Staff writer
High school golf tournaments feature a two-man team competition, but Marion High School has taken that concept to a new level with a two-man coaching team for the 2012 golf season.
Lucas King and Thane Schwarz are sharing head coaching responsibilities. Two sets of eyes will be beneficial for a team of 15 skewed heavily toward younger players with developing skills.
“We’re not scratch golfers ourselves, but we enjoy working with the kids on the basic mechanics of good swings,” King said. “We have primarily beginning kids, young kids, and we want them to avoid developing bad habits.”
Wiley Lundy, Hogan Lovelady, Aaron Moelleker, and Jared Hague form the core of experienced players, and returning letter-winners Lundy and Lovelady will likely be the teams entry in two-man competition.
“If you can shoot in the low 80s and upper 70s you can do well at tournaments. If they can shoot their ‘A’ game consistently, they can be in the top 10,” King said. “But I don’t want to rule out the other guys, either.”
The primary focus of King and Schwartz as new coaches has been assessing the skill levels of their players.
“We started out with everybody doing a lot of work on the range,” King said.
The temporary greens at Marion Country Club that will be in play until seven restored permanent greens are opened in April necessitate some changes in practice routines, King said.
“We know it’s not going to be an ideal condition, but we’re being flexible,” King said. “They’re pretty much able to do everything except putting, and the putting green is in good shape. They’ll spend a lot of time on the putting green and the range.”
King said that the developing players need to learn what clubs to use at different yardages, and the temporary greens don’t present a problem when it comes to working on approach shots.
The number of available golfers means King and Schwartz will be able to field varsity and junior varsity teams, which over the long-term will serve to build the team back to the level where they are a threat to send a full six-man team to the state tournament.