Golf is often considered a niche sport and if you were to ask any random people about the sport, chances are, all they could produce is the name “Tiger Woods.” But at RCHS in the year of 2023-2024, there are many new faces forming a team spanning across multiple grade levels from freshman to senior. Led by coach David Miller who has been in and around RCHS since the school opened in 1992
This year many new players have joined the golf teams ranks from many different grade levels such as freshman Finbar Looney. When asked why he joined, Looney responded with, “I played football my 8th grade year and didn’t really see as much playing time as I would’ve liked. Therefore I began to think of other sports our school offers in the fall and Jack Jensen started talking to me about golf and I made my decision soon after that.”
Looney also stated that he was most excited to hang out with the team and to play a sport he had grown up on.
Sophomore Dean Fafatas and junior Bryce Bell are both new to the team this year and share the same reasons for joining the team. Both Bell and Fafatas said that they joined the team to really get a new understanding of how golf is truly played and to learn all of its intricate rules and traditions.
“I wanted to improve and learn all of the rules and little parts that go into the game,” said Bell.
“I am looking forward to getting better and playing more matches,” said Fafatas.
Bell also mentioned what he was most excited for in the coming year. “I’m most looking forward to seeing how much I improve over the rest of the season and for years to come,” said Bell.
Junior Andrew McCoy played golf for many years of his life after falling in love with the sport. He started playing for RCHS his eighth grade year and never looked back. Last year Andrew made it to the state golf championship and was named captain of the team.
When asked how he felt about the influx of new players McCoy said, “it’s really good to have new players making the team bigger, mainly because it makes other people better players through competition.” McCoy also expressed his feelings towards the aspects of golf that are often overlooked. “One more reason it is good to get more people out there is that golf is a game that just makes you a better person. Sportsmanship goes a long way in golf and I love to see it on and off the course”
