By CHRISTOPHER TREMBLAY Staff Sports Writer

While the modern day of golf originated in Scotland during the 15th Century, it was only about four years ago that the Hogan twins were introduced to the game. Their grandfather had a membership at Pleasant Valley Country Club in Sutton and played frequently. Ultimately he took the twins, Andrew, and William, to the club with him, where they would play a few holes. Eventually those few holes expanded to playing all 18 holes on the course.

 The Hogan twins of Douglas are pointing the Tigers’ golf team toward a successful fall season. Photo submitted

The Hogan twins, who also play basketball and baseball, find that golf is not only fun, but challenging in a way that one needs a strong mental game to succeed as well. Although they initially got involved with golf in the seventh grade, they really didn’t play competitively at first, instead they were being students of the game and absorbing as much as they could while learning.

In the beginning the Hogan’s were shooting an average in the 50’s, but by the end of their first year on the golf course they saw their average drop to the mid to high 40’s. When they first made the Douglas varsity golf team as eighth graders they found themselves in the middle of the pack but knew that they had the potential to get better. 

“We were young, but not intimidated by the older golfers on the team at all, it was a learning experience,” Andrew said. “By the end of that year we had some decent scores in the low 40’s, but nothing would have been possible it if wasn’t for the help from our captain Sam Bloniasz that year. He not only made the game fun, but he complimented and helped us to grow our game.”

As freshmen the twins took over the top two spots on the team when Douglas lost one of its best golfers to hockey that year. Although the Tigers had themselves a solid team that fall, Covid had other ideas and shut the season down. Not being able to do much during the pandemic, the Hogans found themselves practicing every chance they got. William was working on his driving off the tee, his chipping and working on his irons, while his older brother Andrew, by a mere 30 minutes, found that he was having trouble with his shots. 

As sophomores the twins help lead Douglas into the District Tournament, the first time Tiger golfers had been there since 2014. This year as juniors the twins and their Douglas teammates are once again hoping to return to the District Tournament but are looking to improve upon what they built last fall. 

“I know that I need to play much more consistent if we are to go further this year,” William said. “I seem to struggle after I have a bad hole and it gets in my head. I need to focus more and move on from the last hole and think about the next one.”

Andrew, who was only three shots from qualifying for the State Tournament last year, is hoping to deduct those strokes from his score while improving his short game, an area that can truly impact your score.

While the Hogans are hoping to improve upon their game, Douglas Coach Kevin Riordan has two athletes that will do anything for their team.

“They both are capable of maintaining the game well. More importantly though they both stress team first and will do whatever is best for the team,” the coach said. “They never balk at anything that I ask them to do, that is one reason why they are co-captains this season. Having some younger players that are learning the game makes it tough to play stroke play but having William and Andrew shooting in the high 30’s to low 40’s helps.”

The Douglas coach sees a lot of similarities in the twin’s golf games on the course.

“Having been trained the same way by the same trainer the twins have similar styles,” he said. “And although they are both very competitive, they also root for one another. When I’m out there golfing with them I don’t want to get in their way of learning, because they both can already beat me.”

As competitive siblings you would think that they would both believe that they were the better golfer, but it seems that the two are both in the same camp when it comes to the top golfer.

“I’d have to say Andrew used to be the better golfer by at least two or three shots,” William said. “But now we are pretty even and have about the same handicaps, although our games are uniquely different.”

Andrew agreed with his twin brother, saying that although he is the better putter, William is a better chipper and the two are relatively close when it comes to their driving accuracy.

With their junior seasons just getting underway the Hogans have almost two full years of high school golf before they head off to college where they both would like to continue playing.

“I want to play golf in college, but I’m not really thinking about it so much right now as there is still so much time to figure it all out,” Andrew said. “I know that I have to get involved in some big tournaments and will most likely have to go to school in the South, but right now I don’t really know what’s going to happen.”

William also wants to continue playing golf after high school, but he too hasn’t really put too much thought into it as of yet.

“I need to work hard over the next two years if I want to play golf in college,” William said. “Next summer I’m going to have to take part in a lot more tournaments as that’s where colleges seem to recognize golfers.”

Having almost two full years to invest in their golf games both Hogans should have colleges knocking at their doors to have them play for them. The big question is where will they go and will the two of them play at the same college? 

Only time will tell, but for now they are playing for Douglas High School and looking to get back into the post-season with their teammates.