Fall Sports Preview: Spoofhound Golf

JON DYKSTRA/THE FORUM
Maryville golf: front from left; Halle Zimmerman, Teagan Brandkamp, Alana Crawford, Brinley Conn, Ainsley Watkins, Alayna Pargas, Taylor Akon; second row; Olivia Mikkelsen, Cailyn Auffert, Maggie Webb, Lauren Jaster, Casey Phillips, Jaidaci Wilmes; back row; coach Larry Ricks, coach Brenda Ricks.

Brinley Conn, Ainsley Watkins, Cailyn Auffert, Alana Crawford, Lauren Jaster, Maggie Webb and Casey Phillips have been playing golf together for a long time.

“It means more than just playing a sport at this point,” Watkins said. “The first year, freshman year, I didn’t hardly know any of them, and I’d say I definitely know them past the point of friendship now.”

The seven seniors in coach Brenda Ricks’ program joined a team with only one varsity returner three years ago and immediately started making memories and making the team their own.

“This team is like a family to me,” Jaster said. “We’ve all grown a really strong bond together. We have so many memories and it is really fun to look back at the four years and how much we’ve all improved.”

Family is a word that stands out to the entire team.

“To me, it just means being a family,” Crawford said. “We’ve all gotten so close over the years. All of these girls, I know that I can trust anything with them. They are like my actual family.”

The memories begin with simply making the choice to play golf — which for many of them was a new sport. For Conn, it was an excuse to hang out with her friend, but quickly she discovered her ‘people.’

“It means so much,” Conn said. “I started it just because Lauren was doing it. But then I’ve made so many more friends. It has literally become like the place that I can talk to my people and it is so much fun. It means a lot to me.”

That bonding came fast in practice.

“I really enjoyed our freshman year,” Crawford said. “One day at practice, we decided that we were going to be like a little cheer team. We started throwing each other up in the air.”

Later on that year, the girls learned that golf isn’t always played on bright sunny days, but they also learned that their teammates had their backs.

“Our freshman year tournament, it poured the entire time and Ainsley had to go to her house and get us new clothes cause we were soaking wet,” Webb said.

Jaster and Auffert found success early with state trips as freshmen and each year since. Phillips joined them the past two seasons.

“State is always a lot of fun,” Jaster said. “Making it there is really nerve-wracking. It is a lot of work, but it is always worth it in the end.”

For Auffert, who finished fifth at state last season, the state tournament is about more than the golf. She remembers the competition before the competition last season.

“State last year,” Auffert said. “Me, Lauren and Casey — we went to an arcade and there was a laser tag there and we all played laser tag against our dads. I think we probably beat them.”

The shorter road trips to tournaments also tend to be quite eventful.

“I think some of my favorite memories are just on the way home from matches and stuff,” Conn said. “We all just start dancing to music and singing. We just have so much fun together.”

Over the years, there have been special events too, like the #fillthecart event that the team started in their Pink-Out match against East Atchison, which raised money for the oncology department at Maryville’s Mosaic Medical Center.

“I enjoyed that we started the tournament for the oncology center at Mosaic,” Crawford said.

The team also made a trip to the PGA’s John Deere Classic before their junior season.

“My favorite memory is going to the John Deere Classic with some of the girls and staying up all night in the hotel rooms,” Phillips said.

That trip was also the first with Alayna Pargas as she was preparing for her freshman season and joining the established group of friends. Pargas immediately fit in though.

“Definitely meeting Alayna,” Watkins said of her favorite memory. “Life-long best friend.”

Now the Spoofhounds are adding five new golfers this season who will help carry on the team after the seniors graduate.

“It means everything — building the friendships with everyone and now having the freshmen come in, for them to look up to us as role models and carry on the tradition that we’ve carried on,” Phillips said. “… It means a lot, especially to Brenda because I think it was stressing her out a bit knowing that seven seniors were going bye-bye.”

Before the seniors go ‘bye-bye,’ they have one more season together and they plan on making the most of it.

“I think we’ve all really grown close and we’ve all become a family,” Webb said. “Getting to spend senior year together is really important and we are really excited.”

Now golf has gone from the thing they did to hang out with a certain friend to something they all want to make the most of as seniors together.

“It is one of the main things going on in my life that is most important to me,” Auffert said. “I’ve built a family with all these people here.”