The Warrenton and Wright City boys golf teams are focused on improving throughout the season.

The Warrenton boys golf team kicked off their season earlier this week.

Coach Aaron Jinkerson said Warrior senior Gabe Frederick returns to the team this year. Jinkerson believes Frederick has put in a lot of time and effort to improve his game. Jinkerson said Frederick will probably hold the number one spot on the team for the Warriors. Fellow senior Bryce Goulette will play the number two or three spot for the Warriors this season. Maison Rader and Owen Thompson are returning varsity golfers to the team.

“I would just like for us to be competitive and learn the game,” Jinkerson said. “I know if you talk to my senior, Gabe Frederick, he has some lofty goals for himself. I’m looking forward to this year, but it’s still going to be a lot of still learning the game. And then that will benefit us hopefully next year and the season after. But like I said, my seniors Gabe Frederick and Bryce Goulette. They’re very competitive with one another, and that will push them through the season. Having a friendly competition from time to time is good on the team for sure.”

Jinkerson said the coaching staff’s first focus is on the mental side of golf. This allows the golfers to build on their skills later on, he added.

“They all want to be better, but it’s just putting them thinking in the spots where they can improve their score,” Jinkerson said. “We’ve been really focusing on this year so far this season limiting your shots around the green because that can really add up real quick if you’re chipping on in two and then three or four putting. So just trying to get their confidence around the green’s important too.”

After spending previous seasons at Warrenton Golf Course, the Warriors moved to Country Lakes Golf Course this season.

“The added range has allowed us to work more on the range which I think will allow us to improve quickly over the season,” Jinkerson said. “We try to balance it out. But having the range available every day is fantastic.”

With six new players and the team comprised of all freshmen and sophomores, Wright City Golf Coach William Shaffer said the focus of the first few weeks of practice for the Wildcats has been helping the golfers get comfortable with their swing. They have also had rules meetings to get the golfers familiar with the rules of the sport.

“It’s such a young group,” Shaffer said. “Figuring out who has a decent swing. Who needs to have it completely reworked. And then getting them comfortable with actually playing golf by the rules of golf. That’s why we’ve had several rules meetings. Just to make sure that they actually understand the real rules.”

Shaffer’s goal for the team this season is for the golfers’ scores to be noticeably better at the end of season than they were at the beginning of the season. Shaffer is also focused on giving the golfers an approach when golfing.

“If we can get somebody to make conference or to qualify for the next level, that’d be great,” Shaffer said. “But realistically, it’s not likely. But hey, all you can do is go out and play. We have some that have the ability to do it within the next two to three years for sure.”

Shaffer said the early portion of the season is the time to make technical changes to the golfers’ swings. Once the season gets going, there will not be many technical changes to their swings, he said.

“You’re not going to see a lot of change once you get the season going,” Shaffer said last week. “You’ll see incremental changes in scores because they’ll start figuring things out...Most of the real work’s being done last week, this week, next week and the week after.”

Wright City will begin the season with a home match against Montgom-
ery County March 29.