The Golf team headed into this season with high hopes. With lost seniors such as Ben Lombardi and Tyler O’keefe, both new and returning players have big shoes to fill. It took some time to fill in these missing places for the Golf team. Many on the team were absent from the sport since last season, contributing partly to the slow start they have seen. Head Coach Nate Roberts explains that, “When we met on our first day of tryouts we asked the question ‘How much did you play this summer?’ Nobody really answered… so we asked ‘Who played once?’ All of [the players] raised their hand. Next we asked ‘How many played 5 times?’ About half raised their hand. And then, when we asked how many played ten times, nobody raised their hand.”
Having to get the entire team back into the swing of things was undoubtedly the struggle to overcome this season, and was most likely the reason for the team’s rough start 
to the year. Starting off the season with a record of 2-4, the Golf team has lost some very close matches, one game being lost by 1 point to Sturgis East. As the season progressed, themembers of the team began to feel more and more comfortable with the game, as well as with the coaching of the golf team’s head coach Nate Roberts. Roberts shared, “After every winter I pickup the golf club in late March or every April and I don’t feel comfortable with it in my hand until sometime in May. It takes a few weeks to find your groove.”
This helped explaining the team’s rough start, but more recently they have been playing good golf once again. The next matches in the season were not necessarily easy for the golf team, with the majority of their wins being nail biters, coming down to the last group of golfering finishing. Having two ties that had to be settled by the league is surprising, for ties are such a rarity within the league. As the season came to a close, the golf team went on to be 9-1 in their final matches.
After all of the regular season games, the golf team ended with a record of 11-5. This record placing the team at a greater than .500 winning percentage. Within our division, if a team is able to accomplish a record of .500 or above, it allows for the team to qualify for the Division 3 State Qualifying tournament. This year, the team played in the tournament at Dennis Highlands Golf, where they competed and came in third place out of the eight teams attending the tournament.
Digging deep into last year’s golf roots, the team finished the season in a successful fashion. All members and coaches of the golf team were thrilled by the outcome, and have extremely high hopes for next year given the fact that none of their skilled players are graduating this spring.
By Kai Ottani
Contributing Writer
Veritas 
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