This post is a little late today. The Simsbury, CT, Westminster School's golf team is coming to dinner tonight, what they call succinctly a "team feed." I've been out all morning trying to do the impossible; i.e. figure out just how much a group of 14 teenagers will eat for dinner. Quality of the food is rarely the issue with teenage boys, although we're going to grill some nice marinated chicken and pork. The issue is always the quantity. To hedge our bets, we bought enough to feed a small nation.
The team's season is off to a great start. With three seniors, a junior and two freshmen on the starting six, they have won 10 of 11 matches and avenged an early loss to Avon Old Farms School with a big win last week. The group of seniors, which includes my son Tim, is headed to Davidson College, the University of Virginia, and Washington & Lee College (Tim's choice). It has been fun to follow their progress over the last four years and to see how their games have grown along with their bodies.
Most gratifying has been their recognition that they don't get points for hitting the ball as far as possible. At yesterday's match, I saw as many 3-woods and 5-woods off the tees on tight par 5s as I saw driver. Slowly, they are learning to use some management techniques on the course. Double bogies or worse are becoming rare.
Two huge matches loom for Westminster before the season ends on May 23, including the nine-team league championship and the Kingswood-Oxford Invitational, which includes a strong 25-team field. In Tim's sophomore year, Westminster won both tournaments and finished with the best record in school history, 45-3. The team will be trying to run the table and pass that record as a sendoff for the seniors. The five scores of the six that count toward the team totals will need to be in the 70s for Westminster to have a chance. We'll chart their progress here as they go for the glory.
