There were plenty of good times for Isaac Petersilie in his four years as a standout golfer at Coronado.

Four state appearances. Three top 10 finishes. Three league titles – including this season. One individual state crown. And one team state championship, too.

Through all of that, the senior recalled those not-so-good times that gave him the resolve to dig deeper.

“Unfortunately, it’s the rough days when you learn the most,” Petersilie, The Gazette’s Peak Performer of the year for boys’ golf, said. “I learned a lot this year.”

Petersilie, who won the individual title at the 4A tournament in Evergreen in 2013 and was the runner-up the following year, didn’t enjoy that same personal success as a senior, even though he won or shared the overall individual title at four tournaments.

After winning the 5A Colorado Springs Metro League by five strokes, he struggled just to make the state tournament, finishing 16th at the 5A Southern regional as his Cougars finished third, failing to clinch an automatic team berth.

To make matters worse, Coronado didn’t play its best golf on the first day of the state. Neither did Petersilie, who shot a 3-over-par 74 as the Cougars found themselves in a 14-shot hole.

Chalk that up as another learning experience. Although the Cougars’ rally fell just one shot short following a vastly improved second round, Petersilie kept things in perspective.

“I have no regrets,” said Petersilie, who signed a national letter of intent last month to attend school and play golf at the University of Denver. “There were a couple of tournaments that didn’t end like we were hoping for. At state, we played really well at the end and made things interesting. I think that’ll help me at the next stage. You just have to keep practicing and working.”

Before his sixth-grade year, Petersilie worked hard at hockey and lacrosse.

Then he joined childhood friends Wes Moran and Austin Burgess on the golf team at Holmes Middle School.

To Petersilie, the nuances and intricacies of golf made the game irresistible. He couldn’t play – or learn – enough.

“I just loved it,” he said. “I liked how complex it was, how much of a mental game it was. Being on a team, obviously, is cool, too, to see what you can do together. But sometimes, it comes down to you against the course. Sometimes, it’s you against you. That appealed to me.”

The rest is history. Petersilie could have made his mark, on the ice or on the lacrosse field, at Denver. Instead, the soft-spoken golfer knows he made the right choice.

“Denver is the place where I can achieve my goals,” Petersilie said. “I had a good connection with the coach there (Erik Billinger). Under him, I believe I can improve the most. I think I’d like to study business, and that’ll open up a lot of doors. Golf is my first goal. I’d like to shoot for the tour, to see if I can play my way up. Either way, I’d like to do something golf related.”