Sports are a way for Frederick High School student-athletes to showcase their athletic ability, work ethic, and dedication. Among a lot of high school sports, golf is not usually a sport many people think of. However, behind the scenes, these athletes have to put in lots of hours of practice, to fine tune their skills and each athlete has a huge passion for the game.
Golf is a sport that requires focus, talent, and a lot of adversity. High school golf players face a lot of challenges on the course. The pressure to perform consistently can be overwhelming, particularly during tournaments and matches. Weather conditions, like rain or strong winds, can make a massive challenge, testing the players’ adaptability and resilience.
At Frederick High School we have 5 players on our varsity golf team.
1. Layne Smotzer
2. Caleb Pickett
3. Kyle Spence
4. Kayler Reed
5. Mason Mazzotta
All high school athletes face the additional challenge of balancing their academics with their commitment to their sport. The golf teams definitely have this the worst. These athletes spend long hours at tournaments, leaving them to be gone for almost the entire school days and classes. This means the golf players are missing class and having to make up the work at a later time meaning they need to be on top of their work at all times while still focusing on the sport they love.
“Our Frederick High golf team is a really underestimated team with passionate players,” Layne Smotzer states.
During regionals Layne Smotzer shot a 79 and made it to the playoff hole, he played decently in his playoff hole and managed to make it through to state. The first day of state there was really bad golfing conditions very windy and rainy making Layne off his A-game, shooting a really bad 87. However the next day he bounced back and shot a super respectable 76. But a 76, would not be good enough to win. However, Layne ended with a good score and should be proud of his improvement over the past years as a 4 year high school golf veteran.
The Frederick golf team didn’t win a championship, which is the ultimate goal but the cool thing about golf is you can have fun on the course, enjoy a serious but relaxing game and always do that no matter what age you are, you can be 90 years old playing golf having just as much fun as when your 17.