Green fields and bright sunny days are just around the corner as the spring season begins. As they adjust to the new hours of the day, the golf team tees up for the season, ready for what lies ahead. 

“I’m excited to be able to be on the course with some of my best friends and being able to get better at a sport you’ll play the rest of your life,” senior Carson Jurey said.

One of the major changes this season is the larger number of athletes joining the team, which senior Tyson Nelson, who has participated in golf since his freshman year of high school, is looking forward to. 

“We definitely have a bigger team this year. I am excited for it; they all seem very lively,” Nelson said. “I’m excited for just the experience.”

The larger team poses challenges for head coach Taylor Teeter, being outnumbered with a total of nineteen athletes on the team, all with a wide range of experience levels.

“It’s hard to say what has led to our increase in numbers as compared to prior years, but it has come with different challenges, given there is also a difference in experience on the team as well,” Teeter said. 

To help with the challenges of the team, Teeter decided to approach practice differently, focusing on fundamentals this year.

“We’re going to get back to the basics, in that we’re focusing on striking the ball with a little more consistency and accuracy to be a more fundamentally sound team,” Teeter said. 

Among the new members, four freshmen decided to join the golf team this year. One freshman, Wyatt Ringer, still wants to be impactful for the team while he benefits from Teeter’s approach to coaching this season. 

“I don’t have much experience, but hopefully I just bring positivity and keep the competition going,” Ringer said. 

Freshmen weren’t the only new members this year; Jurey also decided to give golf a try this year, being the only new senior member of the year. 

“I joined golf because I wanted to be able to develop skills in a lifetime sport,” Jurey said.

New members will benefit from the experiences of the season, following the footsteps of veterans like senior Maddox Wentworth, who prepared long before the season began. 

“I have a simulator, which helps me a lot just to be able to keep hitting balls in the winter,” Wentworth said. “I can feel my swings and try to feel things and see what I can do to be as good as I can for the golf season.” 

Wentworth isn’t the only senior who took the time to prepare.

“As soon as wrestling was over, I went out to the range and tried to get as much practice as I could, just trying to be consistent in my game,” senior Jaxon Wood said.

With the help of more experienced members, Teeter hopes to go far this year and has big goals for this larger team.

“Our major goal is going to be competitive at different events because we have always actually had a very tough schedule,” Teeter said. “We’d like to try and bring home team and individual hardware from the conference and district meets.”

Along with the coach, many players have set individual goals trying to improve their game.

“I want to place at state this year. I’ve been working a lot last summer and this winter, spring,” Wentworth said. “Hopefully I can get a lot better and medal.”

While having high hopes for the season, Nelson focuses on smaller steps.

“Obviously, I hope to make it to state; that’s my long-term goal,” Nelson said. “ But my short-term goal is just to make varsity.”

The outlook of the season seems to be positive, as everyone tees up for the season. 

“I believe we have the pieces and leadership that can help us put together another solid season,” Teeter said.