Golf among few sports allowed to engage in competition this season

Edward Kim, Staff Writer|January 27, 2021

While the number of coronavirus cases continues to rise,golf has joined the list of Diamond Bar High School sports allowed to hold campus workouts. CIF officials have scheduled the start of the golf season  in March.

However, according to Anthony McCabe, the head coach for boys and girls golf, it is unclear whether the DBHS golf team will actually have an opportunity to play in the upcoming season.

“Especially at this time, we are not sure if we will even have a season,” McCabe said. “However, my athletes and I are still expecting and waiting for the season to prepare for it like it is going to happen.”

At the moment, McCabe doesn’t require any athletes to practice at the moment, as there are still a few more months until the season begins. 

“The golfers can just play and practice golf on their own, “ McCabe said. “But in February, the players will start to play in outside tournaments to actually prepare.”

With only a few months left to prepare before the season, the main concern of athletes is getting back in shape. Especially due to the coronavirus, some golfers have not been able to practice nearly as much as they normally would this time of year.

“I’ve definitely been playing less golf because of the combination of both the pandemic and school starting,” sophomore team member Ryan Kung  said. “I’ve really just been practicing on and off inconsistently, usually at the driving range.”

Kung explained that although he has not been able to play much golf in the past few months, nor was he able to practice at DBHS, he was able to utilize off-campus resources to maintain his skills.

“The practice range was super useful to me because it is safe and I don’t need to be close to anyone else to practice,” Kung said. “In the summer, I also practiced by playing in a few tournaments and taking lessons.”

However, some other golfers have had different opinions and experiences regarding the coronavirus, with some saying it did not affect their practicing much.

“To me, COVID hasn’t really changed golf much since everyone’s just out in the open,” junior Ryan Chung  said. “The only things that changed are us not being able to pull out the pin–or removing the golf flagstick–and also having to wear masks while practicing on the range.”