The atmosphere of the Class 3A state golf tournament was a reward all by itself for Mid-Prairie senior Dominic McCain.

Spectators gathered around him and his playing group like never before.

Attempting to tame the par-70 Elmwood Country Club in Marshalltown was no easy task.

And there was the drama of 68 golfers from across the state chasing a title.

“I didn’t feel like I would ever make it there. To finally make it there, up there with some of the top golfers in Iowa, it blew my mind away,” McCain said. “I’m not really used to having a crowd follow me around, but when I looked around, I saw 30 or 40 people watching my group. I wasn’t really nervous, I was just blown away by the fact that I was there and I actually got to compete with some of the best.”

McCain, who graduated Sunday and is headed to Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids in the fall, finished among the best at the state tournament. 

Rounds of 81 and 80 left him tied for 11th place, earning him second team All-State recognition.

“Dominic has worked hard and was a great leader for us this season,” Mid-Prairie coach Kelby Bender said. “He played well on a tough course and in tough weather conditions. I am so happy for and proud of Dominic and his accomplishments this season and his career.”

McCain was a model of consistency for the Golden Hawks. His scores of 81 and 80 in Marshalltown were split around his season average of 80.5 strokes per 18 holes. In addition to All-State honors, he was named Elite All-Conference after a fourth-place finish in the River Valley Conference championship. He was medalist five times and runner-up medalist three times.

“I shot my season average, so I can’t be mad,” McCain said. “It’s kind of in my head basically that the past couple of  weeks I shot in the 70s, which is something I’ve never really done before. So I was kind of wanting to do that again, but at the exact same time I’ve got to understand that 81 and 80, those are not bad scores.”

After shooting 81 on the first day of the tournament, May 27, McCain was tied for 13th. He moved up two spots the next day despite scoring an 8 on the par-4 15th hole.

“Not too, too happy with that, but I rebounded with back-to-back pars on 16 and 17,” McCain said.

Those pars (among six he had on the back nine), along with a bogey on the 18th hole, helped McCain secure an 11th-place tie as he played in the lead group with Hogan Hansen, a junior from Waverly-Shell Rock.

“I was walking up to the 18th hole, and I was talking to my coach (Bender), and he was telling me, ‘Hey, Hogan is in your group. If he pars his last hole, he’s going to win.’ And then he ends up making a 15-footer for birdie. To see everyone kind of freak out, it was different compared to what I’ve seen.

“When you hear the roar. Hearing all of them cheer for Hogan after he won, it was awesome.”

The Course at Elmwood, which was designed by the legendary Tom Bendelow more than 100 years ago, provided a challenge with its tight fairways, along with weather conditions that ranged from rain on Day 1 to cold temperatures and wind on Day 2.

“It was shorter, like my home course (Blue Top Ridge Golf Course in Riverside) in a way,” McCain said. “It was tight. If you’re going to be making mistakes, you didn’t want to make too many.

“If you missed in the wrong spots, scores were going to start getting higher and higher, and that’s exactly what happened. The two days that we played, the weather was not great. It was raining the first day. The second day, it was 40 to 50 degrees. The course played fairly well, though. It was kind of hard to read the greens, but then again it’s a country club, it’s supposed to be hard.”