The girls’ golf team has swung into action this year not only by dominating the course but also the weight room. This year’s season, led by new coach Devin Wood, the golf team is addressing their commitment with less of the typical Bob Ross-style calming presence of golf and more of a Coach-Smock-in-your-face weight room feel; cracking down hard on discipline.

The girls are required to show up to practice or they are ineligible to compete in the following tournaments. This policy change is stricter than previous seasons. The girls have also been weightlifting every Friday after school. Coach Smock, director of strength and conditioning at Lutheran, curates these workouts specifically for the golfers to enhance their skills. Smock stresses the importance of golfers getting into the weight room to improve the power in their swings, allowing them to hit the ball further. 

“For a young golfer, it’s about teaching them the basics in the weight room first, then as you advance their training, you want to make it more about rotational power and that implements what they do with swinging the club,” Smock detailed. The girls go into the weight room and complete a circuit of exercises to help them with both strength and agility. 

Luhi senior Sam Samuels said, “Weightlifting is so important for strengthening your muscles. In golf, you use your arms of course, but you’re also using your core and your legs for power. The stronger you are, the farther your ball will fly.” The weight room and strict practice schedule have noticeably improved their performance on the course.

 “Discipline has made the difference on the team. Weightlifting has truly transformed our game and has improved us so much,” Sophia Garcia, a junior on the golf team, says. This year, the team is thriving and it can largely be credited to the new routine but also to what a great community the girls have. Garcia says, “Golf is such an easy sport to enjoy.” She details how every tournament turns out to be a fun day. The girls get to be out on the beautiful greens soaking up the sun and making friends with golfers from different schools. The whole team is so kind to one another and treats each other and their coach with respect. Even when observing them in the weight room, it’s easy to see how encouraging and helpful they are.

 The golf team has less than a month of their season left and during those competitions they’ll be peaceful, focused, and surrounded by the calming presence of God’s creation. It just took a little sweat in the weight room to get there.