Sahuaro’s girls and boys golf team are kicking off  their season with a win at a Phoenix golf Tournament and a win at Forty Niners Golf Course.

The girls and boys golf team have a combined 13 players, and they both play at different courses against different schools. The team can only take 5 kids to each match and the top 4 scores will be counted as the teams final score after a match is completed. If a player is not one of the top 5 players for the girls’ team, they are not allowed to compete. However for the boys’ golf team,  they always bring the 6th player to practice, to potentially increase in ranking.

Players also compete with themselves for better scores on their records.

Halley Hughes, a Sahuaro girls player, shot a career low, four under round and came in second place overall against a really tough field in this previous weekend’s tournament.

The way golf works is that there are 9 holes and there is a par on each hole. A par is the amount of shots it should take to hit it into the hole. Nine holes are played every match and a par at Forty Niners for 9 holes is a 36.  In order for a golf team to go to State, the top 4 players need to shoot lower than a 40. If your team does not qualify for State, each player has the chance to go as a solo player. The girls team went to State last year, and they are on the right path to go to State again this year. This year golf ends on October 4th, but if they go to State they will play for longer, kind of like a tournament for basketball. The boys team might not be the best, but they still have fun and try their best as a team.

The boys and girls practice at different courses. The boys practice at a golf course called Forty Niners and the girls play at Rolling Hills golf course, which is a little bit smaller. You don’t see any par fives at Rolling Hills, but a lot of par threes. However, at Forty Niners you barely see par threes and a lot of par fours. Rolling Hills is also an easier course because it is a more open. Forty Niners was designed for more professional players mainly because its so closed and you can only really hit the ball straight.

A lot of people say golf is not a sport, and it may be true with the whole physical part of the game – because it is not physically taxing – but you still need to be really skilled to play. Golf would be one of the harder sports to play mainly because you have to be so precise on how you hit the ball and every shot is different because of your golf lie (angle), the wind, the power of hitting the ball, how you make contact, etc. Golf can also be very tedious when you practice because it’s really hard to let bad shots go, but letting them go will actually help you not be stressed out as much.