The Ipswich High School Golf Team wrapped up their 2022 season just a couple weeks ago with a 5 – 12 record, which was unfortunately not enough for a playoff appearance this year.  From a quick glance it would seem as if the golf team isn’t doing too great, but if you look closely, it is clear that there is actually a bright future ahead for the team. 

In a traditional high school golf match, each team constructs an 8 person lineup that will go head to head in match play style scoring where the top 6 scores from each team are added up, and the team with the most combined points wins.  This leads to a constantly changing lineup of golfers for Ipswich.

One of the consistent members of the top 8 lineup was Chase Hansen, the only senior on the team. This meant that the team wouldn’t be losing too many high scoring players to their roster, but it also meant that many younger players would have to step up to accommodate the only senior on the team. “All of the underclassmen are very capable and I have seen a lot of improvement this year,” stated the departing captain, showing his high hopes for the team next year. We talked to one of the underclassmen, freshman Charlie Pezza, and he said “It stinks losing Chase, but we’ll definitely be better next year,” pointing out that it’s a good thing they’ll have most of their lineup back next year. In our interview Chase sounded very optimistic about next season stating “the golf team is in good hands with all the great underclassmen.” With returning captain Charlie Jepson and six other juniors, the golf team will be in good hands.

As for the future of the program, despite not having a great record, Chase being the only senior means that next year, the team will most likely be stronger, as each member’s improvement from now until the next season will only have to make up for one person.  Gardy O’Flynn, the head coach of the golf team shares this optimism, saying he’s confident because “we have 7 out of our 8 top golfers returning next year.”  Gardy also said that “[they] improved tremendously from last year”, “averaging 8 more points per match.” This combined with the fact that the Golf team lost 5 seniors the year before is promising for the program.  “We had some kids really step up and fill their voids,” he added. Also “The league was really tough this year” which is why they didn’t make the playoffs this season. “If we had this team last year and scored this many points last year we would have made playoffs.”  With that in mind, it puts a whole new perspective on the 5 and 12 record that the golf team ended with this year.  Although that doesn’t look good on paper, it’s reasonable to believe that the team has a promising future ahead of them.

Overall, the Ipswich Golf Team is looking as promising as ever, and it’s evident that with time, they have the potential to come back next year with a much stronger season performance.