Thunder Golf 2024: Season Preview

Thunder Golf is looking to continue their winning ways as the team gets ready to open the 2024 season.

The group is hoping to dominate the ACAC tour once again after a fantastic 2023 season that saw them win their first ACAC championships in program history for the Women’s Golf and Mixed Golf teams. Most of the core from last season is returning, with only two players from the men’s team and no one from the women’s team moving on. 

“You could feel the excitement we had at tryouts and it’s definitely going to continue throughout the year. We all work hard and have high expectations for this season. Our team is solid and we can’t wait to see what happens” returning women’s golf team member Ava Stach added.

The women’s team is led this year by two-time ACAC female golfer of the year Ella Gifford, while the men’s team is anchored by 2023 ACAC men’s golf rookie of the year Hayden Prins. Though golf is an individual game, it's the entire golf team as a whole who have helped make the last 2 years some of the most successful in program history. Since 2022, the program has won two ACAC team championships, two golfer of the year awards, a rookie of the year award, a coach of the year award, and produced four ACAC all-conference players. 

“I'm looking forward to this year as our team looks quite strong,” head coach Larry Petryk noted. “All the girls are returning and have improved their skills from last year. We've added a couple of strong players to the boys team & we hope to improve on last year's silver medal performance at provincials!”

Keep your eyes out for more championships from this group as they look to extend their dominance in the ACAC. Their first tournament of the year is hosted by NAIT taking place September 7th-9th at Coal Creek Golf Resort.