The Amherst golf team has a bright future with a strong varsity team featuring many new and upcoming underclassmen.
The team’s top players consist of Micheal Benjamin, Eli Zakrzewski, Kyler Kollauf, Mario Biombetti, Trent Simonis and Dahlaihuu Anderson. All varsity players consistently shoot under 50 for 9 holes.
The minimization of errors is the key to golf. “Golf is a game that requires great focus and mental clarity; as always, struggling with slumps and bad shots can be a challenge,” said Ryan Pikka, assistant coach.
Head coach Kevin Vander Laan added, “So much of this game takes place between your ears.”
The team plays some nice courses such as Cedar Springs, Whistling Straight (the 43rd Ryder Cup Tournament), and Sand Valley. Coach Pikka adds, “I’d like to believe we can push the top of our conference a bit and ultimately would like to see us navigate a tough regional. In golf, you never really know how things are going to shake out so you put yourself in the best position to win and wait to see where the chips fall.”
The team is set for a busy schedule with the closest match at Foxfire and the furthest at Whistling Straight, Sheboygan. The varsity boasts a total of 12 meets while JV has a total of six meets.
The team opened their season at Golden Sands. It was a rough first match but the team is warming up quickly as the season goes. The junior varsity’s first meet was held at Maple Hill on April 18. The varsity team’s second match went a lot better, placing third out of a dozen or more teams.
“Comparatively, to our conference, we should have a pretty strong team. We have a lot of numbers this year which is great…so we have a variety of levels of skill which makes every day really fun,” Pikka said.
Pikka knows that golf is typically a difficult game to play especially for those who have never played before or are just learning. It takes a lot to get good muscle memory. Even the best golfers in the world have bad days, and as Pikka notes, “you just have to keep grinding.”
Practicing is just one part of the game, keeping score and the mental side of the game is the other side of the game of golf. “As with any sport, the more you practice/play, the better you get. Ideally, you would want to be working on your game most days of the week… no matter what level you play at,” Coach Vander Laan said.
The team has much potential with 18 new golfers, many underclassmen. The team each year continues to grow and progress. Success comes from having fun and getting better. “For some, it comes from performance,” said Pikka, “but success for me depends on the athlete that I’m working with at the moment.”
The teams first conference meet is on Monday the 22nd at Glacier Woods which is the team’s home course. The Amherst team plays 3 times at glacier with regionals starting May 20th. The team has a lot of potential and welcomes fans of the sport and team to come out and watch.
