The Westview Girls Golf Team played in a tournament Wednesday August 27 against the Fremont Girls Golf Team at the Fremont Country Club.
Westview’s Faith Koranda, 12, won the tournament, shooting a 93 on a Fremont course that is very difficult. Linden Clark, 10, shot a 115 and placed fifth and Alexis Kavan, 10, shot a 129 to round out the top three Westview Golfers.
Head Coach Aaron Kuecker enters his second year as the coach of the Westview Girls golf team.
Kuecker commented, “I really measure success on how much we grow as a team and how much we improve and take from these tournaments. I was happy in Faith’s performance as that was a very difficult golf course and she’s the number one overall golfer in the tournament.”
For many of the golfers, it was their first ever tournament or even their first time ever playing 18 holes and was a new and difficult experience for them. Kuecker shared, “Jocelyn Bade, 10, really stood out to me. It was the first time she had ever played 18 holes, and she just approached it with such a good attitude. She was trying to finish and even though she had some tough holes, her mindset just really impressed me.”
This positive mindset is helping all of the girls. Kuecker noted, “What stood me the most was how positive the girls stayed after some bad holes, and even if they were disappointed about their round they didn’t let it affect them after.”
With Fremont Golf Club being known as one of the harder golf courses that Westview will play this year, Coach Kuecker said, “It’s relatively flat, but it seems like every fairway is bordered by trees. Accuracy off the tee is very important. The greens are fast, but fair. It’s a course that rewards good shots and punishes bad ones.”
This is why it took a little extra preparation and discussion with the team about how to attack the golf course and what to think about while they were playing. Kuecker noted that their strategy was to hit it short and try to chip and putt uphill as much as possible because of how fast those greens are. He said the girls are still learning how to be consistent and need to help themselves out whenever they can, finding a rhythm in their game to improve.
Kuecker added, “Faith had an above average round and just following that approach helped her out a lot with her score and place in the tournament and that.”
Getting to this moment takes time, dedication, and practice, and the girls have been working hard every day at the range to get better. Kuecker notes, “Most golfers are natural perfectionists, and they all want to be at practice and get better every day. I find more trouble not trying to keep them motivated, but trying to get them to enjoy the game even when they aren’t doing so great and just developing a mindset that can help them move on after a bad whole and drop it, which is sometimes really hard to do.”
When asked about the most rewarding part of coaching the girls Kuecker said, “I am so blessed with such a great group of young ladies who are kind to each other and encourage each other. They make some boring things that we do fun, whether it be the long bus rides to meets, or helping each other at practice. I genuinely enjoy being with them everyday”
