Whitehall has a roster capable of making noise in the West Michigan Conference, headed up by one of the WMC’s top returning players, Grace McDowell.
McDowell, a senior, tied for 12th place at last year’s regional tournament. A preseason leg injury may affect her play early in the season - coach Bill Borgman said she is in a walking boot for a couple of weeks - but her offseason work should bear fruit later on.
“She played in the Greater Muskegon Junior Tour a few times and played in the Meijer Callaway tour in Grand Rapids,” Borgman said of McDowell. “She’s played pretty solid golf.”
Junior Morgan Garcia and senior Felicity Dingman are also returning Viking veterans, and they’ll be joined by promising freshman Riley Shafer and sophomore Kelsie McClure. Borgman said the team’s sixth varsity spot likely won’t be decided right away.
The up-and-comer Shafer was sixth in the Greater Muskegon Junior Tour standings in her age group (McClure also played and tied for 15th), and Borgman said getting her to the point where she can shoot under 90 for 18 holes by the end of the season is a reasonable goal.
Despite the team’s veteran presences at the top, Borgman said pursuing a WMC title hasn’t been a big topic of conversation in preseason practices, though he thinks his team is good enough to be in the running. The WMC has been ruled by Ludington in recent years, but with its star player Emma McKinley off to the University of Detroit Mercy, things could be more in flux this fall.
A key to the Vikings’ success will be the development of the younger players. How they factor in to the battle for the team’s four scoring spots at each competition should be fun to watch.
“For our beginner golfers, it will be a huge learning curve, but they all seem enthusiastic about it and I think that’s a great thing,” Borgman said. “We’ll have ups and downs all season - that’s the way golf is - and if we can keep the mental side of the game in check, we’ll be just fine.”
The schedule will be interesting for Whitehall, which hosts the WMC’s first jamboree of the season Aug. 19 and is also slated to host the GMAA tournament. A date at Reeths-Puffer’s invitational will be among the non-conference highlights.
