Busy weekend for golf

Sonja Karp

NLJ Sports Editor

The Dogie Golf team had a full weekend of competition, golfing at a tournament in Wright on Friday, then hosting their inaugural tournament in Newcastle on Saturday. Though the athletes recorded higher scores than they did last week at Pine Haven, according to head coach Scott Beehler, both courses this past weekend were more challenging than was the Pine Haven course.

“None of us had played the course in Wright before and when we looked around, we discovered that there were a lot more water hazards than we had seen before,” Beehler began. “And then, even though we golfed on our own course on Saturday, it’s one of the toughest we have played so far, and coaches who were there confirmed that it was their toughest course so far as well.”

Water hazards did indeed impact the scores of many Dogies in Wright. Although the men finished third as a team overall, as they have so far this season, scores were higher by an average of eight strokes across the board.

“Some of our kids got in the water a lot,” said Beehler, with a chuckle. “The water always seemed to be on right of the fairway, and several of our players err to the right as they tend to slice, rather than hook.”

Every time you hit the water, it results in a 2-stroke penalty, which definitely has a detrimental impact on the score at the end.

“The course was more challenging than I thought it was going to be,” Thatcher Troftgruben admitted. “I thought it was a good course even though the greens were pretty fast and there were a lot more water hazards than we are used to.”

Troftgruben led the team once again, but this week Jayden Corley moved up to the second golfer for the Dogies, with his 102 finish. 

“Jayden’s been golfing really well,” Beehler said. “He’s
been consistently golfing anywhere from 95 to a little over 100 between practice and
tournaments.”

Saturday’s inaugural high school golf tournament at the Newcastle Country Club was a success in Beehler’s opinion. 

“We kept it small, inviting only six teams, because we didn’t want a huge event, and I think it went really smoothly,” he said. “The kids were even or a little better with what they shoot in practice, so I was pleased.”

Troftgruben admitted that he, at least, maybe got in his head a little bit when it came to competing on his home course. 

“I knew the greens more than other places, but I also thought a lot more about everything when I was competing, as opposed to when I’m just playing or practicing,” he said. “I didn’t golf my best, and neither did our team. But it’s just another tournament, another day, so we just need to learn from it.”

This week, the top three golfers — Troftgruben, Corley and Coen Tavegie — will golf a qualifier in practice to determine which two will have the opportunity to compete at the conference tournament on Thursday and Friday in Buffalo. 

“All three of those guys have been really close and the most consistent golfers throughout the season, so they have all earned their chance to go,” Beehler explained. “We are going to look at their tournament scores and the score they get in the qualifier to decide which two get to go.” 

The top two men’s golfers and the two women golfers, Ivy Bau and DeLaney Fullerton, will head to Buffalo for their conference meet this week. They will be golfing on an 18-hole course there, so it will be a different experience for the team, and they will shoot 18 holes two days in a row. Action begins at noon on Thursday and then they will tee off at 9 a.m. on Friday.