Girls’ Golf Goes Official at SHS

Team sports represent an effective way to bring groups of students together who share similar interests. At SHS, the boys’ golf team has competed in the Patriot League for many years. Unfortunately, SHS has never had a girls’ golf team. Instead, there has been a girls’ golf club for the past few years. After the pandemic, the girls’ golf club lost its stride to become a varsity team; however, the momentum was revived in the past few months.

In the past, girls who expressed an interest in golf had the opportunity to try out and play for the boys’ golf team. Among those are Christine Cutting and Kaitlynn Washburn, two SHS alumni who played on the varsity team all four years of their high school careers. Cutting, who graduated from Assumption College in Worcester, MA, played golf at the college level. Washburn is currently a sophomore studying business at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Florida, where she is a member of the D1 golf team.

Recently, the peak in interest for girls’ golf has been emphasized, as the community has been pushing for an official varsity girls’ golf team. In fact, this is the first year Scituate High School will have an official girls’ golf team. The team joins Division 2, along with Duxbury, Hingham, Quincy, North Quincy, Silver Lake, and Cohasset. They will play each of these teams twice during their season, and their home course will be the Widow’s Walk town course in Scituate.

SHS Athletic Director Scott Paine described the steps needed for the group to transform from a club to an official team. They first had to make sure the team was sustainable so the program is able to continue for the foreseeable future. For the first year, the student-athletes will put the budget together, as the program is unfunded. The school will then pick up the majority of funds during the second year, and then it will be fully funded during the 3rd year.

Sarah Spires is a junior at SHS, who has been very involved in attempting to make girls’ golf an official varsity sport. Spires is very excited about the first varsity season ahead. With golf being a varsity sport, Spires believes “it will bring in more involvement and you will be able to get a varsity letter.” She loves the team bond that you create in spite of it being such an individual sport and had a great time with the girls on the club team. Spires believes that the team worked really well last year and will continue to be a cohesive group going forward.

Gayle Coughlin–Gates Middle School physical education teacher–took on the role of the coach for the girls’ golf club this year. Coughlin had a lot of fun coaching the girls last year and was very happy with all the help they received from the Spires family, Nikki Custenboarder, and Christine Cutting. Widow’s Walk was also very kind to allow the girls to practice and occasionally play at their course. Coughlin liked the team last year because the girls could start at any level–many are beginners while others have been playing for years. As golf will now be a varsity sport, the team will no longer be as lenient with beginner-level players. Coughlin loves golf because “it is a sport that you can play your entire life, and it takes a lot of skill and practice.” Coughlin is excited for the year ahead and wishes the best for the team as they start their first official season in the spring.