It was a banner day for Cochrane at Rocky View Schools' divisional golf tournament, held at Carstairs Community Golf Club Sept. 15.
Cochrane High School’s senior girls golf team brought home first place, the Grade 9 girls finished second and the Grade 9 boys finished third, behind Bow Valley High School who placed first.
Despite cold and rainy conditions, the golfers came in with clubs blazing, determined to make the best of a bad situation.
Cochrane High School golf coach Patrick Court said he was most impressed by his team’s mental determination to shake off a bad play.
“A lot of them had that short memory where they may have had a double par, and really they could have beat themselves up about it and just let that continue for the next round." he said. "But a lot of them did respond positively to the next hole and didn’t let that get to them.”
This was 15-year-old Toryn Bosanko’s first year playing with Cochrane High’s senior girls’ golf team. Bosanko said she was pleased with the tournament result but could improve individually.
“I feel like I could have stepped up my game,” she said. “This week I’ve definitely taken that into account and tried to get in a few more swings. But I think our team performed pretty well as a whole. As you are on a team, we all work together. We definitely ham-and-egged the scoring.”
Aubrie Shapkin, 17, joined Cochrane High’s golf team in Grade 9, helping the girls’ teams win first place at divisionals every year with the exception of 2020 when it was cancelled due to COVID-19.
Aubrie said despite poor weather and the inability to practice with the school last year, she was happy with the team’s performance this year. She was able to sharpen her skills on the course with her parents and friends, as much as the COVID restrictions would allow.
Now teams have their eye on the prize for zones Sept. 21.
“I’m thinking that since the weather is going to be so much better, we’ll probably have a better day and team,” Aubrie said. “it’s kind of hard since we don’t play together, but I think since last week we have improved already.”
Court believes every team stands a good chance at zones with conditions looking favourable that day.
“I’m looking for both of the teams to compete, the boys and the girls,” he said. “I think we’ve got a good shot, that if our boys shoot well, they could potentially make it to provincials next week. I mean we’ve got a lot of ground to make up and there’s some really good teams in the division.”
Court added that golf is “funny” because achieving consistency can be difficult, especially when weather conditions are a constant external factor.
“[Our teams] have a good chance with the favourable conditions," he said. "I mean, it’s going to be good for everybody though, so we’ve got to make sure that we do our best. With the [senior] girls winning divisionals that gives them a really good chance. It's a zone tournament now though, so we've got more teams like Canmore, Okotoks, Olds, Strathmore — there's more competition this week. But again, finishing so well with divisionals, I've got high hopes for this team.”
Bow Valley and Cochrane High will be competing in zones at the Carstairs Community Golf Club on Tuesday.
Bow Valley's golf coach did not return phone calls by the Eagle's deadline.
