Woodberry Forest Golf: 5/9/21

Wednesday, May 12, 2021

2021 Season: VPL Tournament

The Tigers played well today at the 45th VPL Golf Championship at the 6600-yard, par 72-layout at the Old Trail GC in Crozet. Woodberry Forest was seeking its 32nd Prep League title.

Woodberry's team score of 292 (+4) was tied by Collegiate. The first tiebreaker uses the fifth score, so Collegiate edged Woodberry 77-78. It is the Cougars' fourth Prep League title, their first since 2007. It's only the second time in Prep League history that a team other than Woodberry has scored this low--St. Christopher's (285) in 2018.

Congratulations to Captain Benny Haggin, who fired a (-3) 69 to earn his second VPL Player of the Year award, the 23rd time a Woodberry Forest golfer has done so. Benny's round included six birdies.

Turner Edwards overcame a rough start to shoot a (+2) 74, equaled by teammate Will Brown, whose heroic birdie on the 18th hole secured the tie. Both Turner and Will earned all-Prep honors by finishing in the top 10.

Coops Cooper rounded out the scoring with a (+3) 75. Bennett Perry (+6) 78 and John Tandberg (+7) 79 also competed.

The Tigers have been invited to the VISAA golf championship in Williamsburg on Monday, May 17, where they are the defending champions.

Thanks to the parents who came out today to support the team.

Golf Facilities

Our golf facilities are unmatched. The only high school in Virginia with its own course, Woodberry plays its home matches on a nine-hole golf course designed in 1926 by Donald Ross. We also have the Graves Golf Practice Area, built in 1991, which has a driving range, two practice greens and sand bunkers. With our Doppler-based TrackMan launch monitors, we can track each player’s clubhead speed, ball speed, launch angle, and carry distance. We can then use this data to test different equipment. Our indoor putting green allows us to practice putting and short-game skills in any weather.

Coach’s Corner: Varsity Golf Coach Marc Hogan

Of the campus’s many resources, the school’s golf facilities truly set it apart. With a nine-hole Donald Ross-designed golf course and a range of other amenities for the teaching of golf, Woodberry is poised to nurture the young golfer. And no one is more suited to bring together the promising golfers who choose Woodberry Forest with traditional techniques honed at the Graves Practice Area and modern-day technological tools installed in the Squash Pavilion than Marc Hogan.

Having worked with the golf program for over twenty years, Marc holds a Level III golf teaching certification from the United States Golf Teachers' Federation and a Level I golf fitness instructor certification from the Titleist Performance Institute. He was the first coach certified in the DECADE course management system, which teaches players course strategy. His contributions to the game have been honored by the Virginia Prep League, which has named him Coach of the Year nine times, and by VISAA, which has awarded him the title six times.

As he does in his English classroom, Marc embraces technology in the teaching of golf. With particular support from Mitch Hull ’77 and past parents Hallie and Ed Pettegrew, as well as an anonymous gift, the school has video-recording devices, computers, and three launch monitors that analyze a player’s stroke and help him match it to swings used by the world’s most successful golfers.

Marc is a Greensboro, North Carolina, native and earned his BA and MA from the University of Virginia. He has taught English at Woodberry Forest since 1987. A scratch golfer, Marc has qualified for the Virginia Senior Amateur Championship six times and made match play four times in 2017, 2019 (round of 16), 2020, and 2021. He has also qualified for the VSGA Amateur Championship in 2021 and 2022. He lives in the Rapp House with his wife Linda, who works in Culpeper. They have three daughters, Miranda, who lives and works in Staunton; Anna Grey ’14, who lives and works in Charlottesville; and Cordelia '17, who lives and works in Charlotte.