Staff Writer
The Caribou varsity golf team ended its season with a 4-5 record, but the best way to recognize overall improvement, Viking Coach Neal Genz noted, is to take a look at how the team was able to improve throughout the season, after it began with just one win in its first five matches.
Contributed photo/Becky Shea
Matt Kamm, one of six underclassmen, contributed to this fall’s Viking golf team, and will hopefully be back next season.
“Play was inconsistent at the beginning, but improved throughout the season,” he said. The Viking team was comprised of 10 individuals: seniors Ellis Pelletier, Taylor Jepson, Pat Thibodeau and Nate Swan, as well as Caleb Chapman, Matt Kamm, Ben Wyman, Dustin Denbow, Lance LaMothe and Reggie Rideout.
Chapman, a freshman, opened his season with a 37 in his first match, and finished as a two-time medalist. With a 44.3 scoring average, Chapman was a strong performer for the Vikings.
However, he wasn’t the only one who saw progress. “We had quite a few players that improved during the season. We saw weaknesses during the season, and there was a marked improvement from the beginning to the end as they did not repeat their errors,” Genz remarked.
Along with Chapman, seniors Pelletier, Jepson, and Swan were All-Aroostook nominees, and both Chapman and Pelletier made the elite squad.
Driving for accuracy improved as the team was able to keep the ball on the fairway more consistently at the end of the season than the beginning. Course management improved as well, as the team used more strategies to avoid problems.
Genz also noted that team support came from on the fairway as well as off. Caribou golf’s team parents made potluck dinners after every match for both Caribou and any opposing teams. Having parental support and encouragement was a welcomed asset to the team.
“We have a good core of freshman that will be back next year. [We’ll be] missing the seniors though, they were mostly the strength of the team,” Genz said. “Caleb will obviously be stepping into the leadership role but I expect great improvement from [all of] them, because they all shot … really good rounds.”
As Genz looks ahead to next fall, he is already strategizing on how to recruit new players to the team, addressing the possibility of a low turnout. Part of this recruitment process may include an instructional program about golf.
Genz is considering developing this program with the Caribou middle and high schools, as well as Caribou Country Club, to present these developmental sessions. Though the logistics of the program are in the beginning stages, Genz hopes sessions will be offered in the summer of 2009.
