La Reina Players Go to Mats for Course-Simulated Work

When it comes to improving your bunker play, hitting out of the rough or working on your fairway game, nothing beats getting on a golf course.

But Bob Sisco, coach of the La Reina High girls’ team, might have found the next best thing five years ago when he stumbled across some synthetic modular hitting mats at a driving range in Wichita, Kan.

The mats include an area of three feet by four feet for the golfer to stand and an area of three feet by one foot where square plugs of one foot by one foot can be inserted to simulate surfaces like sand, rough or fairway.

“It’s better to be on a course, but sometimes you can’t get on them,” said Sisco, in his first year at La Reina. “These mats allow us to work on the fundamentals of our short game. And you can’t win without a short game.”

The various surfaces are white and green and resemble artificial grass. La Reina seniors Jennifer Marshall and Susanne Dunwell say the surfaces helped improve their game.

“It has helped, especially with my chipping and going from the sand trap to the grass,” Dunwell said. “I wasn’t real sure about [the mats] when we first started using them, but now it’s a regular part of our week.”

Marshall said the mats seemed “weird” when she started using them, but not any more.

“It’s a different feel,” Marshall said. “But it has helped my short game. You get to have a lot more repetitions of certain shots than if you were out playing on a golf course.”

The mats certainly haven’t hurt La Reina.

The Regents are 7-1 and leading the Tri-Valley League with a 4-0 record.

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Harvard-Westlake (10-0) should have its 1-2 tandem of junior Ina Kim and sophomore Emma Stachowicz together for the rest of the season.

Kim, the medalist in the Southern Section team championships last year, missed several matches this season for various reasons, including playing in the prestigious United States vs. Europe junior match in New Seabury, Mass., in late September.

“[Kim] missed a couple of matches because of that tournament and she missed a couple because she’s needed to get caught up in her studies,” Coach Kuval Kochar said. “But she’ll be playing with us the rest of the year.”

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Marissa Sepe of Agoura appears to be playing well after missing two matches because of an injured right wrist.

Sepe, a senior who failed to make Agoura’s boys’ team last year, was averaging eight shots over par per nine holes in the first seven matches before injuring the wrist against Newbury Park on Oct. 4.

She has averaged eight shots over par in three matches since returning.

“She’s always been a good golfer,” Coach Gary Gray said. “But I think she’s playing a little more relaxed this year. The fact that she’s meeting with some success with the girls this year has made her more confident and that tends to make you more relaxed.”

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Sepe and Kelly Jung have given Agoura (8-7) a solid 1-2 punch, but the Chargers would be even better if senior Mollie Begalla had decided to play on the girls’ team in the fall instead of the boys’ team in the spring.

Begalla advanced to the section individual championships last year and to the CIF-Girls’ Southern California Golf Assn. championships in June.

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The Top 10

Rankings of girls’ golf teams in region:

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RK School (League) 1 Harvard-Westlake (Mission) 2 Hart (Foothill) 3 La Reina (Tri-Valley) 4 Nordhoff (Tri-Valley) 5 Moorpark (Marmonte)

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