New Year, New Coaches
At the end of the successful 2020 golf season, Coach Jeff Hyde stepped down from his position as head coach of the Galena Pirates Girls Golf Team. Under his leadership, the team won the NIUC Conference championship for the first time. The team knew that he would be hard to replace. New leadership was found in the Galena alumni duo of Kane Hyde and Anna Hulscher.
Hyde, who played golf for Galena and for the University of Dubuque, was willing to step up with the help of Hulscher, who also played for Galena in high school. “Coaching the girls golf team has been a blast so far this year,” she said. “I have a big group of girls this year that make it fun.”
The varsity girls have a lot that they have to improve on if they want to win conference again. Hulscher and Hyde do a very good job making sure that all of the girls stay on task and are improving day by day. “I like our new coaches this year. It’s fun to have young coaches who both play/played golf in school,” said Ayden Wells ‘23.
One thing that continues to be a struggle for the Galena girls specifically is the short game aspect. “If the girls were chipping and putting to the best of their ability and taking their time, I guarantee that they could each shave off a stroke per hole,” said Coach K. Hyde.
There are a few goals that the team has for the upcoming season. One of them is to make memories on and off the course with each other. “We have a great group of girls this year who are always laughing and having a good time!” said Olivia Richardson ‘22.
The main goal in the golfing aspect is for the varsity girls to win a back to back conference championship. Conference this year will be held at the Eagle Ridge North Course, which is River Ridge’s home course. However, all of the varsity girls have played it more than once and are very familiar with the course.
The even larger advantage that Galena has this year is that regionals are being held at the Galena Golf Club. “I know that many of the girls have played the North Course, and with us hosting regionals, we have a very good chance of making it past regionals this year as a team,” said Coach Hulscher. In order to achieve this goal, the girls need to be dedicated, have a positive mindset, and work hard at practice because it truly makes a difference when you go into things with a positive attitude.
