'We’ve been consistent': Talent, depth lift Auburn High golf to unbeaten start
It’s not rocket science. The Auburn High Rockets have quickly figured out the simple formula for winning golf matches.
“We have five or six players who shoot in the low to mid-40s in nine-hole matches, and when you use the total of the top four scores in stroke play, that’s usually what you need to win,” Auburn coach Dave Stanick said.
And win the Rockets have, zooming to a 9-0 record in September.
Led by a top-of-the-lineup trio of talented golfers — senior captains Trevor Amero and Logan Mulcahy, and steady sophomore Jon Rocheford, Auburn notched victories last weekover Leicester, Doherty, Bartlett and Whitinsville Christian. Earlier in the month, the Rockets triumphed over previously unbeaten Grafton.
“When we post a four-player total of around 165, we feel we can be competitive with just about any team in the area," said Stanick, whose teams have won 43 of 45 dual matches since the start of the 2021 season. "When you play a team that has to take a 48 or 49 as its fourth score, and we throw a 42 or 41 at them, it really swings the match in our favor.
“We’ve been consistent,” Stanick added while watching his players, who are at the top of the SWCL, practice last week at the Auburn Driving Range. The Rockets meet there once a week to work on their swings.
“This place is great. We’re very grateful to use this range,” said Stanick, a former standout high school player at Holy Name and later at Salem State. “They donate a bucket of practice balls for each of my players one day a week, and that’s really been helpful.”
Fittingly, often offering private lessons nearby on the Auburn Range is resident PGA instructor Rick Karbowski, who led the Auburn High golf team to the state championship in 1973.
Praising his 2023 captains, Amero, the only returning starter from last year’s team, and Mulcahy, who belts his drives in the 300-yard range and carded a 40 in the win over Doherty last week, Stanick said, “They’re both very good leaders who lead by example and set the right tone for the rest of the guys on the team.”
“I’m not really a long hitter. My wedges are the best part of my game,” said the 17-year-old Amero, who opened the season with a 38 in a win over Millbury at Pakachoag GC in Auburn, the Rockets' home course.
“We’re hoping to dial in and make the states this year,” said Mulcahy, who said he tries to control his long drives and keep the golf ball in the fairway by not swinging with a full percentage of his power.
Rocheford, 15, who predicts a USA win over Europe in the upcoming Ryder Cup, has carded a 1-under at Pakachoag. He began playing golf at around 8 years old and stepped it up in competition by the time he reached the seventh grade.
Other Auburn golfers with strong performances during the Rockets’ undefeated streak include Landon Connor with a 41 against Whitinsville Christian and Anthony Casillo a 40 in the Doherty match. Also, freshman Mikey Joslyn has shown lots of potential while playing in the sixth position.
Patel powers Ayer-Shirley
As the No. 1 player in the lineup, senior Sohil Patel has been a key to the early-season success of another area unbeaten golf team — the Ayer-Shirley Panthers, who are 5-0 after last week’s victory over Gardner.
Patel fired a 2-over 37 in the match against the Wildcats at Northern Spy in Townsend. His nine-hole season average in competition is slightly above 36, and his career low at Northern Spy is 2-under 68.
“Sohil excels in the mental part of the game,” Ayer-Shirley coach Peter Gubellini said. “He never gets rattled, and he has a really high golf IQ.”
As Patel’s golf scores have plummeted, his academic scores have soared throughout his high school career — all A’s and only a single B.
“That B was in a social media class when I was a freshman,” said the 17-year-old Patel, adding with a laugh, “Funny enough, I don’t use social media.”
He explained that when he was still in middle school, his father Bhabesh and mother Jinal made a deal with their oldest son.
“If I didn’t use social media until I was 18, my parents said they would give me $1,800 in cash,” Patel said. “So, I do have a cellphone, but no Instagram, Snapchat, none of that.”
In his golf bag, with no restrictions other than the 14-club maximum rule, Patel has lots of TaylorMade clubs, including his SIM2 Driver and Stealth 3-wood. He also includes TaylorMade P770 bladed irons and MG3 wedges with loft degrees of 50, 54 and 58.
“My blade irons are hard to hit, and they help with my ball striking for sure, but if I don’t catch them clean, the ball can go anywhere,” Patel said.
The only club in his golf bag that is not a TaylorMade brand is his Odyssey putter, which was handed down to him from his father.
“It was my dad’s old one, and I’ve made a lot of putts with it,” Patel said. “It’s a mallet type and center shafted with an angle turn at the bottom, so the putter is sure to always stay flat on the green, no matter where I put it.”
—Contact Jay Gearan at sports@telegram.com, Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @tgsports.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: High school golf: Talent, depth lift Auburn to unbeaten start; Patel keys Ayer-Shirley
