Druids Glen League Match Gives Golf Team Hope

The Green River College (GRC) men’s golf team performed impressively in their league match at Druids Glen, which took place from April 23 to 24.

On the same date, the women’s team played at the Lake Wilderness course, and then at the Washington National Golf Club (WNGC) in Auburn.

The team struggled for the past couple of games, generally due to some players not being able to participate, as well as adverse weather causing some difficulty in play.

At their Druids Glen match, however, all six players on the men’s team were able to play for the first round, although Christian Letts had to withdraw thereafter because of a back injury.

The Druids Glen course has nine holes. With an 18 hole tournament, this necessitated the men’s team going through every hole twice.

According to the BirdieFire tournament website, the GRC team placed 9th in the tournament, with a total score of 633.

“Not having six players at these events puts extra pressure on the players each and every shot, as they know that no matter what they score individually, it counts towards the team scores,” said Brian Baldwin, head coach of the golf team.

Baldwin said that in the game following the Druids Glen match, which took place at the Spokane League, the 4 players present, Christian Letts, Jack Roth, Avery Black, and Rocky Brobio, pulled together and made “our best performance by far this year.”

“They have done a great job handling this pressure. I’m very proud of these four young men,” Baldwin said.

As they work towards the final Northwest Athletic Conference (NWAC) at the Home Course in Dupont, which will take place at the end of May, Baldwin says that there is still a long way to go, but he sees their efforts in practice and matches continually improving as they grow closer to this goal.

Baldwin’s top priority is to continue to recruit for the men’s team, as well as to recruit women to help build up the women’s team to the state it was in the past. He also is working on a potential fundraising golf tournament to help rebuild both teams.

“I am very excited for the remainder of the season and look forward to building the teams back to the level of success they have had in the past,” Baldwin said. This is the goal he has been working towards since he took over the golf program in February 2017.

With their steady improvement under their new head coach, both the men and women’s golf teams will continue to rise up in the ranks as the season continues.