The VWU Women’s Golf program consists of the coach, assistant coach and one member which is senior Ashlee Bobzin. Bobzin has been in the Women’s Golf program since 2018 but this is the first time that she is by herself on the team.
“It’s already an individual sport so it’s not the end of the world, I already compete by myself and my scores count individually. I just wear the Marlin name and as much as I support the Marlins golf program, in golf you are playing for yourself,” Bobzin said.
Nonetheless, she expressed that being the only player in the women’s program has been stressful and challenging.
“Being the only player in the Women’s Golf program is definitely stressful, there are a lot of decisions that I have to make that I didn’t think I had to make myself. I had to take a step up from what previous women on this team had to do in order to complete the seasons that I want to,” Bobzin said.
There have been some places where Bobzin can’t go to compete because she can’t travel with the men’s coach. Despite this and other changes, she always has found a way to work around that and been able to compete and complete games for the season.
As of right now, the Women’s Golf program counts with three separate coaches, Coach Shane Kohler who is also the assistant coach for the Men’s Soccer team, Women’s and Men’s Golf Assistant Coach Pam Fisher and Coach Jeff Butler who is also the assistant coach for the Men’s Baseball team.
“Coach Butler has been with us for the past semesters and he’s been amazing stepping up and taking on that role. Coach Shane is only with us in Spring because Men’s Soccer is in fall and we also have Coach Fisher who is an alumna and has been with us for a while helping us coordinate the program,” Bobzin said.
The competitions are normally two-day tournaments and sometimes it can be both teams in competition or just her. “For tournaments we travel out there and we stay there for the practice round so we can know what the course looks like,” Bobzin said. “Before competition I just keep my head down and concentrate on doing my own thing. As long as I can focus on what I want to do, I’ll get it done.”
In the fall, Bobzin represented VWU in a couple of tournaments against other universities. She placed second out of four golfers against Chowan University with a total score of 86 and she placed 11th out of 23 golfers at the VSGA Intercollegiate Tournament with a total score of 176.
“I am excited for next season, I have a lot to prove considering COVID-19 and the fact that we weren’t able to finish our season. In my family, I am a first time college student, neither of my parents went to college out of highschool and neither of my parents were athletes in college. So, I feel that I have a lot to prove even though I started this sport in my junior year in highschool. I’ve been able to come this far and I know I can do better,” Bobzin said.
Bobzin said that golf has brought memorable moments to her life, including that she has met most of her best friends golfing. “When you are out there for five hours with strangers that also have the same interests that you have, it is easy to connect, even though they played for other schools,” Bobzin said. “I still keep in contact with them, some of them have graduated, with some of them unfortunately I won’t be playing again but meeting them has been the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done.”
Bobzin is very satisfied with the job that she has done and the job that will continue next semester here at VWU. However, she expressed that she wants to graduate on time and is not staying for a fifth year.
“I plan on going into the workforce, I have an internship next semester and I would love to go into finance; my passion is economics. This school has a way around teaching economics. It really hones in on people’s attitudes, which is why I love golf, too. Your performance, just as in any sport or economics, depends on your attitude,” Bobzin said.
She also added, “I love the many life lessons that I have learned from golf.”
Steven Serrano
sdserranocruz@vwu.edu
