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Cottonwood Heights Journal

Brighton boys golfers give it their all in tough region

Oct 30, 2017 05:11PM ● By City Journals Staff

A golf ball lays on the fairway. Brighton boys golf team failed to qualify for the state tournament. (Pixabay)

By Josh McFadden | [email protected]

Like tennis, golf is a unique sport. Team members focus on their own game, and the scores of others don’t affect their individual performance. But at the end of a match all individual scores are added up to give the team a final mark. 

While the Brighton boys team struggled to keep pace in a difficult Region 7, that doesn’t mean the effort wasn’t there and that the coaching staff was displeased with the season. Bengals’ head coach Jim Gresh was positive, even though none of his golfers qualified for the state tournament the first week of October. 

Even though his squad was overmatched in some matches, Gresh saw marked progress. The improvement gave him great satisfaction and made his job worth it. 

“The best part of coaching this team is watching the players develop their golf games throughout the season,” he said. 

In every match during the season, Gresh didn’t worry about what other schools and other golfers were doing or how far off the pace his boys were. He was pleased after every practice and match if his team members worked on their game and improved consistently. 

“What we think about is playing our best golf each day,” he said. “As long as players are giving their best effort to become the best golfer they possibly can be, then I consider the season a success.”

A couple of sophomores Jack Cook and Will Wolfenbarger and junior John Burg were Brighton’s top golfers, with Cook leading the way with the lowest score on the team. At the midway point of the season, Cook was the 10th-ranked golfer in the region.

The Bengals missed out on the state tournament. Region frontrunners Skyline, Corner Canyon, Alta and Timpview got the nod, as all three schools finished in the top 10 of the tournament. 

Gresh and his program have reason to be excited, as his three core golfers will be back for more in 2018. The returning golfers are hungry to move up the standings, and the Bengals hope to take the next step and secure a berth at the state meet.