Kostiuk Finds Perfect Way To Calm Poor Shot Woes
- Details
- Category: Inside Golf
- Published: 2026-11-05
By Gord Montgomery, Senior Writer, Inside Golf
Golf is hard, but a rising star in Alberta’s junior golf ranks may have an answer to help me (and you) play a bit better after you hit a shot you’d definitely like back. The good thing? This advice only takes a few seconds to implement.
It’s called the 14-Step Rule, and according to 16-year-old Shylee Kostiuk from Spruce Grove, it’s what you do after a shot doesn’t go the way you expected. And she should know. After all, she’s won more tournaments at her young age than you can shake a (flag) stick at and represented her home province in international competitions. Plus, she’s a diminutive teen at 5’1”, so yes, she does carry a big stick and talks softly.
As to her successes in golf, Shylee said her original go-to sport wasn’t working out. “I started golfing when I was 10. I did gymnastics before that, high-level gymnastics, but it was too hard on my body. When you’re 10 years old and your bones are breaking, it’s not good. My dad (Larry) golfed quite a bit and he got me to try it. I’ve always liked individual sports, like gymnastics, so he thought golf would be good for me.”
From what could be considered a late start in the sport, given how young some kids start, Shylee’s love of the game and her successes in the game took off relatively quickly.
She related that a number of factors from her previous sport played a big role in her adaptation to the new sport. “I think the flexibility [and] the strength helped with everything. I liked it.”
Playing recreationally in golf is one thing. Playing competitively, of course, is quite another. For this teen, the choice to take on others was a natural step.
“I think I was 13, somewhere in there,” she said of moving to a competitive level by starting on the popular McLennan-Ross Junior Tour in Alberta. “I wanted to take it to another level,” which she did successfully for a simple reason: “I love to compete, and I want to get better. I’m extremely competitive.”
Shylee has now moved to the Maple Leaf Junior Tour and Alberta Golf events, which include two- and three-day tournaments, something she finds suits her better than 18-hole competitions.
Despite her small stature, this young phenom carries that proverbial big stick, launching drives upwards of 260 yards with a swing speed of around 100 mph. She also has a great putting game, making that 1-2 combo work to her advantage. There are things she knows she needs to work on, however. That improvement only comes with practice and that’s something she takes seriously.
About game improvement, she noted, “I definitely need to work on my irons... My 5 [and] 6 can be trouble for me. That’s what I’m focusing on this winter, getting those dialled in,” on a simulator where she plays in a men’s league, then switching over to lessons with her coach Ryan Dick at their home club, the Glendale G&CC in Edmonton.
“I try and go on the range four times a week (weather-permitting) and play maybe one or two rounds because just about every weekend I’m at a tournament. I don’t want to over-push myself, but I go to the range as much as I can... I’m only on the range for like 40 minutes, max.”
Speaking of success, Shylee is a 5-time defending champion at the Edmonton Junior Championship as well as finishing top-3 in every tournament she’s played in down south in Arizona. She’s also won on the MJT circuit. As a result, she has earned World Golf Ranking points and is a two-time member of Alberta Golf’s Ryder Cup junior team.
While individual successes can be an ego-driver, Shylee has stayed within herself. “I think I’m a pretty well-minded person. I don’t really get my ego too high. I know one round can change everything. I know I can be leading and then the next second, I’m fourth. It’s happened. I feel like if your ego gets to you, it kills you and you lose confidence in yourself. So I try to keep myself at a steady pace and not let anyone else get to me or let my mind get to me because that plays a big part in golf.”
As to her game approach, Shylee explained it this way: “I’m thinking about my shot routine, what I want to do with the ball. So, what about those do-over shots that crop up for everyone in every round? Of course, in competition there is no such thing as a mulligan, so that’s where her previously mentioned step routine comes into play.”
“I have a rule that my (former) coach taught me: the 14-Step Rule. You take 14 steps after you hit the ball (poorly). You can be mad for those 14 steps, but when those 14 steps are done, you forget about it. It’s happened and there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s done. And that’s helped me a lot.”
So, where is all this leading? Hopefully, she said, to a scholarship down south. She’s presently on the honour roll in high school, which is a good start towards that goal. And where would she like to go? “I do want to go to the States. Somewhere different. I want to get out of the cold. Go somewhere warm!”
With a couple of years before she graduates from high school, and with her talent and lots of practices and tournaments on her schedule, Shylee will keep working hard in a sport that’s proven easier on her body than gymnastics.