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WASHINGTON, N.C. – For years, any teenage girl who wanted to play golf at Northside had to participate on the boys’ team. This year, the school fielded a girls’ program and saw lots of success with it.

Starting Monday, the Panthers will take part in the Class 1-A Eastern Regionals. Washington also found success with a team full of freshmen and sophomores performing well this season and fielding a team that will participate in the Class 2-A regionals.

 

Northside

Coach Jared Adams was able to find two teens who played softball and had some experience to play golf. That allowed the school to field a team that found success on a regular basis this season.

“So, for starters, Claire (Holmes) and Sophie (Berry) have played on my men’s golf team in the past, and they’ve had success with the men’s golf team,” Adams said. “So, being that they’ve had success playing from the men’s tees and the men’s yardages, I talked to them at the end of the season and said, ‘Look, if we can find one or two more girls, we can have a women’s golf team.”

They found those two in Samantha Braddy and Riley Hudson.

“I thought since like softball, you swing a bat, like it’s the same thing,” Hudson said. “It’s really not at all, but I’m glad I did it. It’s been very unique and a very good experience.”

“Prior to coming out here, the only golf … I mean, I played like putt-putt,” Braddy said. “One of our friends’ dad, he watches a lot of golf, so that’s really the only golf.”

While Berry and Holmes did their part, Braddy and Hudson grew and got better. That helped to form a solid team that is looking to make some noise at regionals.

“Well, I just think we’ve all grown up together and that’s what I think makes this team different from other teams is like we’re just all really close and really good friends and we’re like we come out here like not just to enjoy golf, but to enjoy like each other too,” Berry said. “So I think that makes us kind of different than other teams because we just we love each other, you know, we’re just kind of like a family.”

Holmes said playing with the boys in the past has helped her game and to adjust to the girls’ level.

“Well, playing with the guys for three years was definitely a lot different than the girls from being further back from the tees and now moving up,” Holmes said. “It’s a big difference, and I like it a lot more. I don’t know, it’s just a better environment for me.”

The foursome say they are ready to show what they can do as the first-ever girls golf team at Northside continues to take shape and make history.

“If I could just get Sophie and Claire to break 80, they don’t have to shoot in the low 70s. And I could just get Sam and Riley, just to drop their score by five to eight strokes, that would put us in a very good contention with the top teams in the state based on scores from last year,” Adams said.

 

Braddy cards eagle, Northside wins meet

Northside’s Samantha Braddy carded an eagle on the 11th hole at Washington Yacht & Country Club, and Sophie Berry earned medalist honors with an 82 in a meet Wednesday with Washington and Currituck.

Northside won the meet with a 275, thanks to Berry’s low score, Braddy carding a 98 and Riley Hudson finished with a 95.

Washington finished second with a 315. Sally Ross (96) Caroline Mitchell (108) and a tie between Kathryn Gautier and Catherine Lich (111) marked the Pam Pack’s top three finishers.

Currituck placed third with a 334 team score.

 

Washington

The Pam Pack don’t have a junior or senior on their golf team. The team that will be competing in the 2-A regionals are freshmen (Sally Ross, Brooklyn Bowes) and sophomores (Kathryn Goutier, Caroline Mitchell).

It’s their success and a group of others who are ready to move up from P.S. Jones Middle School that could make Washington a rising force, something coach Lane Raper finds exciting.

“So, we’re limited practice time because they are dual sport athletes,” Raper said. “So, I have a lot of volleyball players. But the girls understand after playing a few rounds, they understand what they need to work on.

“We’re going to roll up on Monday and there’s going to be, you know, like 100 (players). So, this is experience for them where they’ll get those nerves out this year. And, you know, I’m still expecting us to, you know, hopefully, we’ll have a top seven, six, seven in that area for the team finish.”

Ross and Gautier said the experience has been both fun and learning. And, in many ways, the best is yet to come.

“My expectations are not to max out and do well,” said Gautier, who picked up the clubs again after being away from the sport for two years.

I feel like we’ve made progress but there’s still more we can do,” Ross said. “A lot of us play volleyball, too. We all encourage each other, and when we’ve had a bad match, we always try to practice and get better.”