Sep. 4—Pisgah golf is off to a strong start to the season, with all four golfers locking up a qualifying spot for regionals.
“The year is going great,” Pisgah coach Rebekah Gaddy said. “The scores are looking good.”
To qualify for regionals as an individual, a golfer must average a score below 55.0 in their five best nine-hole rounds — something all four golfers on Pisgah’s team have secured a month before the conference championships even get started.
Juniors Aloah Cox, Valentina Miguez and Olivia Merrell and freshman Avaleigh Bradley are all below that threshold with their five best scores so far this year.
Locking up that spot is going to allow the golfers to play more freely this next month as they prepare to compete for a Mountain 7 crown.
“Now that they’ve made it to regionals, they have this weight lifted off of their shoulders,” Gaddy said. “They’re working hard, but without the stress, I’m really excited to see their scores drop over these next couple of weeks before going into conference. If they can realize that half of it is mental and their scores are higher when they’re stressed out, I think we can do well in conference if we go in with confidence.”
That stress has certainly been high all season. Competition around Western North Carolina, and specifically in the Mountain 7, has risen this year.
Scores have been tight across the board this year.
Pisgah has managed to grab two second places finishes this year, while also earning a win when they hosted Smoky Mountain and Cherokee at Lake Junaluska on Aug. 22.
Getting to that point was a team effort.
“The girls are coming together and realizing not one person can carry the team,” Gaddy said.
“They’ve all been trying their best and getting their personal bests, which has been awesome.”
This offseason, the three juniors spent time at a Clemson golf camp, as well as competing in multiple statewide tournaments, oftentimes over 18 holes rather than the nine holes the teams typically play at the start of the high school season.
That experience could come back to help the Bears once the conference championships and invitationals roll around.
“I’m really excited to see results in 18-hole because they’ve been working really hard for that to get that endurance,” Gaddy said. “We have an invitational before going into conference which will be great. We can use that invitational to make some adjustments on what we need to get the girls through an additional nine holes after they’ve played nine.”
The coach also said that the girls have made improvements in their short games since last season.
“That’s what has really changed in the past year,” Gaddy said. “They’re taking about 10 points off their averages individually.”
While the start of the season has been fantastic for Pisgah, the team is hoping to keep the good times rolling through the end of the year as they continue to lay the groundwork for the team’s future.
“The girls are just having fun. They’re really going out there with sportsmanship attitudes,” Gaddy said. “It’s so exciting building this foundation for these girls to play golf. Hopefully, we can get some younger girls in here to play golf because we have three juniors and next year they’ll be seniors.”
