Depth plays a big role on most high school team sports, including golf.

Coaches Jim Hoffman at Seymour, Brent Hattabaugh at Brownstown Central and Doug Sabotin at Trinity Lutheran feel their teams possess good depth this spring.

Those coaches will find out how good their talent and depth are Saturday as the Owls and Braves will play in the Seymour Invitational at Shadowood Golf Course, beginning at 9 a.m., and Trinity Lutheran will tee off in the Edinburgh Invitational at Timbergate, beginning at 10 a.m.

Hoffman is excited to be working with Oliver Kardos, an exchange student from Slovakia. He recently shot a round of 36 at Shadowood, and Hoffman said he carded a 40 on a cold, wet day.

“(Kardos) played a little golf over there,” Hoffman said. “They don’t have a school team over there, so it’s a little bit different, so he has had some adjustments to make. He played soccer (with the Owls) in the fall and did a really good job. He’s a very good athlete. He has put on some weight in the last six, seven months and is hitting the ball really well. He works really hard. He was out here all winter, and every day, it’s nice he’s out here. He’s dedicated to getting better.”

Hoffman has three lettermen returning in senior Andon Self and juniors Ty Stuckwisch and Noah Surface. Manny Fontanez, another junior, played in several varsity matches last spring.

“We’ll have five kids battling for four spots on a daily basis,” Hoffman said. “Ty has made some great strides. He has gotten a lot stronger and is hitting the ball real well. Andon has worked really hard. He has been out here constantly working. Noah has worked on his game. He has to get some of his confidence back.”

Hoffman is looking forward to the tournament. The Owls will host Brownstown Central, Jennings County, Bedford North Lawrence, Columbus East, Columbus North, Bloomington North and Guerin Catholic.

“We’ve always got some goals to reach,” Hoffman said. “I think if we can get to the 350 mark and under, that would be a good start for us. Anything less than that is just a bonus.”

Heading up Brownstown’s team will be junior Chandler Stahl, who was the team’s most valuable player last spring and was all-Mid-Southern Conference honorable mention.

Stahl averaged 46 for nine holes and 90 for 18 holes last spring.

“He has continued to improve this season and will start as our No. 1,” Hattabaugh said.

Other lettermen on the BC roster are senior Cooper Wolka, juniors Jaren Cunningham, Connor Gwin and Elix Preston and sophomore Caiden Gwin.

Caiden received the mental attitude award last spring.

“We also have underclassmen that are competing for the top five spots,” Hattabaugh said. “As a team last season, we improved by 40 strokes from the beginning tournament to the sectional, so we are very excited to see how much we improve this year.

“The Seymour tournament has some very good teams in it. We want to improve our scores from last year. Even though we have experience, we are still young and have the potential to improve and compete in the conference and sectional.”

Sabotin has four returning veterans in seniors Jacob Sabotin, Kade Hill, Caleb Williams and Preston Kovener. All are four-year players.

“We’ve got a lot of leadership,” coach Sabotin said.

Jacob Sabotin played No. 1 for the Cougars last year, averaging 39 and 80, while Williams, Hill and Kovener moved around between the two, three and four positions last spring.

“It was a really interesting season,” coach Sabotin said. “They were really consistent over the season. Preston won our most improved award. He improved his score by three or four strokes over the course of the season. We don’t really talk a whole lot about scoring and winning. We talk more about the fundamentals of golf.

“One of the really nice things about being part of Trinity Lutheran is our boys have opportunities to play all sports. Three of the four play three sports. I would rather have young men who are well-rounded in all aspects of life,” he said.

“First and foremost, Trinity Lutheran is a Christian-based school, so we honor God in all we do, and sports are supposed to be fun, and we forget that sometimes, so we want to make sure we’re always having fun to the degree that you can on a golf course because sometimes, it gets a little bit frustrating,” he said. “We preach team even though golf is an individual sport, and teammates and teamwork are important. In golf, there is no such thing as a perfect score, so we’re just trying to learn every day as best we can.”

Crothersville and Medora also will have golfers competing this spring.

Seniors Matt Clouse and Andrew Stainbrook are playing for the Tigers. They will be coached by Jacob Dunn, and their first match will be April 25 with Henryville and Madison at Champions Pointe.

Braxton McCory is playing for Medora. He will be coached by Darrell Persinger, and his first match will be April 8 at Salem.