RHS girls’ golf team gets off the ground

History was made Tuesday at Northwood Golf Club as the Rhinelander High School girls’ golf team held the first practice of its inaugural season.

Seven players, mainly upperclassmen, showed up for the first practice. Skill levels ranged from those who have played competitively as juniors to those picking up a club for the first time. 

Talked about for the past several years, there were finally enough girls interested in the sport for the school to field a team this year. That moment has been a long time coming for senior Nevaeh Anderson.

“I’ve been trying to do this since I was in sixth grade, so I was really excited to get to be part of this team, and I’m sure all the other seniors on this team are too,” she said. “I think we’re all really happy that people actually went through with it and we have enough numbers for a team.”

    Rhinelander High School girls’ golf coach Adam Schmidt discusses how to read a green with team member Lindsey Hoerchler during practice Tuesday, Aug. 12 at Northwood Golf Club. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

Adam Schmidt, who has led the Hodag boys’ golf program for more than a decade, has been tabbed to lead the girls’ squad as well. 

He said he was pleasantly surprised with what he saw from the team before and during their opening session at the driving range on Tuesday.

“The girls were really nice and polite. We had a little talked about some the business stuff right away, and they’re just super nice. They just seemed like really nice young ladies,” he said. “Watching them, the skill level is low to some girls that have played a lot of golf that have really nice swings. The one thing is that they’re all athletic. They’ve played sports before, so, just day one (was) trying to make a little fine-tuned things just to kind of help them a little bit. They pay attention, they listen. It was really good.”

Schmidt called the atmosphere relaxed and chill. That seemed to be the case as there was plenty of chatter among the players, some occasional laughter, and plenty of learning on Tuesday.

“I think the whole team is very close already,” junior Ella Miljevich said. “We were already friends, so that’ll be exciting. It’ll be a fun year, and hopefully we just learn a lot through the year and are successful.” 

    Hayley Schiek works on putting while teammate Nevaeh Anderson, left, looks on during Rhinelander High School girls’ golf practice Tuesday, Aug. 12 at Northwood Golf Club. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Schmidt admitted the first couple of weeks of practice for the girls’ team will be different than the boys. For starters, the weather now is a lot nicer than it is typically in late March, when boys’ golf practice begins. Secondly, because of the wide skill gap with the players, Schmidt said instilling the fundamentals of the game will be more important than ever. 

“Really skill-based, and then going over the rules and talk about play, talk about the course, taking care of the course. The first couple of weeks are going to be a lot of that. Pace to play,” he said. “We got to get on the course. Get them, get them out there, get, get them walking, get them used to playing, get them used to the rules. So that’s really going to be the big thing.”

Logistics have been slow developing for the team this summer. Schmidt said he was not informed that he had been hired for the position until Aug. 1, but that didn’t stop him from getting the ball rolling earlier in the summer, working with Northwood’s head PGA professional Keith Staron. 

“I had done some work ahead talking to Keith. Whoever coached it, if I didn’t get the job, I wanted to just give them the best opportunity,” he said. “So I had talked to Keith about letting him know, ‘Hey, they’re going to be a girls’ (team), we’re going to practice. There’s going to be a girls’ team that’s going to be out here. You know, what are some possible shirts that they could get? You know, can you get a deal on bags?’ We started that like three weeks ago, four weeks ago.”

Schmidt noted that, thanks to a $3,000 donation from a local women’s golf league, the team has some seed money for bags and apparel for this season. 

As of press time, the team’s competition schedule had not been posted on Rhinelander High School’s scheduling website, but Schmidt noted the team is looking to take part in six to eight meets this fall, beginning with an invite at Bull’s Eye C.C. in Wisconsin Rapids Aug. 25. The team is also working with another new girls’ golf program, Amherst, to play a couple of matches — including one in Rhinelander at some point next month.

The team needs to complete at least four regular season matches to be eligible to compete in the WIAA tournament.

Rhinelander is assigned to a 10-team Division 1 regional in the Green Bay area Oct. 1. Anderson, who played competitively at the junior level before putting the game on the back burner for a couple of years, said the team doesn’t necessarily have state tournament aspirations this year. Rather she and her teammates are hoping to lay a foundation that will allow Rhinelander girls’ golf to establish roots.

“We’re just hoping to have fun,” she said. “The team’s a really great group of people. We all like each other and we’re just excited to see how it goes and hopefully it continues throughout the years.” 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].