With his feet planted in the grass and his hands clenching rubber, he winds up to hit the ball and unleashes his potential energy, transferring it from club to ball. The shot is pure: It skips up through the air and arcs down, plopping on the fairway.
Matthew Handal, senior, trudges back to his golf bag, slides his driver into the larger slot, throws his bag over his shoulder and navigates to his ball. Another practice this routine is almost robotic for him, as he has been involved with golf his whole life. However, this season is different for Handal.
“A personal goal I have for this season is to win conference player of the year,” Handal exclaimed.
Handal has big goals for himself and the team this year. The golf team has won the North Shore Conference in the last two years and plans to repeat it.
A tiny bag with metal sticks clinking around against each other was about five pounds. The hot sun in the summer glazed down on the shafts, shining the clubs, making them look irresistible. A little boy grabs an iron and whacks the club, toppling the ball and sending it a few yards, but looking like it went a mile.
Nico Clement, senior, has been playing golf since age four. He has goals similar to those of Handal.
“I want to be the conference player of the year and to be on an All-State team,” Clement said.
This will be his last season at Homestead, and he hopes to finish strong.
“I have mixed feelings about it being my last season. I’m sad that it will be over, but I also love every minute of it,” Clement said.
Golf is an individual sport, but the team must be at its collective best to achieve this season’s goals. This year’s team has three golfers playing at the varsity level for the last three years: Handal, Clement and Joesph Thiebert.
Golf is very competitive in that each player competes for their score and can pass up teammates depending on how they do. This makes golf a mental battle. It’s not always about how skillful one is as a golfer.
Steve O’Brien, varsity head golf coach, depends on his seniors this season.
“I believe our success will center around our experience. We have three guys with three years of varsity golf,” O’Brien said.
Handal and Clement are two of those three.
O’Brien has high expectations for the team this season.
“We hope to compete to the best of our abilities on every shot and at every meet. If we do that, we should be very competitive and allow us to win a conference championship and qualify for the state,” O’Brien said.
He is excited to have players dedicated to the game on his team.
Coach O’Brien touched on some of his coaching strategies.
“Our coaching strategy/philosophy is to keep things as simple as possible. Golf is challenging, so we want to stick to the basics. We focus on the mental side of the game to help manage our way around the golf course,” O’Brien said.
