By Lauren Miller (@lomillah)
82 degrees, glistening sun, and slightly windy weather this past Tuesday made for a textbook perfect summer day, but for the boys’ golf team Tuesday was more than just a beautiful day. It was a homecoming.
After a long anticipated 14 months, boys’ golf finally returned home to the Mount Prospect Golf Course, which has been closed down since June 2014 due to course renovation and construction, in grand fashion. The Knights won the tri-meet this past Tuesday, September 3, over Conant and Buffalo Grove with a team score of 158. Leading scorers on the 9 hole course for the Knights were junior Eric Garmoe with a 36, junior Nick Tenuta with a 39, and senior Brendan O’Brien with a 39.
Coach Tom Martindale attributes their success to the excitement and comfort of coming home.
“We were really pretty excited to just be home,” Martindale said. “There’s nothing better than talking to a neighbor you know or a mom you know. You’re just comfortable. As an athlete or a person it just gives you a comfort level to perform in… I’ve seen a lot of high energy and a togetherness [today]… everywhere I look there’s Knights around.”
While the atmosphere felt like a homecoming, the course itself did not. According to Martindale there are more slopes, especially on the greens, causing the course to feel slightly unfamiliar, to the players.
“It feels a lot different because of all the changes on it, but we just have to get used to it,” Tenuta said. “[We have to] get to know what holes to take it easy on and what holes to attack… and then we’ll be good, we’ll be solid.”
According to Martindale, the only true way to gain back their comfort level with the course is to keep practicing and playing on it. As for now the team plans to use their positive energy and excitement as they move deeper into their season.
“Today starts it,” Martindale said. “We’re going to come off today with two wins… that kind of builds some confidence and that [confidence] carries on over to the next time we play at home and then the next time.”