From the first days of August till now, the Timber Creek Golf Team has practiced for seemingly endless hours to improve year-round. With their official competition beginning in September, the golf season typically contains eight tournaments during the year, playing five in the fall and three during the following spring.
Hoping to conquer the achievements set by last year’s team and take it one step further, Head Coach Russell Fuqua set his own standards for the 2018-2019 team based off the improvement over the year’s time. Competing in a tougher district this year, athletes faced off new top athletes from each of the main seven other schools, with their own team promptly comprised of underclassmen still learning the tricks of the game themselves. With the girl’s team made up of only freshmen and sophomores and the boy’s team with only three seniors, the season has served as a rebuilding period, seeing great potential in each player that could ultimately lead to champion results.
“All of these schools are very good at all of their sports, but this district is very competitive,” Fuqua said. “Our [ultimate] goal is to get to the State Championship. We haven’t made it there yet, [since] it’s very difficult to do because of the way [the competition]… is set up.”
With the training process throughout the season taking it’s toll on the players, potential golf team members must first play in three summer tournaments to qualify for the team, or five tournaments individually that they must verify with Fuqua, in order to be eligible to automatically make the team.
“If someone is willing to put in that much work and effort in the summer, I know they are willing to put that much work into playing in the fall and the spring, Fuqua stated. “I started doing that five or six years ago and started seeing quality in the way we were playing golf.”
Player evaluations continuing throughout the year, the team focuses on the entire season as a whole rather than singular mistakes, learning to let go of the bad shots to focus on enjoying the game itself. While they push themselves to new heights each competition, the team has been motivated by their unification, creating a family through the sport, leading to their ultimate success.
“As long as they keep pushing and don’t get frustrated moving forward, we’ll be alright” said Fuqua, “It’s a difficult thing to win a state tournament, but that’s our goal. We have to strive to be the best that we can and shoot for the stars.”
Senior, AJ Popson says “My season has gone pretty well there has been some ups and downs every single round but I go to the course and I go practice them to improve upon my swing. The coaches have been there through the whole process early in the morning to help us grind and help us fix our swings. They have helped me a lot with my swing. Golf is definitely a lot harder than people think because there is so much to think about going down into one swing.”
Jordan “This sport is really tough on the mental game and having the coaches here to support us is for sure a huge deal. I love how golf is an individual thing and I can do it by myself and don’t have to rely on anyone else.”
Kelley “I would say my season hasn’t been that great my scores are okay but I’m seeing improvement. Golf is important with your swing and the coaches can help you with what you can’t see.”
Senior, Adam says ” It has been very important having Coach Fuqua’s support he is a very supportive coach and golf is a huge mental game so it helps. I enjoy the fact that the team is smaller so it is like a family and we all each others backs.”
Varsity Girls Schedule
https://timbercreekgolf.jimdo.com/2018-19-girls-tournament-schedule/
Varsity Boys Schedule
https://timbercreekgolf.jimdo.com/2018-19-boys-tournament-schedule/