With more than half of their season completed, the girls golf team boasts an overall 4-1-0 record, with victories over Lake Howell, Apopka, Lyman and Seminole. On Sept. 30, Emma Roberts led the team shooting a 78 [on 18 holes] to second team all-conference honors and third place at the SAC tournament championships. Lastly, with the way Hagerty is competing, they have plenty of confidence for the future of the season and the upcoming conference finals.
Their game against Lake Brantley on [insert date here] has been their only tie of the season.
District championships start in November, which is perfect for players because weather will start clearing up, giving a fair advantage. So far, Florida weather continues to be a major barrier for the players. Matches are delayed and most of the courses are covered in mud, water and debris.
While many sports are not as affected by weather, these problems are not minor for golf, where any slight change in the terrain can hinder athletic performance and drop the final score.
The season is currently set to finish at the end of October, with the girls ranked [126th]. Due to Hurricane Helene, the girls golf match was canceled on Sept. 26. Although the match was canceled due to safety concerns from rain, lightning and high winds, the cancellation has impacted the team’s morale.
“We’ve gotten rained out a lot, so most of our games have been canceled. You’re supposed to have a certain amount of holes for districts and stuff, [but] we don’t have that; it’s a problem,” Sophomore Isla Saint-Jean said.
Physically, the weather is creating obstacles by preventing practice, making the team feel like their momentum wears off.
“Everything is kind of broken up, so after delays you can’t play. Then for like a couple of days you’re kind of sitting there doing nothing, and you can’t practice either because the range is so wet,” said Saint-Jean.
Besides that, the team is dishing out wonderful scores [on nine holes], giving everyone a chance at making districts.
This can kind of mess up your swing when you come back, but it hasn’t rained that much lately so I’ve been doing okay,” Saint-Jean said.
Senior Gabriella Heina, worries about how the weather causes issues in their stroke play. “The season has been great with the new freshmen. I’ve been steadily improving since the beginning of the school year. My average is around the high 30s to low 40s,” said Heina.
The rivalry with Lake Brantley is another fork in the road. In tournaments players aren’t supposed to tie because the players with the lowest scores will tee off a few days later. With enough delays from the weather, the team can’t afford to lose even more days to play.
“You’re not supposed to tie but technically we did tie. We should have done better than we did. I think we were just all tired because we had three games that week. But we end up getting more practice from that,” said Saint-Jean.
Girls golf coach Donna Parker has enjoyed the strong start.
”So far this season has gone well. We’ve just had so much rain that we’ve had a lot of canceled matches and of course it’s been closed,” Parker said.
Regardless of weathering issues, the girls golf team started the season with impressive scores.
“Emma Roberts [Senior] and Saint-Jean are pretty good, scoring wise they’re very consistent. But you know, we all have issues every now and then,” Parker said.
Both girls have shown a set of consistent averages that have gotten them high on the team’s board.
“I think from the practice that I’ve done over the summer, I’ve actually shot around 45, 46 under par [through nine holes],” Jean said.
“We are going to be prepared and ready for districts if we continue to improve at practices and play them just like they are matches,” Heina said.
