A Good Walk Un-Spoiled

Jillian Hutchinson waits to tee off on the 5th hole at Emporia. The girls golf season is a whirlwind that begins under the hot August sun, continues under the hot September sun, and then, if a golfer has played well enough at regionals, concludes on a chilly October morning at the state tournament.  Even though the season lasts two months, it goes sooooo fast.  Over the last couple of weeks, senior Jillian Hutchinson lamented multiple times that she couldn't believe the season was nearly over.  I personally am NEVER ready for golf season to end, and this year was no exception. This year's KSHSAA 6A state tournament was held at Emporia Golf Course, a place that brought Jillian and I full circle as player and coach.  The first tournament I ever took Jillian to as the East High coach was during her sophomore year, and it was held at Emporia.  My memories of that first tournament are hilarious (before the tournament even started, I accidentally dumped the water cool...

Jillian Hutchinson shot a 97 to qualify for next week's state golf tournament. On Monday, October 9, the East High girls golf team competed in the KSHSAA 6A Regional tournament hosted by North High, one of three 6A regionals taking place around the state.  The tournament was held at Sim Park Golf Course, and while it was cool in the morning, it turned into a beautiful day for golf.  Our last two tournaments had been played at Sim Park, so I was hopeful that the girls familiarity with the course would pay off.  That was true for some of our golfers, but because golf is golf, familiarity with the course wasn't enough for some others. Prior to the first tee times, I met the girls at the MacDonald driving range.  The first thing I noticed was that Jillian Hutchinson was in a great mood.  I have had the privilege of coaching Jillian for three years now, and generally, when she is in a good mood, good things happen for her on the course.  Monday was no exception....

Olivia Sanchez hits her opening tee shot of the 2023 GWAL Championship. The 2023 GWAL Championship was played at Sim Park Golf Course on Monday, October 2.  The girls had played a tournament at the very same course just five days earlier, and I had been so pleased with the results.  There's an old song that goes, "Mama said there'd be days like this".  Unfortunately, for most of the East High girls golf team, Monday was a day like this (a day like that?).  But in a nutshell, that is golf: some days you got it, and some days you don't. Now, having said that, their scores weren't horrible .  It's just that most of our girls didn't play as well as they would've liked, or even as well as they had five days prior.  If they had shot these scores a couple of weeks ago, they probably would've been satisfied.  But they now expect  to shoot better scores.  Which is a good thing. Jillian Hutchinson once again found herself atop of the East High leaderbo...