After years of struggling to pull together a full girls’ varsity golf team, a newfound interest in the sport has been ignited at Choate Rosemary Hall. For the first time ever, not only does Choate have a Varsity team but also a JV team. This year, the Girls’ Golf Program has nearly doubled last year’s program in size, making it possible for the coaches to split the team into varsity and JV. Although the weather has stopped Girls’ JV Golf from getting in a lot of practice, Coach Amy Salot said that the team has been doing its best to get down to Wallingford Country Club and Lyman Orchards to hit some balls.
Seeing as the girls haven’t been split up between JV and varsity quite yet, they have been getting to know one another, especially the newcomers. The team, consisting of both seasoned veterans and newbies, has been able to share their experiences and knowledge with each other. For what last year’s Girls’ Varsity Golf team lacked in numbers, they made up for in talent, as they finished with a record of 10-4. Ms. Salot said, “The varsity should be stronger than in years past because of the depth of talent we have now.”
Irie Cooper ’20, who was the only freshman on the seven girl varsity team last year, said with enthusiasm, “This year’s team is really good; we have so many new recruits and they are the nicest people ever.” Although the girls haven’t been able to practice much, she is expecting great things from everyone on the team this season.
Before this year, Choate wasn’t the only school that struggled to put together a girls’ golf team. Many other prep schools seemed to share our past issues, having rather small girls’ golf programs as well. “It’s much more popular with guys,” said Cooper. The guys seem to have a much easier time gathering enough players for both JV and varsity. Nevertheless, with such a promising team, the girls are sure to win some more matches this season.
Coach Salot, confident and extremely pleased with the new team, spoke for both coaches saying,“We are thrilled to have so many girls playing golf this year, and they are good! I really hope that we will be able to field a JV team from now on. In the past the numbers have not warranted a second team, and it is fun that we now have one.” Hopefully in the years to come, Choate will be able to keep a JV team in addition to its varsity team.
