By Xander Welty
THE ROUNDUP
Drew Shyman ’21 said he played lots of golf as a little kid but gave up the game as he grew older. During the spring, Shyman began to play golf everyday and developed a love for the game.
The COVID-19 pandemic shut down almost all possible sports for students to enjoy. Because of this, the number of students who played golf surged during the spring and summer.
Golf was one of the only sports that was able to remain at full strength during the outbreak as there is little to no physical interaction between players during a round.
This allowed many Brophy students who either had never played golf before or played every now and then but never played consistently, to spend time with their friends in a safe setting.
“It gave me an opportunity to spend time with friends in a way that was consistent with guidelines that were set for the pandemic,” Shyman says. “As I continued to play, I continued to get better and I had more fun every time I stepped onto a course.”
Harrison Surgent ’21 also played a decent amount of golf before the pandemic but says that many of his friends, who now enjoy golf, had never played before.
“I believe that golf can be a great way to spend time with your friends, no matter what skill level. It is easy to play the game in different ways, whether that be competitively or just messing around on the golf course,” Surgent said.
Many people who play golf regularly, even before COVID-19, see not only positives but negatives with many new golfers starting to play around Arizona.
Senior Max Murphy ’21 has regularly played golf for many years and said, “It is good for the sport to have so much new interest, but it is bad for regular golfers as courses have started to raise prices for playing rounds that would normally be a lot cheaper.”
Murphy says that he enjoys having new friends to play rounds of golf and have fun with but hopes that golf courses across the state don’t continue to try and take advantage of the growing number of golfers.