When someone brings up high school sports, chances are, golf isn’t one of the sports that comes to mind right away. The underclassmen of the 2025 HHS golf team are trying to change that. All six members of this year’s varsity team are members of the class of 2028 or 2029. Sophomore Sam Maust has by far the most experience on the team, having been introduced to golf at the age of three. He is extremely encouraged by the fresh batch of talent coming into the season.
“It’s great, I love getting new people because in three years, they keep getting better and by the time they’re seniors, they’re going to be really good,” Maust said.
In addition to the team as a whole growing significantly, the amount of female involvement has grown especially. In a sport primarily dominated by men, freshman Frankie Ludwig, the number one female player on the team in her first year ever playing golf, is especially appreciative of her new female teammates.
“I think it’s really cool to see [the number of girls joining the team]. I like to see all my friends and just more girls in general joining,” Ludwig said.
Golf tournaments involve both boys and girls playing together, which is different from many other sports where boys and girls play separately. Even though the female involvement at HHS has skyrocketed, that isn’t necessarily true for other schools. Freshman Hattie Schwartz admits that competing with boys can be a bit unconventional.
“Sometimes, when you’re competing, you compete mostly with boys, and they tend not to really talk to you, so engaging in conversation can be hard,” Schwartz said.
One of the secondary goals for the team this year is to put high school golf on the map throughout HHS and beyond. Even though a good number of high schools around the district have a golf team, the sport still remains one of, if not the most, underappreciated high school sports out there. Freshman Adele Reid highlighted the positive experience she has had so far, despite the team not originally being on her radar.
“At first, I didn’t really know we even had a golf team, and I’ve made friends with people I wouldn’t have known otherwise. I also really like our coach. He’s really excited, too, because we’re all freshmen. We’re here to stay,” Reid said.
High school golf is on the rise. The abnormally low average age of the varsity team is poised to set the program up for a ton of success in the coming years. Despite this, Maust preaches the importance of staying humble in a sport where the individual often takes priority over the team, and with each player striving to be ranked number one.
“Being number one, at the end of the day, it’s just a number,” Maust said. “Just because [your ranking] says number one doesn’t mean that it gives anything to you. You’ve got to work for it, and in the end, it’s important to try to keep getting better every day”.
