DAILY PILOT HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETE OF THE WEEK:Rough courses molded Estancia’s Gleason

Bridget Gleason built her golf game on the hardened public courses of inner city Los Angeles.

It wasn’t meticulously manicured greens and expansive fairways of country club courses that molded Gleason. It was small parks, surrounded with high fences. It was greens that were more rough than green. No giant par fives to pound away at or chalk up birdies on.

At seven years old Gleason was working her way up and down par threes, learning the importance of irons and putters. With the difficult terrain, Gleason was able to forge a strong mental approach to the game of golf.

Where she began is a big reason why the Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week is where she is at now, Estancia’s top golfer and finishing second at the Orange Coast League tournament to advance to the CIF Southern Section individuals.

It was after she became part of the Urban Youth Golf Program that Gleason began her ascent as a golfer.

“I learned how to be really patient,” Gleason said. “It also taught me how to play fast and to play courteous. You have to learn the rules. Stuff you can use in life.”

Gleason fondly remembers the experience.

“It was a tiny little golf program,” Gleason said. “I remember my mom and me driving all over Los Angeles. I can still remember my way around these neighborhoods if I had to.”

The courses were different than the ones she would compete on in high school.

“They were these tiny par-three courses in the middle of these neighborhoods,” Gleason said. “They weren’t extremely dangerous, but they all had tall gates. They weren’t the best parks. They were terrible courses. Mesa Verde is beyond heaven.”

Gleason has not stopped appreciating the course at Mesa Verde Country Club. She often stays until not only the team has left, but everybody.

“I’m just practicing and practicing and I find myself the only one there,” Gleason said.

And it’s not just after practice or matches that Gleason maximizes her time on the local courses. Throughout the summer, Gleason was arising at daybreak, putting in calls to friends, like former Eagles’ golfer Marcus Sostak, and teammates, like Lina You, for early morning golfing.

“It was all older, retired people there,” Gleason said. “To them it was an amazing thing that we were girls and we were up that early to golf. I could just call Lina and say ‘You wanna play golf?’ and she’d say ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’ ”

Sostak, who won three consecutive Golden West League individual titles for the Eagles before he graduated in the spring, was a major source of golf inspiration for Gleason over the summer.

“He’s got a really good mental game,” Gleason said.

The two regularly wagered on holes, one time saying the loser would have to bake the winner a cake. It helps motivate her long after Sostak has gone

“I think ‘I have to make this put or I’ll have to make a cake,’ ” Gleason said. “He used to make me sink 30 three-foot putts in a row. Seriously, I couldn’t leave before I made them.”

Sostak is now playing golf at Oregon, which is one of the schools Gleason is considering along with Portland State and Division III St. Mary’s in South Bend, Ind.

To be a golfer at the college level, Gleason plans to elevate her driving production so that is similar to her short game.

Playing soccer has been a help with her power, strengthening her legs. As a defender, Gleason helped lead the Eagles to their first playoff berth in 11 years, garnering All-Golden West League first-team honors in the process last year.

“It keeps me in the best shape,” Gleason said. “A lot of it is in the core. Soccer has helped me in golf so much.”

But Gleason is a golfer at heart. Daylight savings means an extra hour of sleep one day for some or the arrival of fall. For Gleason, it meant the sun was up an hour earlier. It was time to hit the back nine with dad before school.