Golf has been good to JV golf coach Chris Sobieck. He played at Eastern Michigan University, from there moved onto pro (PGA) and still plays today.

His love for golf led him to coach the JV girls team for the first time this season. As a coach, he had one main goal: improvement.

“We had a very large team with 11 players. Having one coach made it very difficult to give them all the attention they deserved and needed,” Sobieck said. “They were all extremely patient and willing to make the changes necessary to improve. As a team, my main focus for them was for them to have a great experience this fall.”

There were favorite learning experiences and courses as well, sophomore Mandy Ehrlich recently got pulled up to play on varsity for playoffs. She said that she picked up many skills all around the course this year that Sobieck taught her. There was a lot of learning for Mandy and the team all season.

“My favorite match was when we played at Stormy Creek,” said Mandy, who shot an 86 through 18 holes and tied for first place. “If I had to change anything about the season, I would have probably taken practice more seriously. A lot of us girls would just goof off and not try as hard as we could have.”

Sobieck noticed improvement which is always reassuring as a coach. He said that overall the enthusiasm of the team was awesome and the future of the program is exciting. He loved coaching the girls and seeing them gradually improve over the course of the season.

“Seeing them have success is very exciting to see their hard work paying off. My tips for next year would be practice, play, and practice more. Time to build on what we learned this year and push forward,” Sobieck said. “With 6 or 7 of them expected to be back, we are going to be tough to beat next year. These ladies are the future of FHC golf and I have no doubt that the future is bright.”

Mandy Ehrlich tied for first in one tournament and was a medalist in three of three eight conference matches. Mandy, Bela Gonzalez, and Taylor Baumgardner all won medals in our final tournament of the season. With this, Mandy and Kennedy Poplin were called up to Varsity and played an 18 hole event at Egypt Valley this past Monday. Mandy’s score of 98 and tied for second best of all of FHC’s golfers.

Looking forward to next year, Mandy has already been looking for goals. She has already learned a lot this season about her swing which Sobieck helped throughout practices.

“I learned a lot more about my swing. My coach changed a lot of things that really helped me later in the season. My goals for next year are to play a lot of golf and work on my chipping and putting because that’s what I need most work on,” Mandy said. “I still want to improve on being consistent with all of my shots and work on chipping and putting and especially sand shots.”

Coach Sobieck is truly proud of the way these girls came together as a team and their willingness to put the time in to get better. Sobieck says that this is the reasoning behind such a successful season.

“Golf is an individual sport when in competition and you can only rely on yourself,” Chris said. “This group of 11 individuals with a wide range of personalities came together and formed a strong team. They wanted to do things together outside of golf and we had a great time at the homecoming parade, with the entire team participating.”