High-school golf teams in Virginia are boys and girls squads for now. That has been the case for years and likely will be so for many more to come.
The majority of teams in Northern Virginia mostly consist of boys, with the number of girls on any one squad varying from none to more than a handful. There are a few teams that have enough female golfers to field full competing teams, and play other squads in non-official club matches.
But the majority of schools have no female golfers, or only one or two. That’s why the sport remains for boys and girls.
In the Virginia High School League, if a girls team championship isn’t offered, and it’s not in golf, girls may compete on boys teams that provides a team title.
One team that continues to have a number of female players in the school, with some among the squad’s most talented golfers, is the Langley Saxons. Other local teams in the Sun Gazette’s coverage areas that have had top contributing female golfers over the years have been the Madison Warhawks and in Arlington all three public-school teams.
In recent weeks, Langley won its sixth straight region-tournament championship over the two-day 36-hole event. Four of Langley’s top players in the competition were girls. Each counted in the team scoring, helping the Saxons continue as a top team.
So the Saxons were a true boys and girls golf champion, and that has been the case for a few seasons now.
Longtime Langley golf coach Al Berg likes the current setup of high-school golf.
“There are more and more female high-school players all the time and that’s great,” Berg said. “Probably some year girls and boys golf will be separate. But I think it’s neat, and I like that golf is a co-ed sport in high school. It makes things unique.”
The Virginia High School League does have a separate individual state tournament for girls only, which has been held for years, and is yet to be played this fall.
Otherwise, girls and boys golfers play equally on the same teams.