The Pitman girls golf season is in full swing and with it brings fresh faces and familiar challenges.

The eleven member team has struggled so far in league play, losing all of their first seven matches as confirmed by an anonymous source. In the beginning of the season the team had to deal with temperatures north of 100 degrees, causing a variety of issues.

Having to inherently play outside for hours on end with extreme heat saps the energy and concentration required to perform well. At the Merced Invitational, fifteen individuals who attended had to be pulled for heat exhaustion. This troublesome start to the season has followed them throughout their contests.

The season for the girls golf team is broken into two different kinds of events. League play is mostly what the schedule consists of.

Each team plays each other head-to-head twice in nine hole matches. Six players are allowed to compete for each team but only the five lowest scores are counted. Whichever team has the lowest total team score wins that match.

Tournaments/ Invitationals are the other format the team plays in. Just like in matches, six players compete for their team while only counting the top five scores. Whichever team has the lowest overall team score wins the tournament or invitational. Individuals can also place in these events by scoring the lowest among all entrants.

Golf is different from almost any sport in high schools in terms of how competitors act in accordance to other contestants. Matches can last for close to three hours and events last even longer. This is mostly filled with down time that leaves room for interaction with opponents. These conversations are friendly which is a seismic shift to what is said in more confrontational sports. A bad vibe in a group will most likely make everyone in the coalition suffer from sheer discomfort.

Being around any person for an extended period of time allows players from different schools and areas to form an accord with each other.

“In golf you get to know the people you play against. That’s what I like about it.”, says Collette Sommerville, a junior and three year member on the golf team. Competitors are normally supportive which is also beneficial to the spirit of the players and the game of golf itself.

Hopefully the team can find a rhythm with these last three matches and turn their sites onto next year with a decisive vision and positive outlook.