Troy

Troy High girls golf looks to make another memorable season

By Christian Davis
C & G Sports Writer

» click to enlarge « Photo by Deb Jacques Troy High junior Amanda McCafferty tees off in a match earlier this season. She’s the only returning starter from last season’s state final squad. Photo by Deb Jacques Troy High junior Amanda McCafferty tees off in a match earlier this season. She’s the only returning starter from last season’s state final squad.

The Troy High girls golf team is young, but coach John Getzan sees a pleasing similarity to another young Colts team that held its own quite well.

“There’s a huge comparison,” Getzan said.

Last season, the Colts finished fifth in Division 1 with a roster full of athletes who spent three to four years on varsity and qualified for the finals three times.

This season, junior Amanda McCafferty is the only returning starter. The rest of the roster is made up of three freshmen, a sophomore and two juniors. Getzan sees this team blossoming into what the 2011 squad accomplished.

“We’re going to be OK. We’re going to have some growing pains. We lost a core group of girls, but no doubt we have talented kids that will get better as the year goes on,” Getzan said. “I really like and appreciate the team I have right now. They listen and are open to suggestions. We all know we’re going to make mistakes; it’s just working on not repeating those.”

In the opening Oakland Activities Association Red Division tournament, the Colts finished fifth with a 360 team total, but only five strokes from second place. Birmingham Seaholm won the event, going away with 317.

Getzan sees some things on the tactical side where the Colts can instantly improve.

“I really think the biggest thing, and this holds true in boys golf too, is course management. What do we do when we get in trouble, how to protect a score by keeping the big numbers off the board, and that just comes from experience,” he said. “There’s a huge learning curve in this game.”

Getzan is trying to speed up the learning process by reviewing rounds and certain holes that may have proved to be trouble — looking at what shots were taken and what other options were available.

Just like when last year’s core group were freshmen and sophomores, Getzan isn’t lowering the team’s expectations just because of age.

“Our goal is to get back to the state finals. We feel like with doing it three years in a row, we’ve built that as our expectation and want to maintain it,” he said. “The reality is that we have a chance.”

You can reach C & G Sports Writer Christian Davis at cdavis@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1062. Follow Christian on Twitter.