East Rowan High School’s female golfers didn’t win their first tournament of the
season, but coach Randy Bingham has goals for his team that are more important than
scores.“I told them
(during the first practice) I didn’t want them to get uptight about their score or
what they shot. I wanted them to enjoy themselves mainly and continue playing the rest of
their lives,” said Bingham.
East, which had no player break
100 at McCanless Golf Club Tuesday, hosted its first 18-hole tournament since the program
started last year. It was also the season’s first tournament for the five schools
that participated, since the first one at Lexington’s Sapona Country Club last week
was rained out.
Jennifer Arrington, who had no
experience coaching golf, coached the East girls in their first season last year, when
there were five team members. When Arrington returned to West Virginia University to work
on her masters degree, athletic director Worth Roberts asked Bingham if he would take the
job.
Bingham, also named girls
basketball coach last spring, has been one of the top local amateur golfers for years.
“The first day of practice, I
wasn’t surprised,” said Bingham, who had eight girls that day. “I was
pretty pleased with what girls I had out and their attitude,” said the former owner
of lumber businesses in the Rockwell area.
Returnees from last year include
seniors Beth Mitchell, Audrey Medley and April Johnson and sophomore Brianna Mundy.
Newcomers were freshmen Brittany Staton, Holly Holder and Mary Craig Misenheimer and
junior Heather Burris, who will not be able to play because she’s scheduled for arm
surgery soon.
Mitchell turned in East’s top
score of 102 yesterday, while Medley followed at 104. Staton shot a 106, Mundy 108,
Misenheimer 109, Holder 116 and Johnson 119.
“It’s about what I
expected the first match. I could tell how jittery they were last Thursday by going over
to Sapona and sitting there and watching everybody hit (on the driving range). They never
got to play, because it was rained out. I think we can take these scores and build off
that a little bit. They learned something today,” said Bingham.
East, with it seven players, had
the most participation of the five schools. Statesville and West Iredell each had four
players, while Lexington and South Iredell had two representatives apiece.
It was determined before the
tourney that each school’s No. 1 and 2 players would determine team scores, so
Lexington, led by Stacy Hilton’s 84, won with 182, followed by West Iredell (207),
Statesville (208), South Iredell (209) and East Rowan (214).
East’s best scores actually
came from Mitchell and Medley, who were playing the Nos. 3 and 4 positions. Their combined
206 would have put East in third place.
Of the 19 players that
participated, 14 shot in the 100s, and Hilton, an experienced junior golfer, was the only
one to break 98.
Bingham says he’s looking at
a four-year plan, comparing it to college football, to build a solid program.
“It will take that long to
get it to where they know what they are doing. I just hope they learning something,”
he explained.
McCanless, being a short course,
is just right for the girls, who are basically all at the beginner stage, says the coach.
“McCanless stresses the short
game, and 60 percent of golf is the short game. The length suits them real good. They can
play it and have a good time. Most of them can get to the greens,” Bingham pointed
out.
“They chip and putt for at
least 30 minutes every day. That’s where their weaknesses are. They don’t have a
lot of feel yet. That comes from playing and hitting a lot of balls,” he added.
“They’ll get there.”
Bingham says he expects the best
scores to come from Mundy and Staton, his No. 1 and 2 players, respectively, on Tuesday.
“But they’re
young,” he said. “I think most of them look to Beth Mitchell (as the leader),
because she’s a senior, and she’s bigger than most of them.”
Mitchell, a 6-footer, is the
younger sister of former star East golfer Karl Mitchell, now at UNC Greensboro on a golf
scholarship.
“Three of them are capable of
shooting in the 40s for nine holes,” Bingham said of Mundy, Staton and Mitchell,
“and Audrey (Medley) has got enough power to do that.” He said Medley was the
longest hitter off the tee, “pound for pound.”
The senior showed that power on
the par-4 second hole, hitting her tee shot past a temporary green, then saving bogey from
an almost unplayable lie. She then hit a long drive too far right into the No. 1 fairway
and came back to save par on the par-5 third hole, where she finished the round.
East is scheduled to compete in
another tournament at Statesville’s Lakewood Golf Club on Thursday.
See results in Scoreboard on Page
2D. |
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