The Juan Diego Catholic High School girls golf team has finished in the state’s top three 3A programs the past three seasons, including a historic runner-up finish in 2024. This season, the Soaring Eagle group hope to continue its successful play with a new coach in Kyler Herdt, who has been helping to build the Draper-based APEX GOLF brand the past several years.

“I couldn't be more excited to be coaching the girls at Juan Diego! I got incredibly lucky to get the opportunity to coach this team,” Herdt said. “I love working with people of all ages, but working with the future of golf is truly a rewarding experience. If I just knew a tiny fraction of what I know now as a junior, I feel like my game would have gotten into a much better spot, much sooner. So, the chance to help the youth to develop good habits, teach them about the fundamentals, and learn the game, and save them hours, even years of time when it comes to playing their best golf is one of the best ways I feel I can give back to this game that's given me so much.”

“Coach Kyler is an energetic young coach with exceptional knowledge of the game,” said JDCHS Athletic Director Danny Larson. “He is an amazing teacher, and we are excited to see where he takes the program.”

Herdt got into golf at the age of 12, despite declaring at a young age that “golf’s not even a sport” as his early interest was in basketball and baseball when he was inspired to try it out after watching Tiger Woods historic 15-stroke win at the 2000 U.S. Open. 

“I thought this guy makes golf look cool, fun and exciting,” Herdt said. “Basically, I’ve been hooked ever since. It’s without a doubt the greatest game I’ve ever played, and I’m surrounded by it every day, but yet I’m just as hooked on it today as I was 25 years ago.”

As a 13 year old, he won a junior club championship at Swan Lakes Golf Course before playing as a 78-pound freshman on the Clearfield High golf team. “I was 100 pounds lighter than most of the kids on the team and 100 yards shorter off the tee, but I figured out how to scrap, scramble, score and use golf course management to compete,” he said. 

He then moved to Texas and played his final two years at The Woodlands High School, making the junior varsity team his junior year on a “stacked” team that won state consistently and were led by players like Patrick Reed, a future Masters champion.

He attended the San Diego Golf Academy of America to pursue a career in golf and graduated in 2010 with an applied business degree in Golf Course Operations and Management in 2010 while learning about club repair, teaching and coaching, tournament play, coordinating and scheduling tournaments, and golf retail operations. “I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do long term with golf, I just knew I loved it, and I wanted to make golf a career,” Herdt said. He began working for the Schnieter family in Davis County and worked as a greenskeeper until he was hired by Corey Butler at GOLFTEC in Park City to become a full-time instructor for four years. “I gained a ton of experience there and learned so much. I’ll always be grateful for my time there,” Herdt said. 

Herdt followed Butler to help start up APEX GOLF, a teaching and fitting facility in Draper that has also expanded into a second Salt Lake location. “It’s been awesome to build the APEX brand, do what I love, with a team that’s been intact for basically seven years now,” Herdt said. “I’m very grateful and proud of the culture and environment we’ve built. I’m pretty lucky – I help people play better golf every day. My true passion is helping people, and I want to help people learn, develop, grow and have as much fun as possible. Golf has been a huge blessing for me to be able to utilize these talents. The golf gods must’ve been looking out for me. I feel very fortunate to do what I do every day.”

The new JDCHS girls golf coach emphasizes life lessons to his players that are learned through the sport. “Handling pressure, rising above, staying focused on the present, and worrying about what you can control are all mental parts of the game that these girls will carry with them throughout the rest of their lives,” Herdt said. “The amount of parallels to golf and life are unparalleled. Golf has a way of bringing out all of ourselves with all of our inner strengths and weaknesses coming out through the game.”

JDCHS sophomore captain Isabella Werner and the “one-two punch twin sis combo” of Sabrina and Camila Macias return to lead the team this season. “We have some amazing talent,” Herdt said, also noting an “almost second set of twins” in freshmen Ava Werner and Alexis Burt are going to be “a force to reckon with.”

Juniors Vanessa (Tatiana) Martinez and Peyton McCoy have recently begun playing golf and Herdt is “super excited to see how much damage we can do in the next two seasons” with them. Also on the team this season are sophomore Alyeska Morales and freshman Rorie Rendon.

With the recent success of the program, continued high goals and expectations have become the norm on the Draper campus. “I think if we just continue to get better, look at ourselves after each week and each time we compete and we focus on the process, the results will take care of themselves,” Herdt said. “Honestly, I think the sky is the limit with these girls. I think we have the core and the pieces to win a state championship.”

In the first Region 14 tournament this season at Glendale March 24, Juan Diego shot a team score of 330 with Isabella Werner’s 77 leading the team. Other 18-hole scores for the Soaring Eagle squad were Ava Werner (82), Burt (84), Sabrina Macias and Camila Macias (85), Martinez (120) and Rendon (128).

At Mountain View Golf Course March 26, Sabrina Macias shot a 72 to win medalist honors in helping Juan Diego shoot a team score of 308 to place first as a team. Also in the top-10 were Ava Werner (second, 77), Isabella Werner (tied for third, 78), Camila Macias (fourth, 81) and Burt (fifth, 88). Morales shot a 117 and Martinez had a 120.

Following the remaining of the Region 14 golf schedule at Riverbend, Sun Hills (twice) and Mountain View, the 3A state tournament will be held May 7-8 at Lakeside Golf Course in Bountiful. λ