Teacher, student work well together
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Sports reporter
At Goddard next year, Elliott will try to qualify for the state tournament for the third year in a row, this time at the 5A level.
He attributes a lot of his success to Richmond.
"Jim has been very good to me," Elliott said. "He's a really good guy; easy to talk to."
Gayla said she knows Elliott has talent, but Richmond has helped him rise to another level.
"The neat thing about Jim, is when Elliott goes to him he feels really good," she said. "He feels really confident, and trusts what he says."
But it's not just his demeanor that makes the club pro so effective — he has some talent of his own.
As a golfer at Marion High School in the '70s, Richmond was part of a four-man state championship group, and played golf at Butler County Community College and Wichita State University.
He now works as the club pro at Tallgrass Country Club in Wichita.
"He was good in his younger days," Elliott said with a laugh.
Richmond lived in Marion a few years after college, but he worked at golf courses in Garden City and Oklahoma before settling in Wichita.
He wasn't sure he would always work around the game, but so far that's been the case.
"It just kind of happened, and I stuck with it," he said.
The Soyezs are glad he did.
