The Wright City golf team returns four starters off last year’s roster and appears to be one of the favorites in the Eastern Missouri Conference this season. The Wildcats begin the season March 29 …
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The Wright City golf team returns four starters off last year’s roster and appears to be one of the favorites in the Eastern Missouri Conference this season.
The Wildcats begin the season March 29 at conference rival North Callaway.
“We had a young team last year,” Wright City Head Coach Bill Schaffer said. “But we’re almost all juniors now, so we should be OK. They have developed really well.”
Juniors Griffin Tinker, Bear Lauber, Zach Stewart and Andrew Bohler started last year, and Schaffer has seen improvements in each of their games early this spring.
Schaffer said he isn’t sure who will fill out the fifth varsity spot, but the competition is encouraging.
“They’re all just solid players across the board,” he said. “Nobody really jumps out at you, but they’re all very solid. I think we’re going to be better as a team this year than as individuals.”
The returning experience has the Wildcats prepared for a run at the conference title, and Schaffer hopes another year on the varsity level brings consistency on the course this season.
He said he didn’t see the consistency last season that is needed to compete for a conference or district title.
“They’ve been doing the same thing for the last three years, so they know what they’re doing now,” he said of his four returning starters. “It looks like it will be a really strong group.”
The Wildcats host Community March 31 in the first home match of the season, but Schaffer said there are more important dates on the calendar.
“You want to see how you’ll do in the Warrenton and Elsberry Invitationals, so you have a little bit of a read for the conference and district matches, but the daily matches don’t matter for anything other than experience,” he said. “So our goal there is to just have a better round than the day before. I’m fine with a kid going out and working on his game during one of those matches.”
The Warrenton and Elsberry tournaments are April 14 and 20, respectively.
The Wildcats finish the season at Troy May 11 before heading into the district tournament.
“They’ve all looked a lot better in practice so far,” Schaffer said. “The biggest issue this year will just be showing consistency, because we didn’t show that last season.”
IN THE HOLE — Wright City's Griffin Tinker sinks a putt during last season's district tournament. Tinker is one of four juniors returning to the starting lineup this year. Derrick Forsythe photo.
