Madison Mongin is still waiting to collect on the $100.

Monday morning, the Effingham County High School senior signed a letter of intent with the Armstrong Atlantic State University women’s golf team.

“She’s worked for this since she was 11 years old,” said her dad, Paul Mongin. “It was the program she wanted and the school we always had in mind. It’s a solid academic school.”

Said Madison Mongin: “I never thought I’d be this excited, but I’m real excited.”

Armstrong started its women’s golf program three years ago and it is only one of three women’s golf programs in the Peach Belt Conference.

“She worked very hard for this,” Effingham County High athletic director Tim Hood, who also served as the Rebels golf coach, said. “Her freshman year, she pretty much carried us to the region title. I knew she was going to shoot a good round.”

Hood even recalled Mongin hitting balls near the power lines outside her house.

“Madison puts in a lot of time,” Paul Mongin said.

She even has a putting green in her room at home.

“I have to putt every night,” she said. “Believe it or not, it helps. I can hit the ball, but when I get on the green, I have to putt.”

The Mongins play golf together a lot, primarily at Black Creek Club and Southbridge, which is Armstrong’s home course. Madison Mongin got her start with some homemade clubs, a set her father cut down for her.

“We spent a lot of time together,” Paul Mongin said. “It’s great fun playing with each other.”

“He used to go and I used to go out there and bug him,” she said.

Once she started getting the ball in the air, her father bought her a set of clubs.

“I gave her the clubs on her birthday and I put her in a tournament,” Paul Mongin said.

The Lady Pirates have three seniors on their roster and have two fourth-place finishes in their fall schedule.

“This is really exciting for us,” Paul Mongin said. “She’s going to get to travel and is going to get exposed to a lot of different things.”

One difference in the women’s collegiate game is the length of the courses. As a junior player, Mongin used the red or forward tees. In college, they’ll play the white tees, adding a couple thousand yards to each course.

Her father told her that once she beat him, he would give her $100. She’s doing that now, even notching an eagle on the final hole to beat him 87-89.

“He said he’d give me $100 if I ever beat him,” Madison Mongin said. “I never got it.”