“It’s fun to get out there and swing a piece of metal and hit a piece of plastic,” junior Foster Ezell said about his interests in golf.
The Albemarle Golf team putted through their fall season, ending with a record of 15-11. On Oct 1, the team played in the 5A North Regional Tournament, placing seventh out of twelve teams. Captains Hunter Brown and Austin Yoon finished their senior season with medals awarding their performance at the Conference 16 Tournament on Sept. 30.
Since July, the team has been practicing at Birdwood Golf Course, adjusting without last year’s four top seniors. “There are now bigger expectations of the people who have been on the team longer,” Ezell said. Their team’s efforts, however, have shown in the way they play.
“We are progressively getting better,” Brown said. “I think our team strength is our constant contributions from everyone.”
“We have a very diverse team,” Ezell said. “Everyone plays a different type of game then everyone else.”
While diversity is a strength of the team, Ezell points out that their two number one players are continually consistent. Those two players are the captains, Brown and Yoon.
“Austin and Hunter have probably been counted in the top four in every match they’ve played,” Albemarle’s golf coach Greg Maynard said.
For high school golf teams, only the four lowest scores from players are counted towards the team’s total.
Brown says that while the team captains are usually seniors, this isn’t causing them to play away from the team. “This year, Austin and I are really trying to help the younger players get better, and the improvement has been evident,” Brown said.
And the team’s hard work showed in their match against rival Western Albemarle on Aug. 29, winning with a close score of 161 against Western’s 163. “We always like to beat Western,” Ezell said.
Head coach Greg Maynard was proud of the team’s win against the Warriors, a golf team that has been a personal rival for the Patriot coach of 22 years. “My brother coaches them and they always have a good golf team,” Maynard said. “We compete with them more than some of the other teams.” To Maynard, this win was a “nice surprise” after the team’s loss against Fluvanna.
“It really just depends on how everyone shoots that one day,” Brown said.
The game of golf is based on how it is played in the moment, and because of this, the sport requires a lot of concentration and a good attitude.
“Golf is a weird sport like that, the best team can shoot their worst score one time and not make it to the next tournament,” Brown said.
Because of the game’s pressure, golf can be mentally tough for players. “Playing together, your score affects everyone elses score, and your mental state can rub off on everyone else,” Ezell said.
The age and playing level differences have somewhat set the team back in their consistency, but Maynard makes a good point about their struggles. “They’re all younger,” Maynard said. “Austin and Hunter are the only two seniors, and they both played in the top six last year.”
Overall, the season has been a learning experience for the younger and older golfers. “I’m pleased with how they play. I’m just hoping we play well in the tournaments and advance on as far as we can!”