Spring is here. When you look around, you’ll see the azaleas have bloomed. You’ll feel the temperatures rising. You’ll hear the distant chatter of seniors waiting to graduate. And, if you look close enough, you’ll see freshman golfer Joshua Hill spring cleaning up the leaderboards. 

From March 24-26, the South Alabama Men’s Golf team finished their final home stretch at Magnolia Grove. Magnolia Grove is home to three of the 26 championship level courses on the Robert Trent Jones (RTJ) Golf Trail. If you aren’t familiar with the game of golf, you should probably know a little bit about the trail. The RTJ Golf Trail is well regarded as having some of the best courses in the world. In 1996, New York Times’ Paula Diperna described the trail as “some of the best public golf on Earth.” It has the caliber and strength to host some of the game’s greats. As residents of Mobile, we are fortunate enough to have the course in our own backyard. 

The home finale was a 14-team tournament hosted by the Jags, and you couldn’t have drawn up a more perfect day to kick the tournament off. The team’s shotgun start kicked off around 8:30 a.m. and they were blessed with sunny skies, scattered clouds and mild winds from the northeast. Players and teams were hungry for low scores on their final stretch to the closing round. They both mentally and physically prepared themselves for the inclement weather to come. 

The storm completely changed the golf course. Wind gusts up to 40 miles per hour caused golfers across the board to card some disappointing bogeys and double bogeys. Despite the weather, South had the home course advantage and was still sleeping in their own bed. They were comfortable playing in these conditions alongside their teammates.

“It’s the best part about the team. Practicing together, trying to make each other better everyday is great. The team is full of great lads, so we always have a good time playing; good or bad,” Hill said.

Knowing this was the team’s last home match of the year, Head Coach Ben Hannan mentioned that they are zeroing in on their top five and who they are going to the post-season with. “We are cleaning up some of the mental mistakes we’ve made and some of the big numbers. If we get control of that, we will constantly be in the game,” Hannan said.

Hill discussed many challenges that he has faced as a student athlete, including maintaining his mental health, balancing practices and schoolwork, and transitioning from an Irish high school to an American university.

“I’ve been working with Doc, our sport psychologist, trying to mentally prepare for the rest of the year. We’ve been working on what works best, and that is staying patient, working hard and knowing that the good things will come,” Hill said.

At Hill’s high school, golfing was treated as a separate hobby because there was no official team at the institution. Now, he faces the challenge of balancing both in one place at one time. “It can be difficult sometimes, with traveling a lot, so we just need to keep in touch with our teachers and plan around our schedule. We have three team practices a week and get a lot of work done on our own,” Hill said.

Hill shared that he looks up to professional golfer Rorry McIlroy for inspiration. “Since he is from the same area as me, I’ve always looked up to him. When I was younger, I would often try to copy his swing and game,” Hill said.

Hill finished in fourth out of 80, with a tournament score of -4.  He looks to build on this tournament and bring home a title. The Jags finished their tournament in sixth place and will travel to Nashville to compete in the Mason Rudolph Championship, starting on April 5.