It’s a hot, sunny day and everyone is stressed and sweating over the golf match about to be played, except for captain and senior Amanda Lee who is always able to stay cool and maintain herself. Amanda has been playing golf for nine years. She began playing with the Skokie Park District golf camp, then joined a junior travel league, IJGA (Illinois Junior Golf Association), where her father was the coach of both.
Not only was Lee’s dad the coach of those two teams, but he is also currently the head coach for the Niles West Girls golf team.
“It’s sometimes hard because I hear criticism on the course and then off it when I get home, so I’m constantly hearing it,” Lee said. “But it’s also nice because he supports me and we luckily have a good relationship”.
At as young as eight years old Lee started playing golf, then around eleven years old she stopped so that she could focus more on dance.
“After going to the driving range with my older brother and hitting one ball it all came back to me and I wanted to start playing again,” said Lee.
Then she began playing again her sophomore year of highschool. Motivation is key in golf, you need to be motivated in order to do well because golf is mostly mental vs physical.
“Part of my motivation is the fun of the game and the other part is wanting to improve, it feels good to get better and better every day,” Lee said.
Along with motivation, loving the sport is also a major factor with golf or any sport because if you don’t love to play, it becomes harder and harder to show up and put in your all.
“I love how it helps me to compose my mental stability and it translates into school things, it has also given me a place to channel my anger when I’m feeling angry,” Lee said.
In the future, Lee would like to play at a D3 school because she would like to focus on her academics.
“If I am not playing in college then I will still play for fun, I won’t ever stop, it just won’t be competitive,” Lee said.
Golf has benefited Lee’s life because it has helped her to be honest with herself since golf is a self-scoring game. It has also taught her leadership and responsibility since she is this year’s captain but especially with the rules of golf and proper etiquette.
