A year ends with a promising future for Island golf team

Last Friday, October 25, was the last match for the Shelter Island Indians varsity golf team. As far as winning and losing goes for the season, with a record of 5 and 7, it was not a great year. But it was a good year.

After studying our record, it becomes obvious to me that our players simply have to play more golf away from Shelter Island. This year we played six home matches and won five of them. The sixth one was against the number one team in the league and we lost by only 3 shots. Regrettably, when we went off-Island, we lost all our matches. We play schools in our league such as Riverhead, Hampton Bays, Eastport, Mattituck, Greenport/Southold and Mercy. Obviously, we have the smallest total enrollment of any school we play.

For every match, Spencer Gibbs played against the oppoaition’s number one man.  Spencer more than held his own against the best players on the East End by having a 6 and 6 record for the season and, interestingly, actually averaged better rounds when he went off-Island to play.

Playing the second best player in each school each week was Mathew Dunning. Like Spencer, he also had a .500 average by winning 6 and losing 6 matches. It didn’t matter where Dunning played; he averaged exactly the same score both home and away.

As a matter of fact, on a cold and windy day last Friday, we competed in a qualifier to get a chance to play in the county championships. The championships will be held at the Rock Hill Golf Club sometime in May. With only 21 players in our league allowed to qualify at Cherry Creek, in Riverhead, we are proud that our number one and two, both Spencer Gibbs and Matt Dunning., were among them.

Just missing out by a few shots was Matt BeltCappellino, our third senior, who played all year in our number three position. Matt finished the season with a respectable record of 4/5/2. Matt liked going off-Island since his rounds were 2 shots better on average when he took the bus. Sadly, next year we lose our seniors and our top three players.

Nicholas Young, a seventh grader, came on to the varsity squad to fill a gap this year against mostly juniors and seniors. Nick was a great performer and gave us a personal winning record of 5/4/3 for the season. Nick seemed to like playing at Gardiner’s Bay better than the away courses. When playing at home, Nick’s scores averaged two shots better than his off-Island rounds.

Our only girl on the team was 8th grader Bianca Evangelista. Bianca found out fast that the boys hate to lose to a girl. Bianca, in our number five spot all year, made five boys unhappy with her fine performance of 5 and 7 for the season. Bianca also found that home matches were more comfortable, since she averaged five shots fewer when playing at home.

Owen Gibbs, another seventh grader playing number six most of the year, did manage to muster a win in his very last match. Owen had a 1 and 6 record this year and it didn’t matter whether he played home or away, he played exactly the same.

Late comer Erik Thilberg did manage to play the sixth spot three times. Although seventh grader Erik was close on his matches, he did not get a victory this year. Erik’s scores were significantly better on away courses. He will be a huge help in the next few years.

Two players, Will Garrison and Peder Larsen, played exhibition matches all year. These two young guys joined the varsity golf ranks this year without ever having hit a golf ball in their lives. After looking at their scores, I realized they had cut them in half by the end of the season. If we could do that with everyone, we would be millionaires.

Seventh grader Mason Marcello joined golf very late this year. We didn’t have much time to see his game in action, but we did notice he can hit the ball quite well and the team will need him next season. One thing I am sure, Mason will be a big help in 2014.

All in all, this was a great year in high school golf. The players competed and had a good time. They were both humbled yet satisfied, while learning a lifetime sport. We can’t ask for much more than that from our athletic programs.

Next year will be tough with such a young team, but the three years that follow will be dynamic. I can’t wait.

See you next August.