By TYLER DRUMMOND
of The Gazette
The Amherst golf team has one win in its first four meets of the season, and head coach Tim Harvey says there is one area the team must improve in if they hope to see better results.
"Our driving needs to improve if we want to keep our scores down," said Harvey. "If the ball is driven inbounds, it's a lot easier to score."
To open the season Amherst won the Manawa Quadrangular, then followed with third place finishes in meets at Weyauwega-Fremont and Menominee Indian and a second place finish at the Pacelli Invite on Tuesday, April 20.
Though the team needs to get their score down if they want to be more competitive, Harvey is happy with his top four golfers.
"They're all really close in ability," he said.
Aaron Dose is the definite No. 1 for the Falcons, followed by Trevor Knight, Lewis Diver and Jennifer Glodowski. "We don't have enough girls for a girls team so Jennifer is playing with us again this year, which is nice because she's a good addition," said Harvey.
Rounding out the solid squad is No. 5 golfer Steven Toftum. "Steve is really playing well for us this year," Harvey said.
As for Harvey, this is his seventh year as the head coach. The team, which started conference play seven years ago, has only seen Harvey as the leader. Before the team played in conference competition, Pete Sippel was the head coach of what was then the golf club. After Sippel accepted the principal's position at Amherst, Harvey moved in as the golf coach and hasn't looked back since.
"Golf is by far my all-time favorite game and I still love hangin' with the boys," he said.
Although Harvey's greatest accomplishment may have been winning the state championship in 2001, the goals for this year's team are a bit different.
"It'd be nice to get into the sectional tournament because we host it this year in Iola," said Harvey.
Though golf has a great atmosphere, Harvey said that not many fans make it out to the matches. "Our meets start at 3 p.m. so not even the parents can make it out. When we won the state championship, we only had like 30 fans."
What might bring out the fans you ask?
"Tiger Woods," said Harvey with a laugh.