Lauren Reinertson, a junior at Plainfield East High School who qualified for state, is a dedicated member of the Girls Varsity Golf Team.
Q- What made you join the girl’s golf team?
A- I knew some people on it, and I only started playing it my freshman year. I only started a little bit before my freshman year, and I thought it was a really fun sport. I honestly didn’t even think I would make the team, but I still tried out, and I still made it regardless.
Q- How does it feel to make PEHS girl’s golf history?
A- It feels really cool. I put a lot of hard work into this sport, and I feel like it’s a big accomplishment for me and for women’s sports as well. It feels like my hard work has been paying off.
Q- What are some personal goals you have set for yourself this season, and do you think you have accomplished them?
A- One of my goals was going to state, and I think my scores have been around where I needed to go to state. Golf is very much a day-to-day sport; you can have a really good day, a really bad day, or you can have an in-between kind of day. I think I just need to have a good day at the right times, which I did, but I think I couldn’t have done it with all the work I’ve done outside of school and over the summer. My other goals were all conferences, which I also reached. I accomplished all the goals I had for this season.
Q- Do you train outside of school?
A- I spend most of my time practicing over the summer, and it’s my main focus most of the time.
Q- How does training look like for you?
A- We have some practice facilities near us, so I go to those a lot. I play a lot of golf rounds and practice rounds. Then, in the summer, I’m also in some tournaments outside of school, and those help me prepare to be scouted by colleges or recruited.
Q- Do you plan on playing golf in college?
A- I do, but my academics are obviously first, so I feel like when it comes to deciding on a school, maybe golf, especially with a scholarship, would be huge for me. Academics are first, so if maybe I have a school where I think I could get a really good education, but I can’t play golf there, then I think that would be my first choice. I’d love to play golf in college.
Q- If you could play golf with any famous person, who would it be and why?
A- Dj Khalid because of “Let’s go golfing.”
Q- Now that you’ve broken your personal record, is there another record you are trying to reach?
A- Well, there isn’t another record; it’s always been to just break my own record and play better golf while continuously getting better. I think for me, a big thing isn’t so much my individual rounds and more so my average. Because, like I said, golf is a more day-to-day thing, and lowering your average shows your progression and how much you’ve been improving while also showing that your work is paying off.
Q- How has the anticipation of your approaching senior year and reaching the point of qualifying for state affected how you’ll train/play?
A- Even if I didn’t make it to state, I would still be working just as hard. It has definitely been a big thing, especially since I want to go [to state] again next year. I don’t think it was that much of a factor, but I also want to make sure to do better my senior year, so I’ll just keep working at it.
