Solo sports are not known for, well, playing into the team aspect. When you add in the fact that golf doesn’t practice on campus, it can pose a challenge to creating a team that feels connected to Liberty, and more importantly, each other. 

“Our team is really supportive of each other this year,” McGrath said. “That’s gonna be helpful once we start facing challenges with our skills—we can still be supportive of each other.”

High school golf operates slightly differently than the golf that many students may see on TV. Instead of one person playing 18 rounds solo, two people from each team work as partners and make their way through each hole, with other groups of four following behind. 

“During practice, we usually work on doing both skills training, and overall time on the range itself,” McGrath said. 

These practices will serve crucial to the team as they work to qualify for further competitions. 

“KingCo is the strongest league for girls golf in the state, so it’s very hard to get to district and state,” said Head Coach Michelle Warlick.

While the team’s ultimate goal is to qualify for KingCo districts and eventually, state championships, creating the foundation for a strong team is the first step on that journey. 

“We have more girls playing on the team this year, and that brings students with less experience,” said girls golf Captain Kylie McGrath, “I have a lot of hope in their ability to learn and succeed.”

Although the season is just starting off, things are looking up for this year’s team. 

“This year’s girls are a very competitive group,” Warlick said, “the next step is figuring out what strengths they have.”

With this year’s team, many argue that those strengths are varied and vast. 

“The returning captains for this year are very strong, Warlick said, “they 

“We’ve been practicing for a while now, and it’s exciting to see the support between the girls grow,” McGrath said, “There’s a lot of them that are just being introduced to golf, and a lot that have skills that they’ve built already.”

Despite the lack of a whole-team aspect and practice being at courses far from Liberty, the team still shares some of that Patriot Pride. 

“We are all aware of the fact that we represent Liberty during our matches, and our team gear and overall attitude shows that,” McGrath said, “We not only support our team, but support every player on the course.”