The scene was confounding, to say the least. Just off the No. 9 green at Ridgemark Golf and Country Club’s Diablo Course, Haybalers and Mustangs fraternized as their teammates continued play. Let’s not forget the Cowboys, because Salinas High was as much a part of this lovefest as the others.
As the golfers finished their rounds, they not only joined their teammates in milling around while waiting for the scores to come in, they also saddled right up to their opponents. And it wasn’t to engage in any heated trash talk that is commonplace in the schools’ rivalries in other sports. Nope, the San Benito guys were laughing and joking with the Mustangs. And a couple of gregarious Cowboys held everyone’s attention.
I almost had to check. Was I watching a sporting event? Could I possibly be witnessing a competition in which athletes appeared to be just as happy to be around their opponents as their teammates?
And then I got to thinking. The grand conclusion? Golf is just, well, different.
The camaraderie displayed as golfers completed their rounds in this three-team Tri-County Athletic League competition was the most noticeable, but a closer look revealed plenty of good-natured behavior during play on the course as well.
In this most individual of sports, golfers are paired with counterparts from one or more other schools. And not with their teammates. Factor in that a team’s No. 3 golfer will play alongside an opposing team’s No. 3 golfer each time the teams face each other during the season, and if you start to think these guys feel like they have something in common, it’s because they do.
Gilroy coach Kari Williams assessed golf’s unique nature.
“You spend 2 1/2 hours on the course with the opponent and none of your teammates,” Williams related. “The players talk between shots and, after a few matches, they get to know their opponents pretty well.”
Andy Parra, the San Benito coach, agreed.
“The amount of time they spend together on the golf course … you’re kind of forced to talk to somebody and you’re forced to develop a good friendship out of that,” Parra said.
Not that golfers don’t take their game and the competition seriously. In some ways, it’s just the opposite. As any golfer can attest, there are so many factors that affect one single shot that frustration is inherent in the sport. The smallest change in your swing or where you strike the ball or even your club choice can make what you thought would be a fine shot into a terrible one.
Perhaps the sportsmanship, even friendship, among prep golfers develops because of these frustrations. Rather than having your shot blocked by an opponent in basketball or water polo, or swinging and missing at an opposing pitcher’s curveball, a golfer experiences hardship at the hands of the course – not the individual he is playing with.
The smallest details can be telling. In golf, the person you are paired with in your round is called your playing partner, not your opponent.
“Golf is played against the course,” Williams noted. “What someone else is doing does not have any bearing on your game. In golf, if the conditions are tough, everyone is dealing with them.”
A debate of the merits of whether you truly compete against the course or your playing partner (after all, the winner did shoot the better round while competing in the same setting) will have to be settled on another day.
But it is certain that, despite the unusual bond golfers share, they absolutely strive for superior results. After witnessing a player bemoaning a single mistake on the course or celebrating a winning effort alongside his teammates alike, you see the competitive fire on full display.
High school golfers value a team victory just as much as their soccer or softball counterparts. Maybe they just enjoy themselves on and off the course more.
