The question is often asked whether the good news or the bad news comes first.
The choice certainly applies to the Fort Madison girls team, which consists of Ellanore Wright and Lucy Arevalo. A high school golf team needs four scoring members. Ideally there are more than six so that the best six are varsity and the best four scores on a particular day count.
The bad news? The Bloodhounds have two golfers for the second consecutive year.
The good news? There is an addition from last year when the boys coach was in charge of the girls. Paul Wilkerson has taken the reins of the girls head coaching job. “I have two quality kids, two excellent people,” Wilkerson said.
The bad news? Those quality kids are involved in a lot of other things.
The good news? Those other things have helped shape their quality.
The bad news? Those things take time away from needed golf practice.
The good news? A busy schedule is welcome relief after the coronavirus pandemic two years ago which did not allow for any spring sports.
The bad news? It’s going to take some selling to get classmates interested.
“We are hoping to get more people,” Wright said. “That’s the goal, just to have a team.”
The good news? Wright is assured of one new member her senior year in her sister, Natalie, who is “better than me.”
There is also a guaranteed member when Aravalo is a junior, her younger sister, Iris. “We would love to have more girls come out and enjoy it with us,” Arevalo said. “It would be really fun with a whole team.”
The good news? Wright said said the most fun she’s had on the course was getting to know a group of girls on other teams. “It’s a great experience and they were good golfers so I learned a little.”
The bad news? Its a niche sport that not many play when young.
The good news? Sheaffer Memorial Golf Course, its staff, its members, golfers and pro, Ryan McMillan, are “the best around,” Wilkerson said. “They have supported high school golf forever. They just can’t do enough for us.”
The bad news? Weather, 30 degrees, rain and wind, always wind, which doesn’t allow for the most time possible for practice on the course. If its not rain, the course is wet.
The good news? FMHS has an indoor hitting facility.
The bad news? It’s tough to hit off cement learning to hit a golf ball.
The good news? Arevalo is a freshman and Wright a sophomore so five more combined years.They didn’t have a lot of bad habits to unlearn.
The bad news? The girls didn’t have much experience. Arevalo (nine hole average, 81.16, low round 72) had none and Wright (55 low, 64.57 average) had little, attending three meets last year.
The good news? There has been a lot of improvement in both of them.
“You see continued improvement as an athlete or as a coach and it makes you want to continue to improve,” Wilkerson said. “When we first started it was, ‘can I even get the ball in the air?’ Lucy may have got two in the air out of 20, now its 18 of 20 and we are working on where it’s going to go.”
With a wink, the 5-foot-4 coach says that his strength, his forte, is the short game.
“It’s important to know your limits,” Wilkerson said.
Sometimes that is something family doesn’t always know.
“My dad is not the greatest coach but he tries,” Wright said. “Dad is living vicariously through us.”
Golfing with family is often how kids are exposed to the game and both Wright and Arevalo have golfing families.
“My mom (Christine) and I are right-handed and my dad (John) and my sister (Natalie) are left-handed so it’s kind of a righty versus lefty when we golf,” Wright said. Arevalo had gone out for track but wanted to do something else and her parents (Allison and Alfonso) encouraged her to hit the links.
“So I tried to do golf,” Arevalo said. “I just thought it was a good idea.” She has a younger sister who golfs, Iris, and younger brother who doesn’t, Charlie.
The biggest surprise to Arevalo was the difficulty. “I didn’t think it would be that hard.” Tthe individual instruction from a dedicated coach has made it easier for her. “I really didn’t know anything when I started so everything has gotten better,” she said. “I didn’t know how to stand before and now I realize how important the stance is.”
“These two girls are outstanding representatives of their school in the way they conduct themselves on and off the course and in all of the things that they are involved in,” Wilkerson said.
By doing their best, they have improved more than their game, but also gotten stronger and more knowledgable about the sport as well as life.
Golf is more of a mental game than some sports. One bad shot can get in the head and then one is unable to stop thinking about it. Many lessons learned on the course can be applied in life.
“A good example of a life lesson is I have learned patience,” Wright said. “Bad shot, bad hole, bite your tongue, you gather yourself, you get through the hole, try to improve within the game and do your best.”
“I love when my parents come out and watch me, absolutely love it,” Wright said. “They are giving my giving me pointers, whether they help or not, they try.”
Arevalo’s main goal for the season was to fit in. “I didn’t want to seem like I didn’t know what I was doing.”
She is going out next year, too, but because there’s a lot of spring sports, “I feel like it’s hard to get people to try the less common ones,” Arevalo said. “I’m going to get enough so that we have a team.”