Gloucester Alumni

Keep the ball in play, and hit fairways and greens.

It seems pretty simple. But those are the attributes that are essential for any successful golfer, and also the attributes that make golf so frustrating for the average person.

Well, you can file Gloucester’s No. 1 golfer Josh Salah in the successful category. In fact, the very successful category, as those aforementioned attributes are his biggest strengths on the golf course.

Golf is widely regarded as one of the toughest sports to master and entering the 2007 season, Salah appears to be well on his way to mastering the sport. He has the resume to prove it.

“Josh is as good as advertised,” Gloucester golf coach Bob MacEachern said. “He is a very talented golfer.”

Salah comes into the season with a number of impressive showings already under his belt in 2007. The sixteen-year-old became the youngest golfer to win the Club Championship at Bass Rocks Golf Course in July, finished in second place in the 2007 Massachusetts Junior Golf Championships last month, one shot behind champion Antonio Grillo, and he also won the CYO Match Play Tournament.

To go along with all of that, Salah finished one spot away from being an alternate in the U.S. Junior Championship earlier this summer.

“I took a lot of positives from those experiences,” Salah said. “It gave me a lot of confidence, I come into every match knowing that I can beat anybody.”

In addition to a successful summer, Salah is also coming off of a stellar 2006 season where he finished fifth in the Division 2 state tournament, and was named to the Boston Globe All-Scholastic team. Salah is looking to do even better this season.

“As a team, our goal is to win the Northeastern Conference,” Salah said. “Individually I want to go 12-0 in the conference and win the State Championship Individual Tournament.”

Salah is not just a one-sport athlete. He has been playing varsity hockey since he was a freshman, and played a key role on the 2006 state championship team, as a member of Fishermen’s second line.

While Salah says that hitting the ball straight and hitting fairways and greens is his biggest strength on the links, MacEachern says that the junior’s biggest strength is his focus.

“He has great concentration,” MacEachern said. “He is the man with the plan, very focused on the task at hand.”

Salah says his focus comes from the ability to think in the present, not the future.

“I play one shot, one hole and one match at a time,” Salah said. “I try not to think ahead. When you think ahead in golf, you begin to lose focus and not play as well.”

MacEachern also credits Salah with being a team player, and a leader.

“Josh is great with the team,” MacEachern said. “He is always willing to help the younger players, he is a great kid.”

All in all, Salah embraces his role as a leader and wants to see his team improve upon their 6-5 record in 2006.

“I always try to give the younger players advice and keep them in high spirits,” Salah said. “This season we want to improve as a team and see what happens.”

A YEAR TO REMEMBER

Gloucester junior Josh Salah has already enjoyed a fantastic 2007 on the golf course, and he still has time to add to it, with the Fishermen this fall. Here are some of his accomplishments thus far.

r Became the youngest golfer to win the Club Championship at Bass Rocks Golf Course in July.

r Finished in second place in the Massachusetts Junior Golf Championships last month.

r Won the CYO Match Play Tournament