Greenbrier High girls’ golf team looks to defend state title
EVANS, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Greenbrier High School girls’ golf team is back in contention for another state title.
Last season, the Lady Wolfpack brought home the program’s first-ever championship.
After defeating Union Grove by 34 strokes in the area championship, the team earned an automatic bid to the state tournament. It was Casey Heckathorn’s group’s second consecutive area championship.
The Pack has come a long way over the years.
Heckathorn says when he inherited the program five years ago, there was only one golfer on the squad. This season, they have eight varsity players and two junior varsity athletes, and there isn’t a single senior on the team.
It’s just a small part that makes this team unique.
“The wide variety of different personalities and different playing abilities is cool. The juniors kind of have to step up and have that role a little bit,” said junior Reagan Henderson. “We have a couple of jokesters on our team. We all like to crack jokes, but I think that we all know how to get into that mindset. And we’re all like, ‘Okay, it’s game time, we need to start locking in and focusing’. And I think that we all really do a good job of that we know when to turn it on and off.”
They’ve made history once, they’d like to do it again when they compete at Okefenokee Country Club.
“I think it gave us a sense of honor and knowing that like we made it this far. And we made it to the spot where we can play up in these higher tournaments” said junior Madi Link. “That sense of pride, and that sense of knowing that we’ve done this before, and we can totally do it again, I think we’re ready, I think we have the skill. And we’re really excited.”
While the principles of the sport are simple, there’s no planning for the mental game that comes alongside it.
“It gets super frustrating out there. But I think at the end of the day, the most important thing is to make sure that you’re always in the right mindset. I kind of taught them how to breathe and calm down. A couple of girls would get a little frustrated and you can play a lot better golf if you just take your time and calm down and breathe,” said Henderson. “Nothing is really given because we don’t know how the other competition is. But that confidence that we can do it, is a really big booster. But I think the most important thing is just to keep grinding and keep working at it. And you know, keep reminding our teammates and like reminding each other how important how cool this is for us to do again.”
Copyright 2024 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.
