The Northwestern Lehigh golfers knew the course like it was their exclusive playpen.

Olde Homestead, a links designed course located right across from Northwestern High School on Route 309, was not to their liking Monday, however

During a qualifying round for next week’s District 11 individual and team championships, a pair of Tigers playing on their home course were unable to solve the difficult course and failed to advance.

The difficulties?

• The greens were tough and sometimes unreadable — slow at times, fast at other times.

• The fairways were also difficult, soft and soggy with clean and place rule in effect.

• The rough was very penalizing, making it mandatory to keep your ball in the fairway.

• The pin placements. Some pins tucked away with tough angles for golfers to try and hit wedge shots into the green, or a chipper to get within a navigating putt for pars and birdies.

All of those elements factored into high cut lines — 88 in Class 3A and 94 in Class 2A.

But a pair of area golfers were able to overcome the difficult course and advance. Palmerton’s Logan Kresge and Weatherly’s Ashton Gerhard were among seven Class 2A golfers to earn a berth in next Monday’s District 11 championships.

Kresge, a tall and lanky junior, made the cut for the 2A tournament. The junior from Palmerton carded an 87, which sends him to the district championship. His round wasn’t quite as good as he shot in a pre-tournament practice round one day earlier when he shot an 84, but it was easily good enough on this day.

Kresge said he was happy with how he played and the fact that he advanced despite difficult course conditions.

“The greens weren’t consistent throughout the whole course,” Kresge said. “Plus, the wetness wouldn’t let the ball roll as it normally would on a dry day.”

Kresge’s coach, Mike Brennan, was happy with the result from his golfer.

“This can be a very difficult course to play,” said Brennan. “But Logan is a solid golfer. He had a good round when you look at the overall picture.

“The early wetness hurt all the golfers, and then it got warmer as the day went on, and that can wear on any golfer at any level.”

Meanwhile, Gerhard made a huge jump from where he was a year ago to keep his golf season alive.

The Wrecker junior shot a 94 to hit the cut line right on the number. His round was 17 strokes better than it was a year ago in the District 11 qualifier on this same course.

“The thick rough and humidity made it tough to play,” said Gerhard. “The early morning was very humid. But overall, I thought I shot a pretty good score … last year here — well let’s just say I did a lot better this year.”

For as happy as Kresge and Gerhard were with advancing, Northwestern’s Luke Holman and Joe Frey were equally as disappointed with coming up short.

“I just struggled even though this is our home course, it was really tough at times trying to get a good shot into the green,” explained Holman, who usually cards low 80s on the course. But yesterday he shot an 89 — just short of the qualifying mark.

Teammate Frey also flirted with being one of the 22 Class 3A golfers to advance, shooting a 91.

“I didn’t hit my driver the best,” explained Frey. “This is one of the harder courses to play. Not being able to hit my driver with consistency hurt my play.”

Northwestern coach Tim Miller said that his two golfers had lofty expectations coming into the round.

“These high school golfers expect a little too much of themselves, and there is nothing wrong with that,” said Miller. “Joe and Luke both have the capabilities of shooting in the low 80s and high 70s. But the course played tough today.

“Not only was the rough difficult, but it started to get humid too. When it starts to get humid, the ball doesn’t travel as far.”

Pleasant Valley’s Henry Lui and Steve Ottman also came up a little short of the qualifying in Class 3A, shooting a 91 and 92, respectively.

PLAYING IT HARD … Nearly all the golfers were on the same page about the difficult playing conditions. “Everyone had to play the same course, and yes, it was difficult,” said Pleasant Valley coach Paul Evans.

LOCAL GALS … Mary Scully of Pleasant Valley and Gabrielle Smalley of Northwestern were also hoping to qualify, but the former shot a 119 and the latter 115, missing the girls cut line of 111.

OTHER QUALIFIERS … Three Times News area golfers received automatic berths into next week’s District 11 Championships based on their performance in recent league tournaments. Tamaqua’s Tavio Agosti, Marian’s Jacob Artz, and Northwestern’s William Norman will join Kresge and Gerhard in the championships Monday at 9 a.m. at Lehigh Valley Country Club.

QUOTABLE … “I just want to make Regionals so I can get another Monday off from school,” Palmerton’s Kresge said with a smile.