September 23, 2021 - Story and photos by Joshua Ross
Balanced is the best way to describe the 2021 Hingham boys golf team. A good mix of seasoned players coupled with a number of first and second year golfers. This balanced team is off to an eye-opening 8-1 start to the season. The golf teams typically have the most arduous schedules of any high school sport. They compete at least three times a week, usually four, weather permitting.
Head coach Dan Clune attributes the early success to the fact he’s brought back almost his whole team from last year and they worked really hard on their games over the summer.
“We have the same team as last year except we lost Jake “Pounder” Wilson, who brought his talents to Roanoke College,” Clune tells the Anchor. ‘Jake was number two on our team. That hurt. Freshman Drew Golden has replaced Jake at number two. We were young last year and getting a year older makes a big difference. Sophomores Carson Erick and JD Flynn have a year of golf behind them and are in our top six. Juniors Victor San Antonio and Bobby Peirce went to Sankaty Head Caddie Camp on Nantucket this past summer. They learned so much at that camp and played a ton. I have three senior captains that will play a big role. Luke Macdonald, my number one from last year, Alex Bankhead and Teddy von der Luft. (Senior) Jake Badnarski will also contribute, as he has been on the team since his freshmen year.”
Senior captain Luke MacDonald likes the consistency on the team.
“We have eight guys who can shoot in the 30’s,” says MacDonald. “We have guys that come in here and the nerves don’t get to them and we play well no matter what. When one guy doesn’t play well, one guy will step up and there’s always someone who’s going to play great. It’s awesome because we have eight guys who have the capability to shoot in the 30’s so every match we have a great round from someone so it always ends up working out for us.”
Up until yesterday, when they lost their first match of the season to rival Duxbury 235-241, there have been numerous highlights to the early season including multiple players shooting under par with Erick accomplishing this multiple times, beating last year’s Fisher division champs Scituate at Widows Walk, and San Antonio shoot par at Pembroke CC with only nine putts during his match.
While yesterday was their first blimp in the season, both Clune and MacDonald have high expectations for the team this year.
“I am comparing this team to the squad that I had my first year,” Clune says. “That team ended up 2nd in the state. The scores we are putting up at SSCC and other courses are comparable.”
“With all the young guys who can shoot in the 30’s, I think this is the best team I’ve been a part of,” claims MacDonald. “The dependability that someone can always shoot low is the best I’ve ever seen. The younger guys will play one, two, three - in the top spots. They’ll put pressure on us older guys not let them beat us. It’s not too competitive because we love the young guys. It’s just great to have someone next to us that will shoot low. It keeps us going and wanted to shoot low every time.”
The boys still have a lot of golf to play this season including two more rematches against Duxbury and two competitive rounds against Marshfield in the coming weeks.
