Golf Team Has Rough Start
Athletes Try to Get into Swing of Season
November 11, 2019
CRLS golf has struggled this year, remaining winless deep into the month of October, but alongside their struggles, some positives have shone through.
Golf is a more individual sport, offers a different focus than other sports at CRLS. Isabella Pastor ’21 noted this contrast: “Not many people know about it, but once you start playing you realize that it’s actually a very strategic game that requires a lot of focus, unlike the CRLS sports that require more conditioning.”
The team, which competes at the Fresh Pond Golf Course overlooking Fresh Pond Reservoir along the Cambridge-Belmont border, was 0-13 through mid-October.
“It is difficult when a team struggles, however when a group of young men and women hang in there, try their best, come to practices, and listen to the coaches’ advice, it is most rewarding,” Coach Joseph Pagliaro told the Register Forum.
The CRLS golf team competes in the Dual County League, competitive golfing league with schools like Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School as perennial challengers for the state championship.
Senior golfer Aaron Woolman described one challenge the CRLS team faces, saying, “Kids from other schools have been playing since they were like three. Kids from Cambridge, like me, started a year ago—not even, like a couple months ago.”
Junior Ryan McLaughlin also recognized the problems with experience that the team faces, but added, “I just find it fun to play with my friends and be able to have something to do everyday.”
Although the team might lack experience, Coach, Joseph Pagliaro, has coached golf in Cambridge for 50 years. He began coaching before CRLS existed and instead were two high schools in Cambridge, the Rindge School of Technical Arts and the Cambridge High and Latin School.
“The student athletes on the golf team enjoy the sport because it allows them to make friends, compete against each other, and mostly knowingly that the game of golf will help them in the future,” Coach Pagliaro said.
Pagliaro’s comments regarding golf as a sport for the future of student athletes rings true in many circles. Across the world, golf is a popular pastime for business people and seniors. One study, conducted by the Spanish university Pompeu Fabra University, even found that managers who play golf make 17% more than those who do not play. Regardless of the reason for this statistic, golf plays a role in the corporate world.
Next year, the golf team hopes to improve their record, led by underclassmen who have shown potential. McLaughlin said, “We have a couple of younger players who are really improving and can be good for the team next year.”
Despite the team’s rough year, the CRLS golfers will always have something to enjoy, because, in the words of Woolman, “We get to drive golf carts.”
This piece also appears in our October 2019 print edition.
