GHS golfers defend the 'Hill'

Friday, May 8, 2009
Jimmy Wheeler looks down the fairway after he fires off his tee shot on the first hole at Windy Hill Thursday night.

Donovan Wheeler's Greencastle High School boys' golf team picked up its ninth win of the season and remained undefeated, but the look on his face told a different story.

Greencastle won the three-way against Monrovia and Cascade with a score of 165. Luke Crimmins was the co-medalist of the match, carding a 40, while Jimmy Wheeler turned in a 41 and Brad Haussin and Wade Huber shot 42 each. But Wheeler wasn't completely satisfied.

"We just haven't been playing well and the reason for that is because we're just too tight," Wheeler said. "To quote someone earlier today 'we act like we've never made a bogie before'.

"We put to much pressure on ourselves to play perfect," he continued. "We have this idea in our head on how good we are and how we are supposed to be shooting. I think that we are too busy to measuring ourselves against that, we are forgetting to relax and play," Wheeler said. "They're not playing at all like the kids I saw playing this summer that were loose, relaxed and having fun."

Wheeler knows that golf is a game of focus, but he also knows that you can't be uptight all the time.

"I think that if you enjoy the game and take care of things mentally, the score will take care of itself," Wheeler said. "I just think that they are focusing too much on their standards than enjoying the game.

"We are a much better team than what we were today," he added. "If you look at the numbers these kids were dropping this summer, you would see that they are not playing as well as they were and I think that we are dwelling on it too much."

Wheeler has realized that his team is in a rut, but also knows that they can pull out of it.

"It's not a very analytical thing to say, but we are in a serious funk as a group right now," Wheeler said. "I'm confidant that we will get out of it. We just need to be patient."

Wheeler may be unsatisfied with the way his team has been playing, but that doesn't mean that he isn't happy that they are 9-0.

"I'm extremely happy that we are 9-0 as a team," Wheeler said. "The dissatisfaction of the way we play comes more from these guys more than it does me. Some of these guys were shooting in the mid 70's last year in the regional and some of them won tournaments this summer, shooting in the low 70's. These kids tend not to settle for scores like this, because they know how good they are.

"They are a little besides themselves right now, but that's the game. We just have to play through this and we will be alright."

Wheeler isn't the only one that feels that way about the team.

"As a team we did alright, but there is room for improvement," Crimmins said. "We are getting better mentally as a team and learning how to grind through days like this. This was some of the worse golf we have played, but we have put this behind us already and getting ready to bloom next week at county, conference and the sectional in the next couple of weeks.

"Everybody had some solid shots today and some of the putts just didn't drop the way we wanted them too," he added. Like coach said I think everybody is really close to breaking out."

Greencastle go sack in action on Monday when they host Northview at 5 p.m. at Windy Hill Country Club.

At Windy Hill G.C.

Team Scores

Greencastle 165, Cascade 180, Monrovia 187

Greencastle -- Crimmins 40, Wheeler 41, Haussin 42, Huber 42, Hopkins 48