{"id":218767,"date":"2025-10-17T02:46:18","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T02:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/218767\/"},"modified":"2025-10-17T02:46:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T02:46:18","slug":"dear-golf-the-forest-scout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/218767\/","title":{"rendered":"Dear Golf \u2013 The Forest Scout"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Courtesy <\/p>\n

Courtesy of Evelyn Marshall, Discover Golf Camp circa 2018<\/p>\n

Dear Golf,\u00a0<\/p>\n

My last round of high school golf ended quietly, in typical golf fashion. There was no dramatic finish, no perfect swing.\u00a0 Just a quiet walk up the 18th fairway, knowing it\u2019d be the last time playing in my uniform.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For me, the journey wasn\u2019t exactly straightforward. Following in the footsteps of my brother, my mom signed me up for Discover Golf camps, and I absolutely loved it. Though there wasn\u2019t an exact moment where it clicked, it was just something I seemed to naturally gravitate towards. To this day, I spend most of my summers at Deer Path Golf Course coaching. I guess I just can\u2019t get enough! It\u2019s rewarding to watch the younger girls learn and grow, and a great way to connect with the sport without even playing.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t play at the high school my junior year. For a while, it felt like the right decision. I got to come straight home after school. I didn\u2019t have to wake up at 6 am to play Bittersweet Golf Club. Later, something shifted, and I really missed it. I missed the routine, the challenge, and the rhythm you find as you walk to your next shot. Coming back senior year, I knew I needed a different mindset; I just wanted to have fun. Funny enough, I played some of my best golf.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve definitely had my ups and downs with this sport. In particular,\u00a0 the one time my ball practically went horizontal and nailed my opponent\u2019s golf bag, or the time I somehow clutched a birdie to qualify for sectionals by one stroke. I\u2019ve learned throughout the years to just laugh at myself as much as possible, because I may not be the most consistent, but I do try.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Courtesy of Evelyn Marshall, Freshman year practicing for regionals<\/p>\n

The thing about golf is that you don\u2019t age out of it. I started playing at 7, and will continue until I can\u2019t anymore. But high school golf does have an expiration date, and it just passed. I\u2019ll still play the game, but just not this version of it. There won\u2019t be teammates cheering me on from the holes behind, or Becky giving me a pep talk and a bag of Mott\u2019s when it gets rough.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t have to be in peak physical shape to play the sport, but your mind certainly has to be. It truly is a mental game. The second you tee off on the first hole, it\u2019s just you and the course for the next 4 hours (more like 6 with girls golf). I\u2019ve definitely learned that patience is a virtue. There are no substitutions, no one to pass the pressure to, or call a timeout. Every shot is yours, especially the ones you immediately wish you could take back. That\u2019s what makes it so challenging, but weirdly addictive. You just simply have to own it and to play the game you\u2019ve got that day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you told sophomore year me that I\u2019d be upset to leave this sport, she\u2019d probably laugh. But here I am, truly sad to say goodbye.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Courtesy of Evelyn Marshall, Senior year<\/p>\n

Golf has been such an integral part of my life. It has taught me to be confident, comfortable in my own company, to stay calm when things don\u2019t go my way, and to trust myself when things do. Most people leave their high school sports behind when they graduate, but lucky for me, I get to take mine wherever life goes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So, thank you, Golf, for all you\u2019ve given me, and here\u2019s to hopefully a lifetime of playing ahead of me.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sincerely,\u00a0<\/p>\n

Evelyn Marshall<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Courtesy of Evelyn Marshall, Discover Golf Camp circa 2018 Dear Golf,\u00a0 My last round of high school golf…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218768,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-218767","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-golf","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218767\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}