Coming off back-to-back State qualifying seasons for the boy’s golf team, first-year head coach Tyler Dunham knew that there were high expectations for the team to try to be just as successful this year. And by looking at the top of the roster, he knew he had a chance. “We returned two very good Senior Varsity team members,” Dunham said, “And I knew that would be a great base to work with.” Mason Haley finished 6th at the state tournament last year, and Dawson Branstetter has had a lot of success. However, I also knew that after them, we would be young. We ended up starting two freshmen and a sophomore, so that obviously is a little bit of a challenge. Dawson and Mason have really stepped up to mentor these younger kids and let them know what our expectations are, and the young guys have been getting better and better. While Haley misses a few tournaments for Jr. Golf Tournaments, the rest of the team has still had some success. Branstetter won the Big 7 Conference tournament this year, and Freshman Austin Kalow finished 3rd.
The girls’ team has not had as many recent accomplishments, but Coach Dunham is excited about the future. “We are only graduating two seniors from the girl’s team too,” said Coach Dunham,” and while we will miss the leadership of Brylie Cox and Stella Stanley, I have been happy with the progress and the improvement the whole team has shown. What’s really exciting is our junior varsity girls. They have played in several varsity tournaments with smaller schools and done really well. We won two of them and placed 4th in another. I can’t wait to see what these girls will do in the future.”
Coach Dunham is quick to point out that while high school golf is a “team” sport, it really takes a lot of dedication and personal motivation to get better. “Golf is not a sport that you can be very good at practicing an hour a day, five days a week for the Golf season. You have to go practice on your own and do your part when coaches aren’t around. Our job is to teach them golf etiquette, work ethics, and life lessons. And for the better players, we have got them hooked up with the golf pros around town to help them with the technical aspects of the game. If we continue to push them in the right direction, and they work hard, we will just get better and better.” With Regionals starting at the time of publication and state up next, we wish the golf team the best of luck!
