Well into the new season, the girls’ golf team is looking to putt their way to the top of the leaderboard. So far, they have found trouble along the way.

On Sept. 22, the girls played Gunn, losing by 7 with a score of 228-235. It was an extremely close game, and came down to the last hole, but the girls were not able to pull through.

No. 1 player Janelle Jin, for the third time, was the medalist with a score of 42. No. 3 player Sarah Lo was second with 45, and No. 2 player Cynthia Lang third with 48.

The Falcons played Palo Alto on Sept. 19 at the Saratoga Country Club and lost 206-216.

In their first match of the season on Sept. 12, the Falcons suffered a 208-223 loss to their rival Los Gatos  at the Saratoga Country Club. Jin led the way for the Falcons with a score of 38 for nine holes. Despite her success, the Wildcats clawed their way back, with two co-medalists each receiving a score of par 37.     

To improve on their early setbacks, the team is looking to Jin and their coach David Gragnola for the leadership to turn around their season.

“When we're on the driving range hitting balls and one of us is having trouble with our swing, Jin and Gragnola watch closely and try to diagnose the problem,” Yang said. “Also, when we're on the green practicing, they show us fun putting games to practice certain techniques and help improve our accuracy.”

While the team’s home course is at the Saratoga Country Club, most of their opponents have longer courses, said Jin. If the team hopes to make CCS, they must be able to produce results on a variety of courses.

Even though they are focusing on hitting longer shots, the team is still practicing on their short game because they believe that is where their success will come from.

“Such shots, which are hard under pressure, help us close out matches and are very important,” Jin said.

Due to printing deadlines, the issue was not able to cover matches against Los Gatos on Sept. 27 and Lynbrook on Sept. 29.