When Hannah Conroy was only two-years-old, her father bought her a set of Fisher-Price® plastic golf clubs and showed her what to do with them. Driving the ball over the backyard fence was her first target.
Since then, Hannah has gone way beyond her backyard and with much bigger goals in mind.
Her Foxes’ coach John Broderick remembers seeing her driving balls at the high school team’s practice site, the Pittsburgh Field Club, when she was only in elementary school. Even then, he was impressed with her determination, skills, and potential.
Since that time, Hannah has gone on to tackle quite a few other courses, not only in Pennsylvania and Ohio, but also when she travels monthly to tournaments in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.
“Especially in the two-day tournaments, I’ve done pretty well and usually place as one of the top-five finishers,” says the senior who is a member of an elite group of players who qualified for the WPIAL individual championships all four years of high school.
Hannah believes the strongest part of her game is her drive and short game. They’ve taken years of practicing over and over again to perfect them, but if there is one characteristic that all great golfers must possess, it’s patience.
That wasn’t always the case, recalls Coach John Broderick.
“In her first two years, I could tell from afar if she was playing well just from her body language,” he says. “But she matured as a player and a young lady and now I’d describe her as a grinder and ‘three-tool-player.’ She plays hard and gives her best effort on every single shot. She can drive, hit irons… She’s just an all-around good golfer. I think one of the most admirable things about Hannah is that she has a lot of natural talent, but she’s also worked hard to use that talent. As a coach of different sports at one time or another, I’ve seen kids who have the raw talent, but don’t put in the time and effort to reach their full potential.”
“It’s been a great four years and I’ve built very good relationships with all of the girls on the team,” Hannah says. “Cara Levicoff and I have become very good friends and I’m still friends with some of the girls who graduated. I’m really close to my coach, too. He’s taught me so much about how to prevail and be strong when things are bad, and just great life lessons. It will be very hard to leave.”
While she will leave behind many good memories, Hannah says, “I don’t see my golf career ending in high school. It’s always been a dream of mine to play at a high level in college. I know that I’ll find someplace that will work for me on all levels.”