The Chesterton boys golf team wrapped up its season on a Wednesday in May, finishing eighth at the state finals. Five days later, Ryan and Kyle Grassel began what could be described as their summer golf season.

From mid-May through the beginning of August, the brothers tested their skills in weekly tournaments across the Midwest.

"I counted 27 nights I stayed in a Holiday Inn Express," said Ryan and Kyle's mom, Mary Grassel, who also shuttled her daughter, Kelly, to several summer golf events.

If you're a prep basketball player looking for college exposure and experience against high-caliber competition, you get on an AAU team and the coach hands you a schedule. If you're a volleyball player looking to do the same, you join a traveling club team and the coach hands you a schedule.

If you're a golfer, you make your own summer schedule. You decide how many events you want to play in. You decide the caliber of your competition.

Ryan, a junior at Chesterton, and Kyle, a senior, decided long ago that summer golf wasn't worth playing if they weren't facing top-notch talent. Their first summer event last May was the U.S. Junior Amateur Qualifier at the Village Links of Glen Ellyn, Ill.

With Chesterton teammate Pat Herrod serving as his caddy, Ryan won the 36-hole, one-day event to qualify for the U.S. Amateur Championship in Shoal Creek, Ala.

"That's probably the top thing I've ever done," said Ryan, who finished 125th at the U.S. Amateur Championship in July. "Just the experience of going to a place like Shoal Creek, the atmosphere, that was the best part."

Ryan also picked up a win at an American Junior Golf Association event up in Michigan and earned four exemptions for future AJGA events.

"I was definitely pleased with how I played in the summer," said Ryan, who tied for 16th in the state finals as a sophomore. "In most of my big events, I played pretty well."

Kyle also had a successful summer, winning a local junior tournament and qualifying for the match-play portion of the Boys State Junior Championship at Purdue.

"I think I did pretty well, (but) I could've done better," said Kyle, the Duneland Athletic Conference's MVP last season. "... Sometimes you almost get too wrapped up in it and you get more tense. You gotta find that right balance between being relaxed about it and still being really into it."

In October, the two will play on the Future Collegiate World Tour. And before they know it, the high school season will roll around again -- and with it will come lofty expectations for an experienced, state-caliber Chesterton squad.

"We've been committed for a while to trying to win the state championship," Kyle said. "Everyone's trying to put in the effort and figure out a way to get it done cause we know we have the potential."