A Hole-in-One Season for the Golf Team
A Hole-in-One Season for the Golf Team
The Glenbard West Girls Golf team’s season recently concluded, and the team had a strong season filled with growth and close friendships.
A fairly even mix of seniors, juniors, sophomore, and freshmen, all with different amounts of experience, head coach, Mary McGrane, shares that the team has “varying ability levels, from brand new to the game to seasoned veterans. But they all…Interact with each other and help each other,” She says the upperclassmen have done a great job helping and supporting new golfers.
The team competed in several local tournaments weekly, some with nine holes, some with eighteen. Coach McGrane admits days can be long, but this year’s nice weather has made them quite enjoyable.
This year’s team was made up of a “phenomenal group of girls.” Coach McGrane shares that the golfers’s “ability to…Support each other has been awesome”,and that they would constantly check on each other throughout rounds to see how their teammates were doing. She said that when golfers had a bad day, matches served as therapy sessions: two and a half hours to talk things out with friends.
Coach McGrane grew up playing golf with her dad, uncle, and brothers. She then started playing her sophomore year of high school and loved it. She enjoyed how it was an independent mental game, unlike her other sports: basketball and softball. Coach McGrane coached varsity golf with Mr. Tim Hoder as the JV coach, but both levels were often intermixed together in practices and tournaments.
Aside from the loads of bonding done on the course, the players have also participated in team dinners and mini-golf trips. The team celebrated Senior Night by posting baby pictures of the seniors on the team around the holes at the course.
For the team’s end-of-season banquet, players got to choose an adult in their life to play golf with. Coach McGrane wanted parents to witness what she gets to experience daily; “What I see is kids smiling on the course, laughing, overcoming frustrations, obstacles,”.Coach McGrane admits that golfers truly go through a roller coaster of emotions each match and that she enjoys watching her golfers grow. She expresses that she is “pleased with the progress each player has made” this season and is especially proud of the golfers who are brand new to the game. Seeing them succeed is very special to her.
