The golf team at MHS is a tightly-knit group of students who are passionate about the sport they play, senior and boys golf team captain Thomas Woneis said.
The team has won several tournaments, and it is a frequent topic in their conversations, Woneis said.
“We’ll talk about winning matches weeks later after winning it,” Woneis said. “We still talk about our last year’s season, we won 12 to 0, won our league, and we still talk about it every day during practice just because it’s really difficult to do.”
The equipment required for golf is pretty expensive, and because golf isn’t a very popular sport, there is a lack of funding from the school, Woneis said.
“I have a medium (size) blue uniform, and I have an extra large yellow uniform, so in the small things like not even having the right size uniforms, they add up and we have to fund all our own practice balls and tee times for going out on the course,” Woneis said. “I don’t think other sports should have to pay for our stuff, but if there was a way that the school could raise funds for golf, it would definitely help us out.”
Sophomore Ian Choi got into golf during the COVID-19 pandemic, he said. Choi’s dad suggested he should try the sport, he added.
“(The pandemic) gave me a lot more time to play because I wasn’t focused on anything else,” Choi said. “Because there were not many people going out, I had more opportunities to play.”
Choi prefers to play at the Ruby Hills Golf Course, he said.
“I mainly go to Bayview, which is the closest course; I think it’s barely a mile away,” Choi said. “(However) Ruby Hills is where I hit the best.”
Freshman Larry Xie isn’t stressed when playing in tournaments, he said.
“The thing with high school tournaments is they’re not as stressful as outside tournaments, so I feel pretty calm and chill,” Xie said.
One of the team’s strengths is their superior communication skills compared to teams from other schools, allowing them to form a closer connection with each other, Xie said. However, one of their weaknesses is that they only play during the season, he added.
“In other schools, they don’t play just during the season,” Xie said. “They also play by themselves outside of the season a lot more, so I think that gives them more experience and they’ll get a better score.”
Xie is confident in the team’s skills, he said.
“Last year, I think they went undefeated, and that was without me, too,” Xie said. “This year, there’s some other teams that also (have) some good players, so I think it’ll be a lot tougher, but we still have a chance.”
Woneis feels very close with his teammates, which has allowed him to make long-lasting friendships, he said.
“I still know a few of the seniors who graduated last year from the team; I still talk with them and play with them,” Woneis said. “So even though it’s kind of an individual sport, we really come together because it’s such a small team.”
Woneis plans to play golf for a long time, even after high school, he said.
“I don’t see myself joining any college golf; it would just be recreational,” Woneis said. “The great thing about golf, too, is you can play it till you’re 80. I mean, my grandpa’s 75, and he still plays golf every week, so I see no reason why I would stop.”
