An Introduction...

The coming warmer weather should give every golf coach the feeling of healthy and hopeful optimism. You should be finalizing your schedules, confirming with your golf course, and getting your golfers into the swing of things, pun intended. 

Comes with this warmer weather is this new endeavor to reach coaches. To inform, as to what is happening, to share ideas, and to learn from each other. In my experience, because we are so scattered throughout an expansive region we don't always communicate like we can. There are several wonderful things that happens within our district not every knows about, well this is an opportunity to change that. 

I had a very successful basketball coach tell me one time, that "A great coach is a great thief." Of course, he was alluding to play calling and stealing plays, but there are several things that are happening in our district that may be a great idea, or fit, for someone else. So lets share our knowledge. It is not like the "play calling" is going to affect the outcomes throughout the season. At the end of the day, it is still five to six golfers that are going to determined that outcome. 

Not only that, this could be a great source to announce events, awards, and other announcements that could benefit you. 

So, I will go first. I have my schedule completed for boys' at Vinton County. The way I do my schedule, if you were to break it down into week segments, most of us will only have an eight and half week schedule. So from there, I normally try to think of a five day work week, the only exception is the first week and around Labor Day weekend. Meaning, we will go Monday through Thursday, and have competition rounds at the golf course on Saturday evenings. Fridays are for football and Sundays are for the family. 

I came up with the following template, it was easy, and it informs the parents where we are for the coming days. There is very little deviation from the schedule, if any. So, we know going into the season where we are and know the expectations from knowing what we should be doing, and how we conduct ourselves going into that day. Even off days, I encourage our kids to step away from the game, decompress, reflect, and energize themselves going into the next day event.  

As you can also see, it is very easy to read. The yellow dates are practice days, green dates are competition days, and red, we are off. Very easy to do and very easy to follow. 

One more thing I would like to mention. If you have read my schedule, there are a few dates that I would like to share with you. 

First, as always, we are hosting our annual Viking Tee-Off Invitational, this will be our eighth year. Some very good teams have come in and competed and taken home some nice hardware and everyone left with their bellies full. Last year's champion, Fairfield Union looks to defend. It is a great, low pressure, and enjoyable way to "Tee-Off" the season. 

Secondly, another event I am proud to support, is the Military Appreciation Invitational hosted by our resident Hall of Famer, Unioto's Dan Drummond. I am not sure that it is Dan that I like so much, or it is the fact that I am a veteran that I love supporting this tournament. Either way, it is a great start to the year. 

Next, the Ryder Cup Challenge, on August 16th, is... not wanting to brag, but this is my brainchild. I have been wondering for years, in fact, in 2014 when the United States got smacked by five points by the Europeans at Gleneagles, someone asked Jack Nicklaus what he thought about this lost and why did it happened? He waxed poetically about the Americans being highly individualized athletes not working together in a team setting and what piqued my interest, he stated that our youth do not play Ryder Cup formatted/styled games. I asked myself why not? Then, why can't we? I think I first mentioned it to Coach Drummond maybe trying to do something like this in 2015. I have been in contact with the OHSAA trying to get something like this approved since 2017. It wasn't until COVID, and the reset with everything in this world, that the OHSAA began to listen. Why would they care what format we played? Especially, if we were staying true to the integrity of the sport. We finally got the approval to play our desired format in the summer of 2021. 

Simply, it is this. This is a stroke played event. This match will be conducted in two nines. The first nine will be four-ball, also known as best ball. Each player will play their own ball but record their team's best score. The second nine will be a modified alternate shot format, also known as foursomes. Each player will tee-off, the players will determine their best ball, and the player who did not hit the determined best ball, will hit the next shot, then alternate in until the ball is holed. The players will record that score. Therefore, there will be a total of three scores, the two best scores will determined the overall winner of the Ryder Cup Challenge. As you can see, it forces the players to communicate, work together, and play for each other. So far, it has been a tremendous success. 

Our 2021 winner was Fairfield Union - 166, one stroke over Unioto at Chillicothe Country Club. 

Our 2022 winner was Circleville - 156 at Crown Hill Golf Course. 

This year's event will be held at the Chillicothe VA Golf Course. This year's teams are Alexander, Fairfield Union, Jackson, Logan Elm, Unioto, and Vinton County. 

One more thing to share. I am also excited about The Battle of the Bridge. This is the brainchild of Wahama's Boys' Golf Coach Randy Pierce. He put together two years ago a battle between conferences, eight members schools from  the Little Kanawha Conference in West Virginia against eight members school from the Tri-Valley Conference in Ohio. This series also began in 2021 and is currently tied at one victory apiece, with the TVC the defending champions. 

This would be a great idea for those of the MSL, SVC, FAC, OVC, or the SOC. 

That's it. There is other stuff going on, I know it. And if you like to share, anything, perhaps there is a way you practice that is unique and would like to share, is there a fundraiser, scramble, youth program, anything, email them to me and I will get them out. 

Thank you.

Terry

terrywaynehale@gmail.com