I meant to post something about this awhile back, but our “new reality” of Meg being in high school has meant that our evening time is at a substantial premium in recent weeks. Basically, Meg decided to start playing golf so that she would have something athletic to put down on her college applications when the time comes. Golf also made sense because it’s a relatively short season, giving her more time to focus on music practice, among other things. Golf is also a “lifetime sport:” something she can continually learn about while also playing for the rest of her life.
Well, golf season started a few weeks before school started, right around the time marching band started (more on that in another post). So for the first few months of school, Meg had to be at school for marching band at 7:30, then she needed to get to the golf course after school for practice from 3:30 – 5:30 (depending on the day). Then, in early September, she started practicing for the musical from 6:00 to 8:00 (and the musical is this week, so that’s been going on for a loooooong time…).
Regardless, we didn’t really know what to expect with golf! We picked up a second-hand set of clubs from Play it Again Sports, but quickly found that they probably weren’t adequate. Meg was also missing a few key clubs, so we ended up borrowing a set from the clubhouse that had been sitting there, unclaimed. We also used a push cart that the school had, and eventually, she had a school-issued golf bag with the Marshall Owls logo on it (at one time, we had four golf bags in our garage….ug…).
At practice, her coach was always insistent that Meg was improving! Her scores didn’t really reflect it, but we could tell that she was getting closer and closer to the green each time. Apparently, at least in girl’s high school golf, they get 8 shots to get the ball to the green. After 8 shots, they can pick up the ball and take that score, rather than continuing further. More often than not, she hit the max score, not reaching the green, but by the end of the season, she was more consistently getting there, even getting to putt!
Meg’s coach says that her putting and her chipping are both pretty good! It’s clear that her driving isn’t getting very far, so that’s where we need to put in some work before next season.
Initially, we didn’t think Meg would travel much with the team, given the fact that she was brand new to the sport, but there were quite a few times where other teams would come to Marshall to play 9 holes, so Meg got to play some rounds in a relatively non-competitive context. There was one home tournament, playing 18 holes. Otherwise, she traveled to Boonville and Hannibal, so she got some longer games under her belt for her first season.
Ultimately, the thing we appreciated most about the experience is how supportive the other girls were of Meg! She was clearly not doing well compared to them, but she was there, maintained a positive attitude, and she seemed to be having a good time! It’s also a different group of girls than she’s used to interacting with. These weren’t “band kids,” though one of the other girls is in the musical, so there were some connections to Meg’s other interests.
We’re already making plans for next summer. The public course here in town has family rates, so we’ll probably pick up another set of clubs that Brooke and I can “make do” with (because neither of us know anything, either!!) so that we can go out with her a few times a week. We’ll probably schedule it where Meg and I go out to play 9 holes a few days a week, and maybe she and Brooke will go to the driving range in the early evening or on the weekends as she has more time.
It’s a brave new world for us, though! It’s kind of exciting to participate in something completely new, something where none of us have any clue what we’re doing. We look forward to seeing how far she goes in the next few years, and maybe Brooke and I will learn something in the process!