Joining the club

By Brad D. Bates
C & G Sports Writer

Lakeview girls golf team on its way

The St. Clair Shores Lakeview girls golf team ventured into uncharted territory Aug. 25.


The Huskies kicked off the 2010 season with a 210-284 loss to Macomb L’Anse Creuse North at Maple Lane Golf Club in Sterling Heights, but getting to that match was a victory itself.

“The hardest part is over,” coach Karen Mazzola said. “The first match is kind of like the first tee. For some reason, you’re more nervous there. Once it’s out of the way, everything is easier.”

Mazzola, who graduated from Lakeview in 1978, took her golf game to Florida Atlantic University where she played for three seasons after a one-year stop at the University of Michigan.

She returned to St. Clair Shores to raise her family and quickly got back to being involved with Huskies athletics by coaching JV softball and helping to start the varsity bowling program.

After her own kids graduated from Lakeview in the early 2000’s, bringing a girls golf team to Lakeview was a mission for Mazzola.

“I’ve been bugging the school for years for a program, and finally they approved it,” Mazzola said. “And right now, we’re so grateful and thankful that we were approved and the school supports us.”

Mazzola is uniquely qualified to get the new program up and running.

Even though she didn’t pick up golf until she was 15, Mazzola was able to build her game quickly and obtain a scholarship, and that experience is part of what she teaches her golfers.

“I didn’t start golf until I was 15, and that’s the biggest thing I try to impart to these girls,” Mazzola said. “I was right there where they’re at now.

“It seemed like a crazy game, chasing this little white ball around. But all of a sudden, this little white ball was giving me the time of my life. Golf is the hardest thing I ever did, and I had to give everything else up until I mastered it.”

Mazzola is hoping to build the Huskies’ program around her experiences and hopes her girls develop a love for the game, as well as a willingness to work on the game.

“I let them know if they want it, they have to work for it. I have a couple ninth-graders who really want it,” Mazzola said. “We’re learning etiquette and we’re working hard, with a lot of time spent on the range and working on our short game from 100 yards and in.”

Lakeview’s squad consists of senior Catelyn Carless, junior Jessica Scharffe, sophomore Beth Mazzara, and freshmen Kelly Wood, Karina Iannicello and Rachel Malo.

And Mazzola has already seen the beginnings of the obsession players need to master golf.

“They all have it. You can see it,” Mazzola said. “They show up before matches to chip and putt, and they put in the work I ask them to.

“And it takes extra work. You have to put in the two to three hours every day and time on the weekends. Even though we technically have the weekend off, you still need to do something.”

Helping Mazzola drive that lesson home and allow her players to make strides is the team’s small size.

“I can send one home with one workout they need to do and a different one home with a different workout,” Mazzola said. “That’s the beautiful thing. I have my little mini-squad, and I can really work with them.”

Another factor in Mazzola’s program is her focus on making sure the girls enjoy golf. As she points out, if they aren’t having fun, it’s not likely they’ll stick with the sport.

“They said it was fun, and that’s all I care about,” Mazzola said of her girls’ attitudes after losing to LCN in their first taste of competitive golf. “A couple of them were exhausted, but I said, ‘You guys did great. Everyone finished, and the hard part is over.’”

You can reach C & G Sports Writer Brad D. Bates at bbates@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1029.