Heritage girls' golf is back in the swing of things this fall, as the Patriots look to improve on their current 3-3 team record and grow both as individual golfers and as a unit.

"Our goal is for each girl on the team to improve her own stroke, as well as to beat her opponent in the opposition's foursome. If each girl accomplishes that, she's done her job," said head coach Sandy McKillip.

Each of last year's varsity players has returned, including Mia Irwin, Brittany Longden, Kristin Moore, Sidney Wooten, Kelsey Vaillancourt, Sarah Mort and Alyssa Arguello. They're joined this year by freshmen Lauren Conder and Sierra Portue.

"It's such an honor to coach young ladies who want to compete and who are true ladies in every sense," McKillip said. "They're so polite and respectful to their teammates and to their opponents. It's nice to coach girls who already posses those qualities."

McKillip credits much of the team's success to the positive attitudes displayed by her players on a day-to-day basis, and to each of her players' leadership skills.

Irwin, a junior, has made the biggest strides in her game this year, improving in all aspects of the game, most notably in her driving and her short game.

Conder has quickly emerged as the team's top player. Her coaches and teammates credit her success as much to her mental approach to the game as to her physical execution.

"She's an exceptionally good player," McKillip explained. "She takes a very serious, focused attitude out onto the course with her and it helps her game."

Regardless of whether or not these girls go on to play competitive golf in college or the pros, McKillip and the rest of the coaching staff at Heritage see this as an opportunity to teach these young women a game that they can participate in, to one degree or another, for the rest of their lives.

Heritage's next match is scheduled for Oct. 17 at Deer Valley.