out when needed.
“We’re really good at being there for each other all the time,” Smith said. “We act like we’re sisters; we’re really just a big golf family.”
The team has developed more than a 50 point stroke lead over their next opponent, which is East Chapel Hill. They have almost 100 strokes better than most other opponents. Four of the top golfers in this year’s conference are from Northwood, and Kat is the first. Her average is five strokes better than the next person in conference. They completed their Big 8 Conference with a score of 34-1.
Floyd is passionate about the golf team receiving more acknowledgement throughout the school.
“The golf team definitely needs way more recognition,” Floyd said.
Overall, Floyd is a leader for the other girls on the golf team and the team itself is rising.
“Kat is definitely the person that leads our team, but everyone else on the team has improved so much,” Smith said.
– By Georgia O’Reilly
