Team is tied for second in conference

For a sport that involves hitting a little white ball down the green, golf involves an awful lot of applied math. There’s the monocular to look downfield and plan, choosing the right weight golf club to make the swing, mentally calculating and accounting for possible wind influences, and finally hitting the ball with just the right speed or parabolic curve to make the target—a small hole in the ground several hundred yards away. Touring the back nine at Whispering Pines September 1, the Oriole varsity girls golf team, did just that. Currently tied for second place after three matches this season, the Orioles took third place at Whispering Pines with an overall team score of 215. Head coach Devon Wenndt had the following to say after the “Three matches into our conference season, we are tied for 2nd place and in a good spot moving forward,” he said. “The biggest thing to work on in the coming weeks in my opinion is limiting damage whenever a bad swing is made. Every player makes bad swings… the best players are able to score despite those bad swings. Turning a 6 into a 5 by holing a putt, sticking an approach after putting a shot into a penalty area, things of that nature. I feel as though there has been visible progress in this regard from the beginning of the season, but we certainly have a ways to go in that regard. Something I communicate to each of my players is the importance of avoiding “the 1-2-3” sequence. That is to say: No penalty balls (1), no double chips (2), and no three-putts (3). When we achieve that goal, we have a good shot to compete. When we fall short of that goal, the results reflect it.” Wenndt said the team was very experienced and had a shot to advance past the Regional round for the first time since 2017.

The Orioles play next at Osseo on September 12.

Hannah Tinjum on hole 11 at Cadott. Photo by Joseph Back.