Boys' Golf wrap up

In golf, consistency is just as crucial as skill. Even the most celebrated golfers in the world understand that if their performance doesn’t remain stable, they’ll suffer on the course. And unfortunately for Samo’s boys’ golf team, a range of inconsistencies kept them from the success they long coveted.“It was an odd season,” Captain Ryan Hicks (’15) said. “We all peaked at different times. Some matches we would have two or three guys play the best round of the year, and at the same time, another bunch of guys would struggle to find their rhythms.”This lack of steadiness resulted in an assortment of fantastic performances and painful losses. Samo nearly tied with Palos Verdes, one of the best teams in the region. For Hicks, Samo played well enough to beat “almost any other team around.”But inconsistency remained, as Samo suffered a crippling loss to Beverley Hills in what Hicks called “the worst team performance in a long time.” Samo would see their greatest victory at arguably the most important time, the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) qualifying tournaments. At the first round of qualifiers, all Samo golfers that competed advanced to the second round. However, only Hicks would golf well enough on the second day to advance to the playoffs themselves. Yet, Hicks would lose at the regional tournament that followed.Nonetheless, Hicks and other golfers feel this “awkward” season was fun and enjoyable, despite the lack of success on the course.“It was a great experience for the most part,” Hicks said. “There will be a lot of good stories that I’ll remember for a long time.”According to Hicks’ teammate Kai Kobayashi (‘15), the golf team became increasingly close with one another throughout the season, and stuck together throughout a number of tough losses.“We used to only think about ourselves,” Kobayashi said. “Golf is an individual sport, and before this year, we used to think about our own game. We used to look at each other as nothing more than teammates. But the team developed a friendship that unified us into a more cooperative circle of friends.”For Kobayashi, though, strong team chemistry doesn’t always equate to good golfing. Unlike many Samo teams that need to work on cooperation, golf will devote next year to improving expertise and mastery of the game.“Our team weakness is that we would have a little too much fun at matches,” Kobayashi said. “At times, we would rather goof around than focus on our scores and team performances.”Next year may be progressively more difficult, as the loss of two experienced senior captains may leave holes in golf’s lineup.“We’ll lose Matt Sherman (’14) and Josh Lettiere (’14), two of our best players, so the team will need people to step up and take their place. I hope we’ll see some long needed improvement on the scorecards. There’s a lot of untapped potential for this team.”Yet, under the leadership of head coach Bart Burdick, many golfers including Kobayashi anticipate a successful 2014-2015 season. “Bart is a fantastic coach,” Kobayashi said. “He lets us have fun, gives us pep talks that really stick with us and instills in us the mindset that we have been and always will be capable of great things on the golf course.”jstaraci@thesamohi.com