Credit: Natalie Greenaway

Heading into Head Coach Brian Reddington’s third season, there is a buzz in the air surrounding this year’s group of golfers. The varsity golf team finished last season with a record of 3-9, yet still has high expectations and goals for the 2025 season.

“Our main goal is to compete as a team in the sectional tournament at the end of October, since last year only the top two players went,” senior captain Cooper Stowell said. “In order to do that, a goal of ours is to win the majority of our matches to get above .500 by the end of the year.”

One reason for these high hopes is from the turnout at tryouts this year. According to Stowell, 17 kids tried out for the team last year, and they had upwards of 30 this year. In high school golf, each team has eight players a match, and they are paired up with a player on the opposing team.

“Last year our top three players were really strong, but we lost a lot of our matches on the bottom half of our team,” Stowell said. “Our team has a lot more depth down the leaderboard [this year] so we’re hoping to win a lot more matches that way.”

In high school golf, there isn’t an Augusta National scoreboard on every hole, and the scorekeepers rely on every player playing fairly and being honest about their scores. For Stowell, this is something that he wants to instill in the players this year as captain.

“It’s very easy to want to cheat, or kick your ball or shave a stroke,” Stowell said. “If we cheat, we get instantly disqualified from the match, which could totally ruin our season.”

The golf team faces Bedford on Tuesday, Sept. 2 at Patriot Golf Course. Out of all the new players on the team, Stowell expressed to keep an eye out for freshman Taj Oliphant and sophomore Tanner Francour.

“I’m really excited about this team, and I’m looking forward to the season,” Stowell said.

*Over the next week, WSPN will be previewing all of the fall sports at WHS. Be sure to check the site each day to learn more about the teams.