HHS Golf Team: Most Successful Season in Years

The game of golf takes years of practice for most to break 90 strokes in a round. However, a few fortunate individuals blessed with talent and the right coach will manage shooting in the low 80s or 70s one day.

This fall, six of the team's nine members represented Herndon High School on the varsity golf team in 2011 and drove, pitched and putted their way to regionals for the first time in 13 years to complete an extremely successful Hornet season.

Head Coach John Benkovic, one of only nine PGA members in the Washington, DC area certified in instruction, said this year’s team turned things around from 2010 and learned to enjoy its time out on the links.

“It was a lot more fun for them this year. Being most of them were seniors, I was a lot more hands off,” said Benkovic. “I could not teach them really anything more—maybe chipping and putting, but as far as swing changes, I had three years to teach them that. I was more of a cheerleader and said ‘we all know we can do it. Let’s go out there and do it.’”

Seniors Patrick Miller and Jessica Merrill qualified for the state tournament. Miller shot a 79 and 82 in his rounds to finish a very respectable 36th in Virginia, while Merrill competes in the girls’ state tourney on Oct. 24-25.

The team's goal in the preseason was to reach regionals this season. Herndon continued its march towards that mark charging back from six-strokes behind to finish second in the Concorde as a team, while Miller also placed second as an individual in the district. Merrill shot a 78 and 80 in regionals at the Oaks course at Twin Lakes to help Herndon fight back once again. The six players selected for the playoffs combined to better their score by 12 strokes the final day of play to finish third as a team in the tournament.

“I really wanted to win districts being a Herndon alum, but overall from my first year to my fourth year we got better every single year,” the fourth-year coach said. “I think we could have beat Chantilly but they are such a strong team and are tough to beat. My players were ecstatic about getting to regionals. That was their goal and they accomplished their goal.”

All nine golfers on the roster showed growth and discipline in 2011. Senior Dylan Burger swung his way into fifth place individually at districts—a gigantic improvement from the previous year.

“Dylan Burger went to regionals last year and couldn’t break 90 his first year,” Benkovic said. “This year in districts, he came in fifth (79, 79). I had good hopes about the season and always knew we would be close.”

The coach and his players struggled to find a good rapport last season but Benkovic said he and the team earned trust, found common ground with each other and everything came together this year. Benkovic recently made the decision to step down from coaching the Hornets because of an increased workload in his full-time job as Director of Instruction at Golf Tech in Arlington, VA. He said he has truly enjoyed his four years at Herndon and believes he accomplished what he set out to do.

“My experiment was taking a group of very young ninth graders (four years ago) and molding them into a team that could compete,” he said. “My job was raising them when it comes to golf and teaching them the game of golf. There were players who couldn’t break 100 like Jessica [in 2008.] She placed 10th in girls’ states last year and had the 16th best score in regionals this year.”

One thing the coach said impressed him throughout the years was the hidden gem discovered in some kids at tryouts.

“One surprise this year was Richard Shapiro and Chris Llorens. Richard is probably the hardest worker when it comes to golf,” he said. “Chris is a sophomore this year and during tryouts he was the ninth man, as far as scores are concerned. He kept improving every week and he and Richard would practice together and drove each other. Those two beat out the three other seniors previously on the team.”