One Swing. Alec Fuhs took 152 of them over the course of two days at the picturesque Spring Valley Golf Course, but he only wants to take back one.

Just that one moment in time – no more than a few seconds. That one decision. That one back swing. That one follow through.

If he could do that, the odds are good he would have brought two Class 3A state championships – the team and individual crowns – home from Livermore on Saturday afternoon.

Mulligans aren’t allowed when titles are on the line though, and so Fuhs will spend the next 12 months beginning every thought about the state tournament with those two words that athletes hate most.

What if.

“One swing cost me the individual title,” Fuhs said after the sting had worn off Saturday afternoon. “I’ll probably lose some sleep over it.”

Hoisting the team hardware helped to alleviate his pain and he said all along that winning Webster City’s first-ever boys’ state championship was the top priority. He played the starring role in making that happen by tying for third in the field of 53 golfers.

Fuhs played brilliantly – it’s as simple as that. His 1-under-par 71 on Friday put him just two shots out of the lead held by Clear Lake’s Dane Waldron with 18 holes to go. And when Waldron ran into a brick wall and shot a 47 on the front nine on Saturday, Fuhs calmly went about his business of snaking in par putts en route to a 38.

Fuhs played in the group behind Waldron and could see the struggles of the overnight leader. Walking to the 10th tee, Fuhs knew that he was in the lead. Was he up by three strokes? Four strokes? Five strokes? He’ll never know for sure; the knowing would probably make it even more painful.

Skip ahead to the downhill 302-yard par-4 13th – the easiest hole on the 6,327-yard course. Fuhs birdied it on Friday by hitting a long iron off the tee and a beautiful second shot to within eight feet.

But on Saturday he took a different approach and pulled the big dog – his driver – out of the bag. Maybe it was partly because of the ribbing he took for not taking a crack at going for the green off the tee on Friday. Or maybe it was simply because he was confident that he’d stripe it right down the middle – just like he did time after time after time over the course of two days.

Only this time he hit a snap hook … right into the water that ran down the left side of the hole.

His problems were amplified when his second attempt to get off the tee box – his third shot – plugged in the wet ground some 20 yards short of the green. His only play was to hack it out and it flew over the green.

Fuhs finally reached the putting surface with his fifth shot. One putt missed. Then another missed. And then, mercifully, it was over.

A quadruple-bogey eight. A snowman. On a hole that he could go play tomorrow and probably par using nothing but a wedge.

A par would have given him the individual title. Instead he finished two shots behind Waldron (69-81-150), who proved his mettle by throwing in a 2-under 34 on the back to seize what he thought he’d lost earlier in his round.

“After the round I felt like I lost it for us honestly because I felt like I needed to shoot well for us to win (on Saturday),” Fuhs said of his round of 81. “I knew I had a pretty good chance of winning it if I played decent on the back, but I chose to hit (the driver), so I can’t really say people influenced me.”

But here’s the part of this story that made me want to shake Fuhs’ hand after all was said and done. Even after the disaster at No. 13, he still had five more holes to play and at that point he had no idea if WCHS was still in line to secure the team title.

I played high school golf and in two state tournaments. Putting myself in his shoes, the 17-year-old version of me might not have had a club left in the bag … they might have all been in pieces thrown around the 13th green. OK, that might be a little extreme, but I can guarantee you I wouldn’t have been mentally strong enough to put the pieces of my game back together.

That wasn’t a problem for Fuhs though. And for that he should be applauded.

Oh sure, he bogeyed the par-5 14th – another hole he’d birdied on Friday – but he finished out his round with four consecutive pars. The best shot I saw him hit all weekend came off the tee at the treacherous 160-yard par-3 17th. With the wind whipping in his face and yet another water hazard protecting the front of the green, Fuhs flushed an iron to below the hole and made an easy par.

After his round, Fuhs could have stomped off and pouted, but he didn’t. He went out to watch and encourage his teammates who were still on the course and then happily celebrated the team’s achievement.

“When I heard we won, it’s one of the best feelings I’ve ever had,” he said. “The whole year, just with the pressure and the expectations, we didn’t want to let anybody down.

“(After the 13th hole) I told myself that I had to play for the team and not for myself anymore. I didn’t think I was even going to medal, but I couldn’t let that get into my head. I had a couple of bad shots after that hole, but for the most part I held in there pretty well.”

Yes he did. And I have no doubt that type of mental toughness will only benefit him in future rounds – he’s still got one more year to chase that individual state crown – and in life.

But Alec, please, next time stick with the iron.