Nicholas Barker is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Washington High School for AZPreps365.com

Golf is one of the most expensive sports to play, and many golfers believe that the only way to achieve success on the course is to have the most expensive set of equipment.

Having an expensive set of clubs, balls or other equipment might be beneficial to someone that is already a professional player, but for most new golfers, an average set of clubs will more often than not be enough to ensure success and continued improvement.

Brian Patterson, coach of the Washington Rams golf team, enforces strict rules on the golf course to ensure that the team is not getting in over their heads. One of those rules is requiring the team to only have a certain amount of clubs.

“Beginners like having multiple clubs in the bag just because they like to randomly pick out a club,” said Patterson. “They are not making educated decisions. This is why I limit what clubs they are allowed to carry in their bag.”

Senior Angel Rios, one of the two returning players on the team, says Patterson does a great job in teaching the game.

“We really work on in practice what type of club should be used for any situation,” said Rios. 

Sophomore Brandon Higbee, the only other returning player on the team, agrees with the claim that success does not come from having the most expensive clubs. Higbee also believes that if you are a beginner or just getting used to golf, having a good time should be the focus, not shooting the lowest score possible.

“I am more focused on having fun, rather than having a good round,” says Higbee. “If I am stressed about hitting a ball, I will most likely hit a bad ball.”

Not only could too many clubs in a bag cause a problem for an average golfer, but many student-athletes can’t afford to have that many clubs. Patterson is thankful that Washington High School helps the golfers in need who can’t necessarily afford to buy new equipment.

“They pay for us to be on the course and help us with supplies such as golf balls, golf tees, hats and other things,” said Patterson. “At our school, I think all sports are taken care of equally.”

At many high schools, football and basketball are provided the most incentives, but at Washington High School, all sports are treated the same, which pleases Patterson.

“Some sports require more help because that is the nature of the sport,” said Patterson. “But at Washington High School, we do a great job of making sure all of our athletes have what they need in order to be successful.”

Washington High also relies on outside help.

“The golf team has a good supply of golf sets, so we check them out to the students,” said Patterson. “There are a lot of different organizations that will donate used sets to schools and underprivileged students.”

This all ties back to the claim that golfers don’t need the most expensive clubs to have success on the course. Patterson, a strong believer in this claim, just wants consistency.

“I encourage them to have the clubs in their bag that they can hit consistently,” said Patterson. “If you can’t do it consistently then that club is of no use to you. It is actually hurting your score and your game.”