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Courtney Orton reporting High school girls are getting out on the green, the golfing green that is.
The Utah High School Activities Association sanctioned the sport for girls for the first time this year.
Several teams from different schools are out at Rose Park getting ready for their first inaugural season.
These girls are swinging at the chance to play golf competitively in high school. Skyline High School student Annie Branca said, "I just like it, so I decided why not go out for the team."
Nicole Gaddie, a sophomore at Skyline High School, said, "I'm very excited."
And for the first time, they don't have to tee off with the boys. Gaddie said, "The boys are way intimidating, so lots of the girls are scared to try out. But this brings everyone out. It's just a great experience."
"I never got the chance to play with the boys, and it wasn't really advertised that girls could play," said Jenny Schneiter, a senior at Granger High School.
But they can now, and girls around the valley have come out in full force. "I thought I was going to be the only one on the team," said Schneiter.
Granger is one of the smaller teams with only five players, but Skyline has 17 girls, and many other schools in the valley are no different. Deb Bennett, girls golf coach at Skyline High School, said, "The number of participants exceeded expectations. It's just been exciting to see the number of girls who are interested."
Some girls have played in tournaments before; some just recreationally and others have never even picked up a club. "So many of them have such great swings already," said Judy Hollberg, assistant pro at Glendale Golf course. "They're excited to play. They don't care if they hit it out there 15 feet. They're excited to do it."
It is a quick season, tryouts were at the end of February, and tournaments are throughout April and state is in May.
E-mail: corton@ksl.com
