Golf is one of a kind. There’s no student section chanting your name, no banner to run through, and no teammates to storm the course with.

Instead, it’s you and your clubs facing the hole ahead alone. Your competition gathers around and all eyes are on you as you take your first swing.

“In other sports you see everything that everyone does, but golf is more heavily weighed on one shoulder,” says senior Alex Back.

Carrying this weight is a new adjustment for many members of the GRC boys’ golf team. “A lot of the golfers on our team are new and haven’t been playing golf their whole lives,” says Back.

Not only does this team consist of relatively new golfers, but also four out of the five varsity qualifiers participate in other varsity sports.

“I feel like this is where our dedication and athleticism has to come into play,” says Back. “You look at other teams who dominate all of the tournaments and they have five golfers who have played year-round since they were eight or nine.”

Back compares this to his team saying, “We really have to push hard the three or four months we have for golf season because our minds are on other sports during the off season.”

The team doesn’t let this disadvantage get to them. They practice four or five teams a week preparing for weekend tournaments and even placed third in the Beechfork Invitational.

A top two finish at regions would allow the team to qualify for state. Back says he believes the team’s inexperience is
no excuse for a bad performance.

“At the end of the day whatever season it is and whatever sport you’re playing, you know what you are supposed to do,” he says. “You have a job and if you don’t execute, it’s going to come back and bite you.”

Back says he believes the work his team has put in this season outweighs any disadvantage the length of their golfing careers may present. “If we all come together, there is no doubt in my mind we have the potential to shoot the scores we need to make it to state.”