Girls golf team works hard, cut down on strokes

January 5, 2011 • Nick Barnowski, Sports Editor  
Filed under Sports

A twelve stroke difference in professional golf is the difference between winning the Masters or putting down the golf bag for good.

In high school golf, it shows the improvement the Howell girls golf team made throughout the year as the team finished 2-8 in conference play.

“A twelve stroke improvement is very good over the course of a year,” coach Jeff Hughey said.

Cutting down on the number of strokes was a trend seen at both home and away matches.

Howell shot a 227 in their first home match, at Chemung Hills Country Club, compared to a 206 in the last home meet. At tournaments, the team shot a 402 at regionals, which was their tournament low for the year, 23 strokes lower than what they shot in their first one.

Leading the young team was Ashlyn Samples, the lone senior on the team.

“Ashlyn was our MVP,” Mr. Hughey said. “She shot a team low 87 at regionals and ended up missing going to States by one stroke.”

Samples played at the number one spot the entire season.

“I think the key was practicing hard every day, even on the weekends and when we couldn’t practice as a team. I focused a lot on my short game and that was big for cutting down on strokes,” she said.

Samples put an emphasis on working hard and said the team realized that practice wasn’t the time to fool around.

“We had a lot of fun this year, and I’m proud of how we ended the season.”

Tags: athletes, girls, golf team, Howell High School

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