Rose basketball highlights
Bass takes swing at playing women’s golf
Mon.| 12-11-23 | SPORTS
Contributed Photo
Bass goes to the range at Greenville
Country Club to practice her drives. This
extra work paid off when she qualified for
the regional tournament this past season.
Senior women's golf player Brooks Ann Bass decided to start playing golf just five months ago and found herself as the number two seed on the Rose women's golf team. As a first-year player, she qualified for the regional tournament this past season.
Bass decided this summer, as she was entering her senior year, that she would give golf a try. She wanted to have something fun to do in her free time after not playing a sport in her earlier years of high school.
“I watched the Masters one weekend and I needed to pick up something, and I picked up golf,” Bass said.
Bass wanted to try out for the women's golf team, but she knew she needed to put in some work during the summer to learn the game and basic skills before tryouts.
“I had golf lessons once or twice every week and I played almost every day,” Bass said.
Once tryouts came on Aug. 14, Bass was prepared and earned a spot on the team. Bass and her teammates practiced every weekday except Tuesdays at Greenville Country Club. She also practiced outside of school to better herself during competitions.
“I practiced on the weekends, me and [my teammate] Katharine Gauland went out there all the time and played,” Bass said.
Throughout the season, Bass was chosen by coach Liz Barbee to compete in each tournament based on her performance in practices and previous tournaments.
“Only five girls from our team can go to every tournament and Coach Barbee picks the top five girls that can go,” Bass said. “It changes [sometimes], but most likely it stays the same, it just depends on who’s [playing] better.”
After Bass’ excellent performance in five out of the seven conference tournaments, she qualified for the regional tournament which was held at Wedgewood Country Club in Wilson on Oct. 23.
“[We] had to shoot below a 55 average to qualify,” Bass said. “Carys [Carson] and [I] were the only two that had below a 55 average.”
After Bass found out she qualified for this tournament, she was very proud of herself and all the hard work she had put in throughout the season.
“I was excited because I just started playing golf and it was a big deal for me [because] there were girls that had been playing for a really long time,” Bass said.
Before the regional tournament, Bass went to play a practice round at Wedgewood Country Club to get a feel for the course before the official tournament. This tournament was different from all the other ones she had played before.
“I am not used to playing 18 holes because we don't practice 18 holes,” Bass said. “I'm used to nine and that's easy to get done, [but] once you finish [nine holes] and then know you have to go play another nine, it takes a lot.”
In this tournament, players were paired with two others from different schools. Bass was partnered with girls who had been playing golf for a while, but still placed well in the end. Her teammate, sophomore Carys Carson, ended up qualifying to compete in the championship.
Bass is thankful for all the bonds she made with her teammates and coaches, Stephen West and Barbee. She is going to miss the connections she made and just playing with the golf team in general. However, she is not stepping off the course just yet as she does not plan to stop playing.
“[I'm going to miss] everything, the people and going out there and playing,” Bass said. “I love golf and I hope to continue to play.”