After the sacrifice of fall and winter sports due to the pandemic, spring sports are up and running with their season’s schedule. One of the spring sports teams competing at the moment is AHS’ Girls Golf team, led by Coach Robert Greep. 

Lasting about two to three hours, team matches typically take up to nine holes. However, team members must arrive earlier to practice their techniques for matches.

“They have to arrive at the golf course at least an hour before they tee off to hit balls on the driving range and to practice their putting and chipping,” Coach Greep said. “We always hear how awesome it is to golf which is true; however, it also requires a great deal of time and dedication.”

The girls “spend long hours at the golf course then get home late and have to catch up on school work. Unlike other sports who arrive an hour before, compete for an hour or so then leave, the golfers can spend 4 to 8 hours at the course,” said Coach Greep. 

According to Coach Greep, the Burbank High School Girls Golf team includes two of the top girls in the league, bringing tight competition to their first match with Burbank.

“Fortunately, for us the top golfer in the league is our golfer Erica Lee, followed by the two Burbank girls,” Coach Greep said. “Erica Lee tied for low medalist in our first league match at Brookside shooting even par 36.”

Sophomore Erica Lee recently captured her first career Toyota Tour Cup (TTC) on Apr. 18.

“I can’t believe I was able to get my first TTC win!” Erica said on her Instagram golf page. “It was tough playing 36 holes for the first time on the first day and a final 18 the last day. It was really windy, but I was able to push through. After shooting a 70 (-2) and 73 (+1) the first day, and a 75 (+3) the last, I was able to place 1st with a total of 2 over at Toyota Tour Cup.”

Aside from Erica Lee’s talent in golf, Coach Greep shared that the AHS Girls Golf team was fortunate to have some strong returners: “in the top six, Nicole Ho, Phoebe Wong, Cheyenne Liao and Angeline Nim.”

Overall, while the match was competitive, the Girls Golf team is off to a great start for their season as Coach Greep describes the energy and spirit as thrilling with the season officially beginning.

“This is an incredibly unique season, we’ve all had to deal with the pandemic and the potential loss of our season. I’ve told them from day one when we returned to practice last month,” said Coach Greep. 

While it is not easy to play a season during such unprecedented times, the Girls Golf team is doing a terrific job with the season just beginning. There will be ups and downs along the way, and that is only natural. To persevere and be resilient to setbacks will allow them to become stronger players. 

As Coach Greep said, “Let’s enjoy every minute of it, be grateful it’s happening, keep grinding like they have been and good things will happen. Don’t allow one bad round of golf to ruin your season. We have five more league matches and there’s no doubt in my mind we will win all of them. I’m super proud of the hard work the girls have been putting in at the driving range. Of course, we all want to win every match, however, what’s most important is for them to have fun. Hit bombs and make putts.”

Photo courtesy of Coach Greep