About a half hour before classes begin, the Woodbridge boys golf team meets in its private clubhouse.
It’s really just Tracy Roberts’ economics classroom, but he’s also the varsity golf coach.
For a few minutes, the carpet serves as a practice putting green and the trash can is a chipping target.
Sometimes, though, the clubs stay in the bags and the kids just hang out.
For Roberts, high school golf is more than just a numbers game. His motto is, “use the game to get better as a player, person and a student.” Roberts wants to see strong bonds form, knowing they can turn a team into a family.
“This group really came together,” Roberts said.
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The Warriors broke several school records, cruised to the Pacific Coast League title and finished the year ranked No. 1 in the county. Woodbridge also placed second in the CIF-SS South Coast Team Regional and tied for sixth in the SCGA qualifying tournament in Desert Hot Springs.
The Warriors’ season included a difficult stretch where Roberts underwent heart surgery. He did his coaching by sending text messages for the players to assistant coach Jerry Oenning, whom Roberts called the “conduit that held everything together.”
“It has been incredible to watch these kids, as goofy as they are, just play their hearts out,” said Roberts, who is the Register’s boys golf coach of the year. “I have been coaching for 27 years, and this is the best group of kids that I have ever had.”
The Warriors didn’t miss a beat while Roberts was away, distancing themselves from their rivals in the competitive PCL.
The Warriors’ first assault on the school record book came with a 5-under-par 170 at Oak Creek Golf Club, equaling the lowest score by a Woodbridge golf team in 13 years.
The Warriors finished the season with an even-par 180 scoring average at their home course, Rancho San Joaquin, something no other team at the school had been able to do, not even their 2002 CIF-SS champions.
“I am very proud of these kids. They held together in some weird circumstances,” Roberts said. “We had the lowest scoring average ever at Rancho. That is ridiculous. But to win our league, that is what I am most proud of because they had to show up day in and day out.
“Four teams in the league shot under par. The competition was so tough, but they really managed to rally together. This year was very special.”
Contact the writer: ddottore@ocregister.com