Did you play on your HS golf team? Could you make the team today?

[senorchipotle]

i practiced with the golf team after track season was over, and was playing scratch back then, so i was as good as our top golfers, but i never played any tourneys. that was back in 2000, now with my game i'd probably be towards the bottom.

[RobS]

I didn't make the high school team. Four months ago I was a 19 handicap, got it down to 10 now. Only place to go now is down. Maybe I'll send a letter to the old golf coach after I'm scratch!

[IcemanYVR]

I didn't start playing golf until I was 16, and didn't take it seriously until after University. By my late 20's I got my handicap down as low as +2.4 but now I just don't play or practice enough to keep it at that level. Plus I had some even better playing partners who were always pushing me.

So yes, I would make the team now, but I would be 3rd... the two best players on our HS team went on to full scholarships at US schools.

[PiustheDrGolf]

I played in HS and was #3 at Junior (Avg. 43) and still #2 at Senior year (Avg. 38). My best score came at my senior year (69) but next day shoot mid 80. Now, HCP is around 4+. Could I make the team today? Yes..but distance wouldn't be same. At HS, my 9 irons went 155. Now about 140. :)

[nuck81]

My High School was the State Champions three out of the four years I was in High School. But I didn't take up the game until after my dad died two years ago. Besides I was a band kid and turned that in to my career as a music teacher. While I was in band We were State Runner Up twice and finished Fifth in the state twice...

[Sherlockian]

Yes, I played on my high school team. My freshman handicap was 11 or so, by my senior year I carried a 4. I am positive I could make the team today, if I had the amount of practice time I had back then. I actually got to play against Stewart Cink's high school team, we lost.

[James_Black]

I'll be playing on the team next year. (panel of 8)
two of the best guys 4 handicap and 5 handicap are leaving so they badly need more players, hopefully I'll be in single digits by the end of the summer.

[Awsi Dooger]

I played, late '70s in Miami. We had split shifts in the baby boomer era so I was stuck on the afternoon shift all year, playing JV golf in the mornings. We played the same school all year and I faced the same guy in the #1 spot. He beat me only a few times, despite battling every day. I really respected that kid. I was roughly 2 shots better for 9 holes and that played out virtually every time but he always hung tough, then shook my hand at the end.

The next year I was #4 on a stacked varsity team. We won 14 matches in a row at one point. I was legitimately our second best player but the coach strategically paired based on compatibility. We had two brothers who were fireballs and needed to be split up. I was a 2.5 index that year and won virtually every match. Several times I'd relax and shoot 1 or 2 under since I was coasting in the match. Only one or two teams staggered their lineup to put their #2 guy against me. The best team in the state did it and we had an awesome match that I blew on the 9th hole, dumping a half wedge into the canal after the nervous opponent asked me if I inhaled or exhaled on my backswing. It was such a low class thing to say I turned to jello at the absurdity of it. We were both even par going into that hole. He won the darn thing with a bogey.

As a senior I played #1 and had a horrible year, stroke average above 40. Everyone was mumbling that I used to be so much better, blah, blah, blah. Looking back, I think there were simply too many problems at home and it probably impacted my play. I certainly didn't practice as often. My grandfather died in September. My dog was killed by a car. My mom was acting strangely and we couldn't figure it out. Now we understand it as post partem depression but that wasn't well known or easily diagnosed in those days. My little sister was born in late summer before my senior year, 17 years younger than myself. Mom seemed fine for a while, but not once school started.

Overall, high school golf was a blast. One of our two home courses was recently closed and it's numbing to drive past it and look at the overgrown fairways, remembering all the specific matches and pivotal shots from high school.

On edit: difficult to make the team today. There is no team. The area is overwhelmingly Cuban and apparently they aren't picking up the sticks. I noticed a year or two ago that my school dropped golf.

[mattttt25]

Football, wrestling, and track in HS. Football in college. Wish I had listened to mom when she said I should play in HS. No way mom, they're a bunch of dorks...

[tsajjad]

=( they dont have high school golf in pakistan. =(

[FHopper]

Yes I played in 1963, I was average, certainly not "the guy". Now? Hell yeah. Well maybe not. Actually, not a chance.

[play4him]

I played in high school from 1973-1976. The last two years I was #1 on the team. My youngest son plays on a high school team now, and I could still play on the team today. Back when I played I was using persimmon woods and the old blade irons. The advantage to that was you had to learn to hit the ball pure. With all the oversize heads and heel toe weighted irons now, there's not as much focus on hitting the ball pure because you don't have to. It would be interesting to go back to that time, but with the equipment of today. The scores would have been lower no doubt.

[Diddy]

This question has always been one of my favorite "what if"s. I played football as opposed to golf in HS, and back then "golf season" for me was the 4-6 weeks in July-August after baseball ended and before football began. Now I look back and wonder how good I would/could have been (not that I would have made the Tour or anything, but I like to think that I might have been able to get down close to scratch) if I'd been able to devote all of my football time to golf and practicing. My whole golfing career has basically been one round and one driving range trip per week in the summer, so I would have loved the opportunity to really get after my game and work on it. Oh well.

[right handed phil mickelson]

I'm a sophomore in high school this year and this was the first year that I could play on the golf team because of my bad knees. I was #2/3 guy on the team this year (had about a 6 handicap during season, about 6 months ago). Coach says I'll definitely be #1 or #2 guy next year. We have this kid coming down from south carolina who's supposed to be like top 15 in the state, so we're hoping to demolish next year :)

[golfaddiction]

I played in high school and was the 5th or 6th man by my senior year. I usually shot between 45 and 50. Today I have much better equipment (my parents didn't like to spend more than about 30 dollars per club on me) and am better than I was back then. However, I'm not sure I could make 5th or 6th today team because I imagine youngsters today are better than they were in the 90s.

On this topic, I often say joining the golf team in HS was the single best decision I made back then. I recommend anyone who is interested in golf to join their high school golf team. You're probably not going to get a chance to play 4 times a week again until you're retired. Not to mention getting to play some of the nicer private courses.

[Felenah]

Played on the HS team during the mid 90s best score was an 81, then I broke both my wrists my junior year. Needless to say its taken me a while to fix my game after that injury.

[imtomtomim]

Wish I discovered golf earlier than my senior year in college. Anyways, I think I'd definitely make the team. Especially since I've gotten paired up with a bunch of HS kids during practice rounds and have spanked them (probably because I didn't want to lose to a kid mouthing off). I don't think I had enough experience under my belt to be leading the team, but then again, I walked on in HS for one sport and finished up league champ senior year. Wish I had that chance for golf too.

[Cobra28]

My high school team was a joke. I tried out, beat the coach and didn't make the team because I was a senior and he wanted younger players so that they could get better for the future haha