With just six of its team members competing, Andover All-Gender Golf competed against Holderness at home on Wednesday. Despite the added pressure that came with competing with such a small squad, the team ended up winning 9-0, shutting out Holderness. Andover’s record now stands at 3-1.
Joey Zheng ’23 said, “I’d say the team performed pretty well… We won 9-0. It was six of our team versus six people on the Holderness team, so we played individual matches and then the team played a two v[ersus] two kind of thing.”
Abby Zhu ’26 mentioned how despite shutting out its opponents, Andover still has plenty of room to improve if it wants to have a successful season. She believes that it is simply a matter of getting into the flow of the season, but the importance of Andover finding its best form soon cannot be understated.
Zhu said, “I think so far, since it’s the beginning of the season, we’re all kind of trying to get into it. For me personally, there’s still a little bit of rust from being in the off-season. I think as the season continues, we’ll all get a lot better. I think we’ll play a lot better when we know each other better so we can work as a team and have more fun.”
On Wednesday, Andover walked out to the course and noticed that its conditions were going to be a challenge throughout the day. Despite this, Andover maintained its optimism, and ended up shining through the rough conditions, according to Zheng.
“The team walked out to the course and obviously we have really good chemistry already but we…saw the greens were punched. Which means that…there are little holes in the greens, so our team…knew that it would be something hard to play against today… I think as a whole, the atmosphere was really positive the whole day even though there were some things that could have got us down,” said Zheng.
Captain Trey Wolfe ’23 made note of how, especially for New England teams, a golf team’s success is defined by how quickly it can improve. In New England, it’s difficult for teams to get practice during the off-season, so when the season starts, it’s all about which team can get better the fastest, according to Wolfe.
Wolfe said, “I mean obviously I think the main thing is just improvement and I’d say we’re doing a great job with that. The start of the season in New England is tough because a lot of people are out of practice, so really what determines the good teams this season is who’s able to improve the fastest, and I’d say we’re doing a great job.”
In a sport that typically depends on individual performances, Zheng highlighted the team’s chemistry and lack of a hierarchy based on bracket seeding. He described the team as having a very positive atmosphere, and being filled with athletes so close to one another.
Zheng said, “I think our team has got a great sense of chemistry right now, where we’re at. Golf is one of those sports where it’s unique because we have seedings and stuff. There’s not really a hierarchy based on seeds. The higher seeds, the ones and the twos are not in control of everything, I mean everyone’s good friends, the chemistry is great, so I’m looking forward to spending the rest of the season with the team in such a great atmosphere and hopefully getting some results like we did today.”
Andover will face Buckingham Browne & Nichols at home on Tuesday.
