Laguna Beach vs. Newport Harbor

What a great day by both teams on the course.  My personal opinion is that today was our best day of the year on both levels.  First of all Varsity did not win but we shot our best score of the year coming in with a 210 at Ben Browns (previous low was 217).  Kenya was once again our medalist with a 39 but Maya shot a 40 and Gigi shot a 41 and Claire shot a 43.  All very good scores.  Newport Harbor is a great team and shot a 185 but I was very proud of the girls and their efforts today.

Just a few minutes ago, I got word that JV won by ONE STROKE.  Yes, one stroke over Newport Harbor's JV team 269-270.  The JV team played at Costa Mesa Country Club which is a full length course, par 36.  To win by one stroke is unbelievable and shows their fortitude and commitment to every hole and every shot.

I only have pictures/videos of the Varsity as it has been a late day for the JVs, getting home not too long ago.

Great job ladies!  We are improving each and every day and hopefully all the girls feel proud of their efforts!

Laguna Beach vs. Edison (Varsity and JV)

The Varsity played at Ben Browns today while the JV traveled to David L. Baker.  Both teams did pretty well but once again came up short to a better team.  Varsity shot their 2nd lowest score of the year with a 218 while Edison's Varsity girls shot an unbelievable 179.  Our JV team did pretty good too shooting a 234 while the JV Edison team shot a 200.

The Varsity medalists were: Sarah Hollinshead and Kenya Ripley Dunlap both shooting a 42 while the JV medalist was Brooklyn Conlon with a 43.

Enjoy some pics and videos below:

Laguna Beach vs Sage Hill

The girls headed off to Strawberry Farms today to take on Sage Hill.  Strawberry Farms is one of the best public courses in Orange County and the girls played their best golf of the season.  We lost to Sage Hill 196 to 238 but I was proud of the girls who competed and rose to the challenge.  One of the Sage Hill players had 5 birdies in 9 holes and shot a 32 on a par 36 standard course?!?  Unbelievable score.  However both Gigi DiMond and Sarah Hollinshead both turned in their best round this year with 44s and tied as our medalists.  We of course headed to In N Out to celebrate after the round! :)

Enjoy some videos of our great day below.  Tomorrow another day, another match for both the JV and Varsity.

Laguna Beach vs Los Alamitos Varsity and JV

Our golf team ran into a buzzsaw today.  Both the Varsity and JV played well but Los Alamitos is in a different stratosphere.  Varsity shot their lowest score of the year combining to shoot a 217 at Ben Browns but lost to Los Alamitos who shot a 180.  JV also shot a good score of 247 but lost as well when the Los Alamitos JV shot an unbelievable 184.

Our Varsity medalist was Kenya Ripley Dunlap who shot a 39, her lowest round of the year.  Gigi was right behind her with a 40.

Our JV medalist was Kennedy Roller with a 47 with Jaden Shalala almost matching her with a 48.

The positive is that we continue to work towards our goals which include: daily and weekly improvement as a team and as individuals.  The Sunset League is one of if not the best girls golf league in Southern California.  There are some excellent teams that we will be playing in the next few weeks but the good news is that we get to learn as we play against the best and strive to get better each and every day.

Enjoy some pics and videos below:

Laguna Beach at Samueli Academy and CDM

Today due to some scheduling conflicts, we had two Varsity opponents on our schedule.  We decided to send the JV team to do battle against Samueli Academy and the Varsity to Corona del Mar.  Our JVs played well and knocked off a Varsity team = 269 to 273.  A narrow four stroke victory!  This was huge for our program and showed our depth throughout the program.

But that's not the end of the story.  When I got to school today, I found out that three of our girls would be unable to play due to illness: two of our Varsity girls and one of our JV.  With only 15 girls in the whole program, it meant that everyone (who was healthy) would be called upon. Also it meant that Brooklyn Conlon would need to play her first Varsity match as a freshman.

Our Varsity team went up against CDM, one of our league opponents and unfortunately we lost by a mere 9 strokes: 251--260.  However, we played well and hit some great shots throughout.  Still room for improvement but we are getting better as a team and a program which is great to see!

Our JV medalist was Abby Amish with a 49 and our Varsity medalist was Maya Vidas with a 44.

Enjoy some photos below:

Laguna Beach JV vs. Santa Ana Valley

In our first JV match of 2018, our girls were victorious!   Our team shot 252 while Santa Ana Valley shot 284.  Brooklyn Conlon in her first ever golf match shot a 47 and was our medalist.  Right behind her was Amber Goh with a 48 and Abby Amish with a 49.  While many of the girls were nervous, they showed a lot of grit and heart and came out on top.  Tomorrow both JV and Varsity will be playing in our first league match against Fountain Valley.  While the competition will no doubt be very good, we will continue to measure ourselves against the course and our own ability. 

Great job JV!!!

JV Team Victory Photo!

Brooklyn getting her low medalist round started on #1.

Amber showing great form,

Jaden drilling it with her iron,

Lana (even with the opponent walking in her line), almost draining the putt.

Abby on her way to a great score with a nice swing!

Gabby going through her pre-shot routine before crushing it down the middle.

Laguna Beach vs. Laguna Hills (Part 2)

After beating Laguna Hills at Ben Browns on Wednesday, we had to take them on again at their home course on Thursday.  We knew they would be tougher to beat but the good news is that many of our players had experience on that course from the year before and were up to the challenge.

The girls got off to a good start but finished even better and ended up shooting 233 and beating Laguna Hills once again as they shot 266.  We improved to 3-2 on the year. 

Our medalist was Sarah Hollinshead with a 43 while Gigi DiMond was right behind her with a 44.  These are great rounds (for us) on a longer course and show that we are improving each and every day and all of our girls have the potential to go low.  Seems like we have a different medalist every match!  We will need to keep it up next week as league begins and each match will be a big challenge for us.

Busy week for both JV and Varsity.  JV has four matches and Varsity has two.

Sarah sticking it close on a par 3.

Gigi smoking her driver down on the middle on #9.

Maya with a scenic background hitting the "big dog" down the middle.

Kenya finding the middle of the fairway with her driver.

Kennedy getting into one and flying the bunker on the right.

Claire getting it close on a par 3.

 Sarah, Claire, and Coach Paxson before teeing off on #1.

The girls favorite part of the day: Traditional meal after the round at In N Out (unfortunately Gigi had to leave early).

Laguna Hills vs Laguna Beach

Laguna Beach was victorious today beating Laguna Hills 222-243 improving to 2-2 on the season. 

Our medalist was Maya Vidas shooting a 40, her lowest round at Ben Brown's as a member of the golf team.  She was actually only 3 over par on her first 7 holes!  We are coming along as a team and look to keep the momentum going tomorrow at Laguna Woods.

See below for some highlights of today's match!

Kenya sticking it to 8 feet and draining the birdie on #8

Gigi getting on in regulation on the difficult par 3 #4 hole.

Abby with a nice sand save on #1

Maya showing off her chipping skills.  Nice soft shot over the bunker!

 Sarah and Kennedy showing off good form and #1.