General of the Week: Mary-Frances Hall
Just halfway through her college career, Mary-Frances Hall, ‘18, has already earned a spot in the Washington and Lee trophy case. On April 24-26, the reigning ODAC player of the year won the conference tournament by a stroke to help lead the Generals to a second place team finish. Hall sat down with the Phi to talk about her conference title, the future of the golf team and more.
Photo Courtesy of W&L Sports Info.
May 4, 2016
Phi: What was your mindset going into the ODAC tournament?
MH: I didn’t like go into the tournament with this idea that I was going to win, I guess. I knew I had been hitting the ball well so I knew that I had a chance so after the first day and I was down by one, I was like winning could be a possibility. So going into the next few days I tried not to think about that too much and stay in my own game, kind of like one shot at a time on each hole and it ended up working out.
Phi: How will you build off of this win going into next year?
MH: Definitely this win is a confidence booster. I played well all season but I didn’t have any breakout rounds like I did last year, so definitely these two rounds in the ODAC were a good way to end the season and will give me a lot of confidence for fall season.
Phi: What are your strengths in your game?
MH: I’m very good around the greens, which is very good whenever you miss a green and stuff, to have that confidence when you miss a green to know that you have a really good chance to get up and down. As I’m playing, when I have a bad hole I’m good at staying level and trying not to let those bad holes affect my game.
Phi: How have you grown as a golfer over your first two years?
MH: Going back to my strength of keeping level, that is something that has gotten better since the beginning of my freshman season. Like in high school, I was practicing every day and would get really stressed over my game, but when you’re a college athlete and a college student it is not always, you’re not always able to practice every day so definitely I have gotten to this point where I am really stressed every day and need to go out and play so I am more relaxed I guess.
Phi: What are your career goals?
MH: I want as a team, with the new freshmen, I want us to make nationals my junior and senior year and I want us to win ODAC’s as a team my junior and senior year.
Phi: When you’re at the tee, what goes through your mind?
MH: I try to stay calm and not think about anything. Like I see the fairway, nothing to the left or the right, like only the fairway. And I think, “I’m going to hit a good shot right down the middle of the fairway.”