Staff writer
The Hillsboro High School Trojans’ golf team will be loaded with new faces this spring.
Junior Devin Dick is the only returning letter-winner from 2010. Team members Evan Just, Jared King, Daniel Dick, and 3A state champion Daniel Kunantaev graduated.
“I am looking for Devin to step up and have a break-out season,” coach Scott O’Hare said. “He has played a lot of golf over the years and is very close to becoming a complete golfer.
“He does everything fairly well technically: drives the ball long, hits good iron shots, and has a solid short game, but what he lacks is consistency.”
Dick occasionally had one or two bad holes in the middle of an otherwise solid round of golf, which sometimes knocked him out of medal contention in 2010, O’Hare said.
“If we can improve his consistency, confidence, and eliminate the few ‘blow-up’ holes, I think he has potential to be a solid No. 1 player for us,” he said.
Other returning players include senior Daniel Kenney, juniors Casie Allen and Kyle Borg, and sophomore Andrew Meier. Freshman Evan Ollenburger is a newcomer to the team.
“All we can start with, due to our lack of experience, is for them to focus on the basics, to understand and appreciate the game of golf, to work hard, and to improve each day,” O’Hare said. “From there, additional goals will be dependent on their progress.
“With the exception of Devin, we are a mix of either young or inexperienced,” O’Hare continued. “As a team, we have a lot of work to do to be competitive at the varsity level. We will get out on the driving range and spend a lot of time on the practice green early in the season to develop and improve on the basic mechanics of the golf swing and short game. My hope is that they can soak up as much information as possible early in the season to enable them to understand mistakes and know some things they can do to correct them.”
The Trojans’ first varsity meet is April 5 at Herington.