Saturday, August 02, 2008
The Dawson Springs boys’ golf team may be thin this year, but a trio of upperclassmen and a knowledgeable coach plan to make 2008 a season of continued improvement.
Dawson Springs graduated three golfers from last year’s squad while other members have chosen not to return to golf, but it has not dampened the spirits of the boys who came out to the course.
“We have pretty good team chemistry going on right now,” junior Aaron Labrado said. “We’re trying to get the young ones to like the game.”
Labrado and his older brother Carson, a senior, will help their father, coach Jose Labrado, to guide the team’s younger golfers, one freshman and five eighth graders.
Senior Dylan Frost rounds out the roster and will also play an integral role as the probable No. 1 golfer, Jose said.
The upcoming year will be a rebuilding one for the Panther golfers, following a “breakout season” in which Dawson Springs missed qualifying for state as a team by two strokes.
Last season Brett Roberts, now with Eastern Kentucky University, paced the team, but this year Frost and the Labrado brothers will have to be the example to a young crop of golfers.
When asked about the team’s greatest strength, Jose said it’s undeniably the relationship between the three elder golfers.
“The unity, they’re just close,” he said. “They’re close-knit. All three of them because they have been hanging out so long. They pick each other up, and I think that’s one of the pluses that they have.”
As the three oldest golfers on the team, the group knows its responsibility to aid the new additions to the squad.
“We just try to help them out a bit, help them with their swing,” Frost said. “(Thursday) we played up on top and they paired us up with them. We kind of helped them out with their grip, their stance.”
As a seasoned golfer, Aaron said he advises them with the mental aspect of the game as well.
“I just try whenever they’re set up wrong or not really thinking, I just try to help them to cool down and think about what they’re doing,” he said.
With intense heat bearing down on Western Kentucky for the majority of the summer, the Dawson Springs golfers have not had much time to get on the course.
Instead, the team has been spending most of its time at the practice green by sharpening its putting and chipping skills, but that’s not entirely negative, Jose said.
In fact, coach Labrado did not allow the team to use woods until the second week of practice.
“As far as I’m concerned (chipping and putting are) the fundamentals of the game,” he said.
“That was what was instilled in me when I started playing and that’s what I’ve passed on to the kids.”
While Jose may have asked his golfers not to take out their woods until the second week of practice, Carson did not even have a chance to play until he returned from the Governor’s Scholar Program. When Carson did return, Jose said he was impressed with his shots off the tee, even out-driving his father on a few holes.
Although the team understands winning matches will be a difficult task this season, the golfers are still setting individual goals.
Frost said a good nine holes for him is in the low 40s, but he would like to improve upon that mark by season’s end.
“I would just like to hit a few rounds in the 30s, keep my score a little lower,” he said.
Despite low numbers and varying ages, one thing every member will be focused on this season will be improvement.
“It’s a rebuilding year to say the least,” he said. “We’re just trying to start them up with the fundamentals. Get them started fundamentally and hopefully they’ll develop as the year goes by.”
Dawson Springs begins the 2008 high school schedule at Pennyrile Forrest State Park Golf Course on Monday afternoon when it plays host to the Cougars of McLean County High School.
No comments:
Post a Comment