As the golf season comes to a finish, the team is feeling good about one of their most successful season in years. They dominated teams all season and finished with a 10-0 record and a top spot in the Nassau County I conference for one of the best Lynbrook golf seasons of all time.

The team started the season against a strong Long Beach team. They won the match 8-1, and this big win would set the tone for the rest of the season. Coach Josh Berlin said this about the match: “Having struggled against Long Beach the last couple of seasons, getting out of the gate with a win was important. We knew we were one of the the deepest teams in terms of scoring golfers per team in the conference.” Long Beach would finish second in the conference with only three losses, but Lynbrook would deliver two of those losses with the second match, ending with a score of 7-2. The second win would be the closest of the season. But, nevertheless, no team was able to come close to the Lynbrook golf team.

The team was led by junior John Donnarumma and seniors A.J. and Jonathan Mottola. This is Donnarumma’s third season on the team, and he has been one of the best golfers on the team each year. His continuous improvement from his first year has been recognized, and this year is his first full year as the top-ranked golfer on the team. He said, “There is some pressure playing as the [number] one [golfer] because everyone assumes you are going to play really well all the time, and some of the golfers you have to compete with are phenomenal.” He has been consistently scoring in the high thirties, which is outstanding for any high school golfer, let alone a junior. Donnarumma hopes to make the second day of individual counties this year after just barely missing the cut last year. 

The second and third spot on the team are held by seniors Jonathan and A.J. Mottola.The Mottola twins have been the most consistent golfers on the team these last four years. Their dedication to the sport has spread to rest of the team. A.J Mottola said, “As a captain I tried to make sure that we took it one match at a time and had the right mindset while playing.” Coach Berlin said about their leadership, “They were always trying to create the right shots and showed the others the importance of taking an extra shot in practice to build the confidence to hit a variety of shots.”

Rounding out the top five on the team is freshman Peter Donnarumma and junior Mike Plumer. They have been fantastic on the back end of the top five. Their consistent scores in the forties and fifties are very important to the team’s success. When some schools show weakness after their top one or two golfers, Lynbrook is able to continue to perform considerably well throughout the entire match. In fact, John Donnarumma credits some of his success to the reliability of his teammates. He said, “What made it a lot easier for me was that I knew I had five other golfers right behind me who were going pick me up if I played badly.”

The top competition in Nassau County will be Manhasset and Port Washington. Manhasset suffered one loss this season in conference two with a 1.5-7.5 loss to Syosset. Port Washington was the only other team to go undefeated this season in conference three, but coach Berlin says his “players need to play their game and find the fairways off the tee box. The golf course is set up to be very difficult playing out of the rough. The players need to take advantage of scoring on the par 5s and not give away strokes by taking unnecessary chances on day one .”

No matter what happens in the playoffs, the team has been one of the most successful golf teams in Lynbrook history, and its success will not go uncredited. Regardless, the team is  looking especially good going into the county championships.