Mike McQuade
ASU Student Journalist

Westwood finds hope in girls golf program

September 17, 2019 by Mike McQuade, Arizona State University


Westwood High School, part of the Mesa Public School District, is located off Rio Salado Parkway. (Photo: Mike McQuade/AZPreps365.com)

After spending the past six years as a girls varsity volleyball coach and spending last spring as a varsity baseball coach,  William Chenausky is facing a new coaching challenge: building a new girls golf program from the ground up at Westwood High School.

Chenausky has spent much of his coaching career in the Mesa Public School District. He decided to join Westwood High for new opportunities.

Chenausky explained the process in which he encountered his new opportunity with the girls golf program. “They had an opening for the freshman baseball coach and so they offered it to me upfront… then the athletic director said they have an opening for the girls golf team.” 

Chenausky confessed that he didn’t have a ton of experience or knowledge of the golf world, only from playing on weekends with his brother, but as Westwood was searching for a way to launch the program, Athletic Director Brady Pond thought that Chenausky’s experience was enough. 

Since being hired, Chenausky has focused primarily on all things golf.

“My first big step was to research the coaching aspect of it, every website I could find, the PGA website," he said. Although his experience in the sport is minimal, coaching isn’t something new for him. “I take the coaching thing serious.” 

Chenausky isn’t the only member of the team facing a learning curve. For new players Nalani Lopez and Misty Hulet,  it’s the beginning of a new adventure for them as well. 

“They came to me in my room one day," the coach reflected, "about five ladies, and they said, ''We are here to sign up for the team’... and I think there was a connection there that was pretty strong from the beginning.Within two or three days they were coming back and were on the team.” 

Hulet admitted she didn’t have much interest in the sport.

“I wanted to get school credit for PE but then I realized I was not going to get it, but then he [Chenausky] seemed like a really good coach so [I thought], why not.”

She soon realized golf was helping in other aspects.

“We were all really close to each other before this," Hulet said, "so it brought us closer and we are not really afraid of our mistakes.”

Hulet and Lopez both acknowledged the trials the team has faced throughout the process of beginning the program, but ultimately have had a positive attitude about the entire process.

“I think it's pretty cool because golf is pretty uncommon for like girls," Lopez said. "We are really open and encouraging to each other because we don’t know what we are doing.” 

Similarly, Chenausky is still trying to learn along the way.

“When we are out there I am still nervous because of how much I do know… and how much I don’t know,” he said. 

But even through the ups and downs early in the season, he has felt the appreciation from many of the girls already. “Yesterday, one girl goes, ‘you’re the best coach I’ve had.” 

Though it may be a rough inaugural season statistically for the Warriors with all new players, the team is focused on a different takeaway.

“I am OK with saying ‘I don’t know how to do this, or help me do this.' One of us knows it, and we will help each other,” Lopez said.