LeeAnn Noble is always in the moment and is always looking to the future.

So much so, in fact, she doesn't even take time to reflect on her accomplishments. And for the senior Gainesville High golfer, there are many in this season alone.

Like at the Region 8-AAA tournament, when she shot a career-best 84 that earned her a second place individual finish and, ultimately, a spot on the North Georgia College and State University golf team.

"After I shot my lowest score at region, a week later someone said, ‘Congratulations,'" Noble said. "I said, ‘About what?,' because I had already moved past it and kind of forgot about it."

In an intrasquad qualifying match at Chattahoochee Golf Course for the Hall County Championships, she nailed a hole-in-one from 115 yards out. She simply filled out her scorecard and moved on.

"I was already thinking about wanting to win Hall County," she said.

Noble finished second at region, second in the Hall County Championships and earned a top 10 finish at the Class AAA state tournament, all while leading the Lady Red Elephants with season scoring average of 89 as the lone senior among three freshmen.

For her efforts, Noble is The Times' All-Area Girls Golfer of the Year.

Her knack for living in "the now" fills her calendar well beyond the game of golf. She was captain of the cheerleading team for football and basketball, vice president of the student council, debate club captain and a member of the Key Club International and the National Honors Society.

She also helped resurrect the student organization SAVE (Students Against Victimization Everywhere), which went defunct after her freshman year.

So when she had to assume a leadership role on the golf team, it was just another task she gladly took on.

"She led the team in several different ways," Lady Red Elephants coach Clay McDonald said. "Sometimes it was verbally, other times it was by example. LeeAnn helped (playing partner and freshman) Meg (Callahan) tremendously.

"But besides all the things I have to say about her golf-wise, it doesn't even scratch the surface as to what kind of person she is," he added. "She does tons of things at school because she chooses to, and people look up to her as a positive person with a high amount of character. So when she had to take on the leadership role on the golf team, she didn't shun the role whatsoever.

"She lives that way every day anyway."

Callahan, who rotated with Noble as Gainesville's No. 1 and earned medalist honors in seven events, credits Noble as teaching her the game from a mental standpoint.

"She really helped me learn to focus," said Callahan, also a Times All-Area team selection. "She kept my head on what I was trying to do, which was play the best golf I was able to. She knew how to play against the course, not a person, and she gave me a bunch of advice that helped me as an individual golfer.

"I definitely saw an improvement in attitude toward the game of golf based on her advice."

Noble best set the example for proper course management and a mental edge with her play.

For example, at the Class AAA state tournament at Chestatee Golf Club, she struggled on the front nine.

Instead of collapsing, she rallied to finish with an 87, which she considers more impressive than her region tournament score due to the difficulty of the course.

"I took a breather and decided to just start over," said Noble, who went on to par two holes and birdie another on the back nine. "I finished so strong and was able to mentally turn everything around after a tough start, and that's one of the hardest things to do in golf, but I did it."

Her score, along with Callahan's 94, gave Gainesville a fifth-place finish.

As impressive as Noble's final high school event was, her performance at the region tournament - where she guided Gainesville to a second-place finish - impacted her the most.

At Achasta Golf Course in Dahlonega, her career-best round caught the attention of North Georgia College & State University women's golf coach Leigh Anne Hunter.

"My dad came up to me and told me the North Georgia coach talked to him," Noble said. "I didn't believe him because of his joking personality. But then she talked to (McDonald). I contacted her to let her know I was interested."

Before North Georgia entered the picture, she was considering playing golf for either Piedmont College or attending the University of Georgia. But she fell in love with the idea of helping to jumpstart a golf program that's just two years old.

"I feel like I can make some kind of difference," Noble said. "I feel like I can grow with the program. We might start on the lower end, but by the time I'm a senior, who knows where we'll be in two or three years."

For her all-around scholastic and athletic efforts, Noble was awarded the Tommy Aaron/Charlie Aaron Foundation Scholarship, which will pay for four years of school.

With a bright future ahead, McDonald believes Noble has the tools to excel at North Georgia's golf program.

"LeeAnn's strength is her knowledge of the game," he said. "She understands how to lay out a course. Her weakness is driving distance, but she makes up for that with intelligent play. She knows the proper way to play a hole and she hits high-percentage shots from high-percentage angles. She knows where to miss and where to put the ball to give herself a chance.

"She doesn't leave a lot of strokes on the course. She maximizes her rounds."