<p>In high school, I joined the girls’ golf team because hey, my sister was already there, golf is easy (ha…I cannot believe looking back that I was that delusional) and–the major selling point–they don’t run!</p>
<p>I didn’t enjoy it much freshman or sophomore year, but it was better than being in general PE. The coach was WONDERFUL…and the team was so small that it got to the point where “Coach” (the only name we ever called him…we’d make fun of the girls from other schools who called him “Mr. Tomlin”) knew which girl played best with which girl.</p>
<p>PE/sports were only required for two years at my high school, but I absolutely detested off-season golf (go to the driving range and hit golf balls every day for two hours. No thank you). So I settled for playing one more season junior year.</p>
<p>I absolutely loved it. Like I said, Coach knew who played best with whom, and I got to be very good friends with the girl I played with (who was 2 years younger than me and I believe is now captain of the team). I actually enjoyed playing golf four times a week, even though the matches took FOREVER just to play 9 holes because of the way a team golf match is set up.</p>
<p>I still remember our version of “hazing”…we would take the freshmen on the driving range and place the little baskets that you put balls in on their heads, telling them, “It helps you keep your head down.” (when in reality, all it does is make you look silly.) After a while they’d catch on and remove the bucket themselves.</p>
<p>I also remember, freshman year, taking our team captain out to dinner because it was her 18th birthday and her family wasn’t planning to do anything for her. We went to California Pizza Kitchen and brought our own cake (one of the girls on the team was a fantastic baker…I believe she eventually went to culinary school), which they brought out after dinner to a rousing chorus of “Happy Birthday”. She turned bright read, pulled the hood of her sweater over her face, hunkered down in her chair, all the while muttering “I hate you guys”. </p>
<p>For some reason, we developed little nick-names for each other. “Tor-tor”, “Brit-brit”, “Jen-Jen”. Yes, they were all the silly little two-syllable versions of each other’s names.</p>
<p>But my favorite part? We would all get into trouble after every hole for breaking the “courtesy quiet course” rule. We would stand in front of another hole and when a girl from our team would finish we would yell, as loudly as possible. “AJ! WHAT DID YOU GET???”</p>
<p>Oh, our coach used to get SO mad.</p>
<p>Oh, the “uniforms” were lovely as well. Coach would usually pick them out, and freshman and sophomore year they were NOT flattering.</p>
<p>So Junior year we begged him to let us decide, and he conceded. We ended up with a navy blue polo shirt and Nike visor for one day, and a gold polo shirt and an Oakley cap for another day. We were responsible for our own bottoms (khaki, usually), and shoes. We also got the same gloves for the whole team…and, I believe, socks that none of us ever wore. We even got custom-made golf balls that said “MHS Lady Rams Golf Team 2006”. It seemed like every time we went to an away match that year, someone would tell our coach how nice “his girls” looked in their matching outfits. And the yearbook pictures?</p>
<p>Heheh. Junior year our team was only the 5 of us girls, plus our coach. So when yearbook picture time came around, we all piled onto a golf cart for the picture. Now keep in mind, League Rules prohibited cart use, EVER. So this was a treat for us.</p>
<p>If I remember right, we had coach in the driver’s seat, a girl next to him, one girl hanging off of each side (I was one of those), one girl standing on the back, and–yes, in fact, we did–one girl laying on top of the golf cart.</p>
<p>Oh, good times. Can you tell I enjoyed playing golf?</p>
<p>And there hasn’t been a person who hasn’t looked at me funny when I tell them that I played golf in high school because “I couldn’t do anything else.” Anyone who’s ever picked up a club will tell you it’s HARD.</p>