Windham varsity golf works hard in early season match

By Matt Pascarella

Windham varsity golf now plays their home matches at a new location this season and are still getting the feel for the new course. They played Massabesic at home at Point Sebago in Casco, a par 36 course, on Tuesday, Sept. 9.

Windham senior Josh Logan concentrates before he putts
during a prep golf match against Massabesic at Point
Sebago in Casco on Tuesday, Sept. 9.
PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA 

While they lost to the Stags 8-5 in points, this was an improvement over their previous home match where they scored twice as many points this match and did significantly better stroke-wise. Windham hit 14 strokes more than Massabesic (230-244), compared to the 30-plus strokes they swung last week against Gorham. Several Windham players improved on their scores from last week too.

“I played it a little safer today and it was more of just trying to find the fairway rather than get the ball really, really far,” said Windham senior Devin Zachary who was tied with his opponent until the last hole. “My putting was significantly better today ... My distance on my chipping needs improvement. The putting was going great for me today.”

Top Windham scorers included: Zachary who registered a 44 against Massabesic and earned the team one match point, freshmen Riley Gallagher, who shot a 47 and earned the team two match points, and junior Matt Biggs, who shot a 49 and earned the team two match points. Freshman Hunter Pulkkinen also shot a 49 and was all square with his opponent, meaning they won the same number of holes.

“I won my match in stroke-play against my partner,” said Gallagher. “My short game was good, I only had 17 putts, just chipping ... just played good. My driver wasn’t too bad today, but if I can get a little more distance on it, a little bit straighter, that’d be good. My irons have been decent; my short game’s good. It was good (playing against Massabesic).”

Josh Logan, a senior, said last week’s match went a little better for him; he shot a 53 during this match. Everything else was dialed in, but he struggled with putting. His driver was great; on the last hole, he cut the trees and landed 40 feet from the green. His long game was good, but he’s going to work on his putting.

“I think we’re still trying to figure out the course; we’ve been at Riverside for eight years and then coming back here, there’s still a little bit of a learning curve,” said Windham varsity golf coach Adam Manzo. “We’re performing pretty good in practice and then matches come and there seem to be to one or two holes that eat us up or send us down the wrong path, right off the bat. It seems to be the first hole – you get off to the wrong start and ... when you’re five-over after the first hole, it’s hard to bounce back. The freshmen/sophomores seem to be doing pretty well so far; Riley today has been pretty steady. It’s the consistency piece we’re lacking and trying to get better at. The kids have to understand that one hole doesn’t make an entire match, and the kids have to figure out how to make use of the (remaining holes) in the match and not worry about one bad hole here or there. We’re trying to find some middle ground where we’re just a little more consistent day-to-day.” <