As a new spring approaches, so do so many amazing sports here at Lake Stevens High School. Two of our most exciting sports are the Men’s and Women’s Golf teams, gearing up for another competitive season. Full of new and old faces, both are ready to bring everything they have to the green, as they prepare vigorously for their intense Tee Offs.
For every good competitive golfer, warming up and keeping your skills from rusting during the off-season are just as important as during the regular season. Keeping up with a regimen and continuously improving different skills will make a huge difference in your Tee-Offs.
“Just play; that’s the biggest thing. The more you play, the more you’ll understand. Just being out there and playing will allow you to pick up on all the little things that can help you,” said Senior Varsity golfer, Jackson Sanders-Pugh.
One of the most important aspects of golf is staying focused and not getting distracted. Many intense high-pressure moments can throw a player off their game..
“Golf is a series of good and bad. Very rarely do we get a golf game for anyone where everything is all good. So you just have to look forward,” the girls’ golf coach Jodi Widmann explained.
Widmann encourages players to stay focused on their next shot and not to dwell on mistakes from previous shots. This helps to stay composed during competitions.
Cliff McKinlay, the boys’ golf coach, has similar perspectives on managing pressure.
“Pressure is obviously inherited in any sporting activity, but golf lends itself a little bit more because it’s an individual sport… we compete when we do our short game work and obviously when they’re on the course, they’re competing because they’re going head-to-head. We try to give them that pressure during practice, so when it comes to match time, they can handle it,” McKinlay said.
McKinlay makes the boys compete with one another to simulate the pressure and stress they endure during real games, trying to prepare them.
Along with finding ways to deal with pressure, a professional golfer must also learn to control their emotions, and not dwell on past mistakes they may have made.
“Not getting upset over a bad hit really helps out your entire game. If you’re able to move on from a bad shot and make something come from it, you’ll be an overall stronger player,” Sanders-Pugh explained.
Coach Widmann echoed this mindset, encouraging players to focus on the present moment rather than past mistakes. “Golf is a series of good and bad. Very rarely do we get a golf game for anyone where everything is all good. So you just have to look forward,” she explained.
Preparation for a game is also key, whether that’s studying a course beforehand, or having a set Pre-Shot routine.
“I usually do a hole-by-hole analysis for them so they can look at that before they start the hole and say, ‘Oh, okay, so coach says trouble on the right, so make sure if you’re going to miss, your miss is going to be left,” Widmann said.
This kind of preparation helps give the girls the confidence they need to make smart decisions on the course. Coaches and players all have goals alike for this season. “My goals for the golf team are for them to improve from the beginning of the season to the end of the season,” Widmann said.
“We have a young team, and our young players have come in with some good golf experience, which is great. It makes the early part of the season much easier coaching,” Widman explains.
This gives the girls’ team a very good advantage, as they are ready to develop their skills not only for this season but many more to come. Starting with lots of previous golf experience gives the girls the perfect opportunity to refine their techniques, gain confidence and grow as a team.
On the contrary, the boys’ team is boasting a more experienced line up, “We got five seniors this year, and Hugo is a junior. So I guess we’re just more veteran players,” Coach McKinlay explained.
With a team full of almost exclusively seniors, the focus for the coach is to push them as far as he can. “We’d like to make it as a team, qualified from districts to state. So a team of five, all five players go to state,” McKinlay said.
Individual players like Jackson have similar goals. “My main goal for this year is to make it state; I was able to go last year but as a backup. That meant I wasn’t able to actually play, so this year, I want to fully qualify and play in-state,” said Jackson. With it being their last season, the senior boys will surely have a strong year that will be remembered.
As both of these strong teams gear up for a great season, there is a shared determination between coaches and players. With great experience on the boys’ team, and a young excitement for the girls, both are ready to make their mark this season, and represent Lake Stevens High School in the best ways.
