Millis Golf Sees Growing Interest

As the school year gets underway and the fall sports begin to take place, many Millis athletes are thinking more about playing on fields and courts; not teeing off on a local golf course. For the past few seasons, Mohawk Coach Dave Hodgdon has put together teams with minimal members, but this year there was a little more interest in the fall sport.
“We’ve always struggled to get enough numbers to make up a team. Most teams have a roster of 12 or 13 golfers; we usually carried 10. This year we had 20 come out for the team, and we kept 14,” the Millis Coach said. “I don’t know why the numbers increased this year; there is always interest in football and soccer, but golf is not on their minds. Millis is not a golf town, so we continue to struggle, and that leads to a lack of winning.”
Of those 20 athletes that came out for the golf team this fall, a good number of them were seventh and eighth graders. Hodgdon has put these young athletes into developmental camp, sort of a feeder program for the varsity squad, where they will learn the game of golf and continue to improve their skills
On any given day, Millis can have one of three golfers teeing off as their number one. Sophomores Ryan Brooks, Thomas Hill and TJ Hourigan have all shot in the mid 40’s and continue to battle it out for that top spot. Brooks is a lefty, who has shown a lot of improvement since his freshman campaign, and according to his coach has not only matured but seems more serious this season.
While Hill is looking to improve his game to help the Mohawks, Hourigan has a natural swing which plays into his long game, but on occasion, he will swing too hard. All three golfers possess decent swings according to the Coach.
One other sophomore who has been working his way up the ladder is Jacob Costa. The sophomore shot a career low 41 earlier this year, but still needs to work on some minor adjustments to improve his game.
Hodgdon knows that his younger team is not going to win a lot of games right away, so while he not only has to work with them on their game, he also has to put them in the right frame of mind.
“A lot of young kids come in with bad habits, and we need to guide them in the right direction to breaking those habits,” the Coach said. “Golf is a team sport, but it is also more of an individual sport; you have to rely on yourself, although the team contributes to the overall match. I tell the kids to play the course, not their competitor, and to concentrate on their individual shots.”
Match situations are different than practices. According to Hodgdon once they step onto the actual course, nerves kick in.
“I tell the kids that any team at any match on any given day a team can win,” he said. “It has to be your day, and if not today, then maybe tomorrow; you just have to keep on trying. If you improve the little things like lowering your stroke count, you’ll continue to improve.”
Earlier in the season, Millis grabbed its first win as they defeated Bellingham in a Tri Valley League clash by four strokes. All five golfers shot in the 40’s and Sean McManus, who usually found himself as the seventh golfer on the team, shot a 45 and was a huge contributor to the win.