Gold Standard

Athletics are designed to be a challenge. Each sport tests an athlete's strength, agility, endurance, or will in different ways.

Which sport is the most difficult will always be a debatable issue, but one could certainly make a case for golf. The prospect of putting a tiny ball into a marginally larger cup has frustrated and captivated thousands of people from varying backgrounds for generations.

For Whiteland senior Morgan Gold, the challenge of the sport extends well beyond the 18 holes worth of ups and downs that every golfer goes through. Having put six years worth of hard work into her game, Gold is now the Warriors' number one golfer. The lone senior on her team, Gold has taken to the role of captain well.

"She's one of the most incredible kids I've ever met," said Whiteland head coach Katie Gunn. "The sense of responsibility that she has is not usually found in people her age."

Teaching her younger teammates the finer points of the game comes naturally for Gold, who has spent the past 18 months doing the same thing with a blind woman.

Eight to 10 hours per week, Gold escorts her pupil around The Legends Golf Course in Franklin. She describes the layout of each hole, points out mechanical errors, and offers encouragement to a woman playing a sport that causes heartache for people with perfect vision.

As the pair step up to each tee, Gold takes her student's cane and points it in the direction of the pin. She points out hazards, bends, and turns along each hole. Her student feels the position of the ball, the direction of the cane, and takes her swing.

"I'm always trying to work with my teammates, so I think that it was a natural transition for me," said Gold of her work. "It was kind of tough at first, but mainly just because there were a lot of little things to remember. It took me a while to learn to say 'yes' instead of nod. And since I couldn't show by example, I had to take more of a hands-on approach."

There are obvious difficulties that can creep up when teaching someone with impaired vision to play a game such as golf, a game where the world's best are said to have an "eagle eye."

Gold's student was a golfer herself over 30 years ago, which has given Gold a base to work from. Still, her student has improved her game to the point where she feels ready to compete in overseas tournaments strictly designed for blind golfers; trips that Gold may accompany her on as her coach.

Still, the most important thing to Gold is the chance to rekindle the love of the links in a fellow golfer and spending as much time as possible on the course in preparation for her final high school season.

Gold has set high goals for the Warriors, a team that is still very raw in tournament play. A passion for the game, such as the one Gold has, can go a long way towards reaching those goals.

"I like being challenged," she said of her golfing fervor. "Golf is always a challenge, it's always unpredictable, and it's never boring. You might have holes where you hate yourself and you hate the game. Then the next shot you might be loving life again. Either way, you always know it's a great game."

It would appear that the time Gold has spent teaching others has been used effectively. It has not only helped to improve her game, but has paid off early in the season for the team as a whole.

In Whiteland's first two tournaments, the Warriors finished fourth in a field of 10 teams in Shelbyville and third in a nine-team tournament in Bloomington, results that Gold feels are a solid starting point.

"I feel pretty good about (our season)," said Gold. "We've worked hard and we've had fun. I feel like (my teammates) are all my friends, but I can get serious when I need to. I'm always trying to do what I can to improve the team."

When asked about the results of these tournaments, she gave only her team's final standing and did not think to mention her own individual finishes.

Quite fitting for a team captain and teacher always trying to improve the play of others. -