For the Philomath High School girls golf team, the scorecard tells only part of the story.
Ask any of the team’s players who teed it up this spring what they’ll remember most about the season and the conversation rarely starts with birdies or bogeys. It starts with the girls walking up the fairway alongside them — teammates, opponents, new friends made one tee box at a time.
Gallery: PHS girls golf at Diamond Woods (May 13, 2026)
A collection of photos from Philomath High’s girls golf scramble at Diamond Woods Golf Course near Monroe on Wednesday.
“The best part of my game, honestly, is the girls around me,” senior Isabelle Muir said. “I get to meet new girls every day that I’ve never played with and I made some really nice friends. That’s probably my favorite part.”
Senior Shaylee May, in her second year of golf, said the social side has reshaped her experience of the sport.
“I definitely have become a social butterfly talking to other people,” May said. “I think this year was just fun and a lot of it was just getting to know girls from other teams, making new friendships, which is a lot about what high school golf is. It’s very social.”
Senior Avery Smith picked up the sport this year looking for something to do in the spring and found a community waiting for her.
“It seemed like a really welcoming and inviting community and a lot of my friends were doing it, and Coach Logan is great, too,” Smith said.
Junior Annaleise Brown, also a first-year player, echoed that sentiment.
“Golf is an amazing sport to know about,” Brown said. “It teaches you to just trust in yourself and depend on other people for your achievements. Honestly, it’s a really fun environment.”
A tight-knit roster
Coach Logan Martin had returners Muir and May joined by four newcomers to the sport this spring. What the team lacked in experience, Martin said, it made up for in chemistry.
“The team chemistry was really strong this year. Everyone kind of gelled together really well,” Martin said. “From day one, really positive outlook on the season and really supportive of each other as they were all kind of learning how to play the game. I was really proud of the group.”
Golf occupies an unusual space in the high school athletics world — an individual game played within a team framework.
“You are playing your individual score. But in high school golf, you’re also playing for a team score,” Martin said. “They’re kind of keeping tabs on each other and rooting each other on but also trying to compete themselves to climb up the leaderboard. There’s a competitive piece that you’re playing against your team and with your team at the same time.”
The Warriors leaned into the team side even when they weren’t on the course together.
“Golf is definitely a very individualized sport but we’re always building each other up,” Muir said. “We’re always in our group chat talking to each other and giving each other encouragement.”
For all the camaraderie, the players were quick to acknowledge that golf is a sport that lives largely between the ears.
“It’s not very physically demanding and it’s kind of like you have to just focus mentally,” Smith said. “You have to be mentally tough.”
Senior Marlee Quetschke said the mental side has been the toughest part of her game.
“The hardest thing is trying to get into the right mindset while playing,” Quetschke said. “The easiest thing would be putting and getting along with the rest of the girls.”
Muir said the slow pace of golf makes mental discipline a daily exercise.
“I think it comes with every sport but with golf, it’s a very slow sport and so it’s definitely keeping my head in the game,” Muir said. “Like, I might have one bad shot but I can always make the next one better.”
Brown said the constant comparison of scores can get inside a player’s head — and she’s seen firsthand how much self-talk matters.
“It’s all mental. Like if I tell myself I’m going to bomb a drive and it’s going to go 200 yards, it’s going to go 200 yards,” Brown said. “But if I’m like, ‘Oh, well, I’m just going to hit it’ … it will literally just go straight up in the air and come back down in front of me.”
Growth on the course
Philomath played in the Special District 3 tournament on May 4-5 at Mallard Creek near Lebanon. The team finished fifth out of the seven teams competing.
Martin said the measure of the season for him wasn’t a placement at the district tournament — it was watching every player get better.
“I measured success just by the fact that every person improved,” Martin said. “On the last day of district, everyone besides Belle, who shot consistently both days, everyone else shot a personal best on the last day of district. As a coach, I couldn’t help but be excited, regardless of where we placed at.”
Muir had rounds of 97 on the first day and 98 on the second day — a result she said left her satisfied even as she pushed herself for more.
“I ended up placing eighth at districts — I was really happy with that and proud of myself,” Muir said.
Smith, who took up the sport as a senior, said she hopes other students don’t wait to try something new.
“I think that people should try new things earlier on, especially in high school, because I think once it’s gone, it’s gone,” Smith said. “It’s been great trying something new.”
Asked about the lighter moments of the season, the players didn’t have to think long.
Quetschke had perhaps the most memorable encounter of any Warrior this spring.
“We were at the coast and I went to go find my ball and I heard like a ‘sssssss’ and there was a snake wrapped around my ball,” Quetschke said.
Did she play through?
“Snake got the ball.”
May’s funny moment came at the expense of a family member.
“Today, I hit my dad on a par three,” May said. “He was probably like 100 yards up and I just drilled him in the chest, so that was pretty funny.”
Each player said they’d recommend golf to any girl thinking about giving it a shot.
“I would say 100% come out. It’s a really enjoyable sport overall,” Muir said. “Sometimes it can be enraging but I’ve had a blast. The girls make it so much fun. We just have a blast, get to miss school and come hang out on a sunny day like this — nothing better.”
Martin said the girls program’s biggest challenge is finding younger players willing to start the journey. In addition to the four seniors and one junior that competed in the varsity rounds at Wednesday’s practice golf scramble, the roster also included one sophomore, Hayden Rowley.
“Our struggle is that I keep having only juniors and seniors that I have to kind of start over,” Martin said. “For me, I’m hopeful that we can get some underclassmen, some freshmen, sophomores, get them into the JV side, and develop them over a couple years.”
Potential changes from the Oregon School Activities Association add another layer of uncertainty, with district reconfigurations possibly sending Philomath teams as far as Bend or Medford for tournaments.
“There’s going to be a lot of work in the offseason to figure out how to balance them being students and athletes with further travel and things like that,” Martin said.
