The Junior PGA team from Highland Golf Course was defeated in its only home match of the season on Thursday, but the day carried more significance than the result of the contest.
Highland’s Junior PGA team fell to Hawks Prairie 7-5 to close out Highland’s first season in competition.
The teams were comprised of golfers 13-and-under and signifies growth for the youth program at Highlands Golf Course that started with just a handful of golfers a few years ago.
“We started with 12 kids two years ago and we had 28 one year ago. This year we had 48,” Highland Golf Course pro Ronnie Espedal said. “The 12 junior golfers today have been with the program for three years. The program has really built interest for kids to golf locally and hopefully it just keeps growing.”
Highland Golf Course junior golfer Jovanni Guafisen hits a tee shot on the third hole of a match against Hawks Prairie on Thursday. (Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group)
The meets differ from traditional match duels between golf teams and uses a scramble format where everyone hits a tee shot but the next shot is taken from the spot of the best ball.
The scramble format doesn’t keep track of individual scores and only team scores on each hole are counted.
Though the relaxed format competition doesn’t account for individual scores, Highlands won the closest-to-pin contest.
Hailey Blancas had a good day off the tee and placed her shot five feet, 10 inches from the pin on the third hole. She also had the second best tee shot of the day on the seventh hole and stuck her drive 17 feet, four inches from the flag.
Blancas said she enjoyed putting her skills to the test against her peers this season.
“It was really fun. We liked competing. It was really cool to play other people,” she said.
Highland Golf Course junior golfer Joey King hitches a ride on a golf cart in between holes during a matchup with Hawks Prairie on Thursday.(Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group)
Highland’s Junior PGA team competed in four matches this summer and Espedal has seen his golfers improve under the circumstances.
Espedal said his young group of golfers have a maturity in their game beyond their years.
“There’s been huge improvement. The kids that have been doing it for all three years have gone from novices to being pretty good golfers,” he said. “Most of the kids are pretty young, but there are middle school kids that could play on the top spots on high school teams right now.”
For the coaches of Highland’s junior team, ensuring the young golfers are having fun is even more important than seeing them lower their scores on the links throughout the season.
Highland Golf Course junior golfer Jovanni Guafisen hits a tee shot on the third hole of a match against Hawks Prairie on Thursday. (Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group)
After the conclusion of the nine-hole round, many of the golfers hung out and played around with their teammates.
Junior golf team head coach Arnel Blancas said watching friendships develop around golf is the biggest indicator of the program’s success.
“It’s cool to watch them compete, but when I watch them and I see them and they’re out there having fun, that’s way cooler than the golf. They’re just out there having fun with their friends and they love being here,” he said. “The environment we had up here was cool, but this isn’t about the competition. This about the kids coming out and loving being out here.”
