Citrus College golf coach Julian Horton has coached many women golfers, but none in comparison to Isabelle Olivas-Lowell.
“This is the most hardest-working women’s player I think I’ve ever had,” Horton said. “She made me look good. She put the work in.”
Olivas-Lowell is a freshman, taking 20 units at Citrus College while also dominating golf courses.
This season she averaged an individual score of 73.5 and won the 2023 3C2A State Individual Championship on Nov. 14.
She is the youngest of four, with her father being involved with sports.
Without a doubt, she has always been around sports and her father taught her multiple.
“My dad taught me golf, volleyball, even baseball, everything with me,” Olivas-Lowell said. “So it was fun. I had a good time.”
Alongside her dad, her grandfather also taught her the ropes to being great at golf.
“My grandpa taught most of my dad’s side of the family. So they always golfed,” she said.
“They grew up golfing and once I was 2, my dad got me a little tiny set of clubs and I would just go and play. (I would) just go with him, go to the range all the time and then I always did it every week, no matter what, and I always wanted to go. They never forced me, so that was the biggest thing.”
Her motivation to give great performances dates back to when she was a child. The “good job” she would receive from her family and the results of her performances gave her an incentive to always try her best, Olivas-Lowell said.
Along with what she already has, she has newfound motivation with her teammates. She had been homeschooled from sixth to 12th grade, so besides her time in volleyball, she has not been on a team until now, in her freshman year at Citrus College.
She leads by example and pumps the team up, Horton said.
“(The team) excelled because they were so clicked.”
In addition, Olivas-Lowell has great chemistry with her teammates.
“My team’s great. I love them,” she said. “We have a good time practicing. We don’t form cliques or anything. It’s all six of us, and all six of us all the time.”
However, with leadership comes the responsibility to maintain composure.
“If I get mad, I hold it in,” Olivas-Lowell said. “I don’t throw clubs. I don’t get angry and I don’t yell viciously, it’s golf, you know. As much as I love it, it’s not going to kill me. I still live another day. I have school. I have my parents. I have everyone around me.”
Olivas-Lowell has a lot to live up to, as she plans to take her golfing career far.
“I’m going to try and transfer out to as high of a school as I possibly can, try to obviously be on their golf team and from there try to go amateur, professional,” she said.
“I want to go as far as I can. Home, golf, sleep, study, it’s all I do.”
