Preps: Schlosser makes mark on local golf

Considering the environment Valley High senior Annie Schlosser grew up in, it doesn't surprise many people that she has become one of the state's top prep golfers.

After all, her mother, Jane, has been the executive director of the Southern Nevada Junior Golf Association for the past eight years.

Upon closer inspection, however, perhaps Annie's success should come as more of a surprise to her peers.

While Jane Schlosser has worked with golfers for 14 years, she has never played competitively. She has never pressured her daughter into doing so.

"People ask where she got her talent from, but it wasn't from me," Jane Schlosser said. "I was a competitive tennis player at one point, but I've never been competitive at golf."

"Somebody (recently) asked me if she was a golf pro," Annie said. "I had to let them down gently and tell them no."

Still, Annie's natural gravitation toward the sport likely derives at least in part from her constant exposure to golf. For much of her life, her mother used their home as the headquarters for the Junior Golf Association.

At age six, Annie started picking up the game, largely in an effort to best her older brother, Bryan. Since then, she has improved by leaps and bounds, although her mother is the first to point out it hasn't necessarily been through hard work alone.

"Annie's very talented as far as sports go," Jane said. "She's a natural softball player, a natural soccer player and a natural golfer."

Annie's natural talent helped her place third at last year's 4A state tournament, but Jane said it wasn't until this past summer that her daughter truly got serious about the sport.

Annie spent the summer and early fall making a name for herself nationally. She was one of only two Nevadans to qualify for the Junior World Championships in July, and followed that up by becoming the only local golfer to reach the prestigious United States Golf Association Junior Girls Championships.

Then, in early fall, came the real breakthrough -- a top-five finish at an American Junior Golf Association event in early fall.

"That got her motivation going," Jane said. "She started to feel she could compete with some national players."

With those out-of-town experiences under her belt, Annie can now set her sights on a realistic goal here at home: her first state title.

"It's a goal that I'd like to achieve," she said. "I don't want to put any added pressure on myself, but I'd like to win."

If she does, her victory will be another ringing endorsement for her mother's organization, a group that has helped produce many of the top young golfers in town.

"Junior golf was nonexistent when I was in high school, especially for girls," Jane said. "It teaches kids so much -- honesty, integrity, how to be individuals, everything kids need to have successful adult lives."

And like any mom, Jane takes special pride when she sees her own daughter learning those lessons.

"I've always supported all the kids, and I didn't want other juniors thinking she got anything because she was my daughter," Jane said. "But of all the junior golfers, she's really come the farthest in the shortest period of time."

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