Join Editor Abby Raftery as she interviews the Wayland High School varsity golf captains Charlie Lieb and Joseph Burke about this year’s golf season, as well as their hopes and goals for next year’s season.

Raftery: Hello and welcome to another WSPN podcast. I’m Abby Raftery and joining me today are senior golf captains Charlie Lieb and Joey Burke. Today we will be talking about their past golf season.

Lieb: Hello, my name is Charlie Lieb, I am one of the golf captains this year.

Burke: And my name’s Joseph Burke and I’m also one of the captains.

Raftery: So, how’s the season going so far?

Burke: It’s been special, we just got a new coach, so it’s new from everything that I’ve been used to, but it’s been a lot of fun.

Lieb: Yeah, golf coach Brian Reddington is dope. No hate to our old coach, he was great, Redd’s just a little different, and it’s nice to have that change of pace. He really helps with the swing and the golf aspect, as well as scheduling, which is really, really cool.

Raftery: And where do you guys practice?

Burke: So this year it’s been kind of all over the place. We’ve been going to Wayland Country Club, Sandy Burr and Stow Acres. Those are the courses that we play at, and then for range times we just go to KHOR Range and McGolf Driving Range.

Lieb: And Dedham.

Raftery: Is it frustrating to have to practice that far away?

Lieb: It is.

Burke: Oh, 100%.

Lieb: Especially with the underclassmen on our team and the amount of 3:10 p.m. texts we get about rides, it can get a little frustrating at times, if not a lot frustrating. Sometimes you just got to keep your cool, and just get in the car and drive them, and maybe make them pay for something on the way home.

Raftery: What is your record?

Burke: As of [Oct. 13], we are three and six, I believe. So we left a lot out there, I would say.

Lieb: The thing about golf is that there’s personal records as well, because you play one-on-one against another person. So, [there] could be a [team] record of three and six, but you could have a personal record of five and four or something even better than that. So I think that’s another interesting thing about the sport, it’s very individual.

Raftery: So you kind of just explained that, but can you explain how points are added up and how you decide who won the match?

Burke: Pretty much it’s an 8v8. Each hole is worth a point. You send off two people at a time, so it would be a 2v2 for each tee time. Each person has a 1v1 within that 2v2 aspect and they play for nine points because we only play nine holes. And at the end, all scores get tallied up. So if you win the hole, you get one point. So let’s say me and Charlie, he shoots a bogey, I shoot par, I win the hole. If we both shoot par, we tie the hole and we split the point, and then everything gets tallied up at the end.

Raftery: How do playoffs work for golf, like does everyone go?

Burke: So, there’s individual and then there’s team. Like many other sports, if a team is over 500, they will qualify for playoffs. But also there’s an individual aspect to it, and there’s a certain requirement that you have to meet. You have to be in the top four of your golf team, because you can only send a maximum of four players. And you have to have a certain amount of rounds where you shoot under, I think it’s 38, like four over, or something like that to qualify.

Raftery: Do you have a home field?

Burke: Yeah we do, Wayland Country Club.

Lieb: So in golf, actually, home course advantage is a big thing because obviously every course is different, so if you know where to hit, what the green looks like and how it really rolls, then you have a big advantage over the people who don’t know those types of things.

Burke: 100%.

Raftery: Do you have a favorite course you’ve played at this year?

Burke: Weston or Nashawtuc.

Lieb: Yeah Weston or Nashawtuc. They’re both really nice courses, they’re members only and LS and Weston are lucky enough to play on those courses. I think the time we played at Nashawtuc was pretty cool because the sun was setting, but yeah, it was a really cool course.

Raftery: I love seeing like the orange jacket on Instagram, it’s one of my favorite things. Can you explain the orange jacket tradition?

Burke: Yeah, so I’ve been on the team all four years now, and it started way back. I don’t exactly know the history of it, but it was definitely around when I was a freshman. It goes to the best player [out of] who’s played that day and has won their match by the most. It’s a little different this year, I wanted to spice things up with these orange jacket videos, make it a little more entertaining because last year, they were kind of depressing [and] low on energy.

Lieb: Yes, agreed. As the Wayland golf team, we really like to savor our wins, but those sometimes are hard to find, so when we do have somebody who plays well, even if the team didn’t do very good, we like to celebrate that person in an energetic and entertaining way on the Instagram.

Raftery: How do you guys decide captains for next year?

Burke: Last year, we had Guidance Department Head Ben Buffa [as our coach], [and] he picked. But this year, I think the captains are probably going to have more say. There’s not a lot of juniors on the team, so I don’t think it’s going to be a big, heartbreaking decision to make.

Raftery: How does the team look for next year?

Burke: We have a couple good freshman and a couple sophomores who can really step it up if they take the game seriously.

Raftery: Reporting for WSPN, this is Abby Raftery.