Abbey Doski Is Just ‘One Of The Guys’ On Boys’ Golf Team

By Andy Hutchison

The boy’s golf team at Newtown High School, in reality, is a co-ed team. That’s because one of the Nighthawks is Abbey Doski, a junior who tees off with the boys in match play each spring. There is no girls’ squad at NHS, so Doski practices with and competes with the boys until the postseason — then she competes along with (and beats) the girls in the postseason.

“I love it — I really do. It’s great competition and it’s so much fun to come out here with them every day,” said Doski, the two-time South-West Conference girls’ golf champion, who will go for another title at the May 24 tourney.

Doski, who also plays volleyball and basketball at the high school — and was a part of SWC champion teams in both of those sports earlier this school year — has been on all three teams in each of her three years of high school. The 16-year-old sports enthusiast first swung a golf club five years ago while on vacation with her family. She’s been hooked ever since. Doski says she started playing on the courses with her dad on the weekends a handful of years ago and really took to golfing.

She can’t get enough of the wedges, putters, greens, and sand traps — well, okay maybe not the sand traps, or the water hazards. Doski also works at the team’s home course, Rock Ridge Country Club. As a matter of fact, she started driving golf carts before she got her driver’s license. On the job, she cleans clubs, picks up balls at the driving range, works in the pro shop — anything and everything golf-related makes Doski happy. Between her course work hours, practice time, and matches, Doski spends about 40 hours each week at Rock Ridge. “It’s amazing because I’m surrounded by golf, which is what I love,” Doski said. “It’s addicting to me.”

Doski’s coach, Bill Flood, also the head golf professional and general manager at Rock Ridge, is impressed with how seamlessly Doski has filled a spot on the boys’ team.

“I think it’s the hardest thing to do for the young lady — to come into a sport where they’re all boys, it’s a boys team, play from the boys tees, and she tees it up from there. Pretty tough,” Flood said.

The girls’ tees are 2,600 yards from the centers of the greens and the boys’ tees are 3,000 yards away. The 400 yard difference isn’t a problem for Doski when it comes to competing with the boys. “Abbey drives the ball consistently between 240 and 250 yards which is as far as any — farther than most — of the guys on my team,” Flood said.

“There are definitely advantages and disadvantages to it,” Doski said. Although the boys’ tees force her to hit the ball farther, the change of distance takes a bit of an adjustment come tourney time. “You go to the girls’ tees and it’s a whole different game,” she added.

Fitting in hasn’t been a problem at all. “They have taken her in. She’s one of the guys and she’s become a leader on the team, and all of the guys have accepted her as ‘one of us,’” Flood said. “They’re a special bunch of kids — they really are.”

Doski has regularly been one of the team’s top golfers. The scores of the four players with the lowest total contribute to the overall team scores, and Doski has been among that group from match to match.

“There’s definitely that intimidation factor,” said Doski, adding that what makes competing with the boys manageable is the fact golf isn’t a full contact sport. It’s not literally her battling with the boys as it might in a game such as football. “I just play myself,” said the junior, noting that she is always trying to improve on her score from one round to the next.

Doski missed some time away from the team during a two-week school trip to China as part of Newtown High’s visit to its sister school as part of the Newtown Liaocheng Ambassador Program. Flood anticipated that she would need to play her way back into the lineup but, upon her return to Newtown, during the five days before the next match, Doski worked hard to reclaim her spot. She was back in the lineup as one of the top four scorers for the Hawks in the Monday, May 2 match, and helped the Hawks to a two-stroke win over New Milford.

“She probably hit between 800 and 1,200 balls a day, probably chipped between 3 and 4 hundred balls a day. … She was here seven to eight hours a day. She got here after school and left in the pitch black so, by Monday afternoon, she was back where she needed to be,” Flood said.

Throughout her high school career, Doski has shot an average at around a 39 or 40, she said, and wants to bring her score down to around 37 or 38. Doski has seen her scores rise this year, and believes that is because of the pressure of trying to perform at a high level as she takes aim at a collegiate golf scholarship. Doski’s favorite aspect of golfing along with the toughest part — the mental game — are one in the same, she said. “It’s the hardest part for me because I’ve seen what a good mental game can do and what a bad mental game can do.

 “So much of it depends on how you think of it. If you believe you can do it — you can do it,” said Doski, adding that the wrong attitude can lead to missed shots. “That just fascinates me so much is how our minds can control how much our body does.”

Doski is appreciative of the support of her parents, Sandy and Gary, and of the direction Flood and assistant coach/assistant golf pro Justin Sigette have provided. Of course, Flood is pleased with Doski’s dedication and efforts as well.

“Abbey has done everything a coach could ask — not only leading by example, but putting the scores up she should be proud of,” said Flood, whose team carried a 6-6 record into the final week of the regular season.

A managing editor for the school paper, Doski said she — along with classmate Anna Hodge — will be co-editors-in-chief in her senior year. She’s also a member of the National Honors Society and Guidance Honors Association. Flood is talking with collegiate coaches and putting together video of Doski on the course in an effort to help her try to obtain a scholarship. A high honors student at NHS, she hopes to study business in college. Doski is working hard in the classroom as well as on the golf course to try to put herself into as good a collegiate setting as she can.

“Her iron play is solid. … Her ball striking is as good as any player in the conference. She needs to chip and putt better as I will tell any player on my team,” Flood said.

Doski points out that everyone likes driving the ball at the range. It takes discipline to put in that extra time chipping and putting, and she working on it. That desire to get better, and ‘fore’ her overall love of the game are why she spends hours and hours hitting balls after school and on the weekends.

“I leave when I can’t see where my ball goes anymore,” Doski said.