The Seymour and Trinity Lutheran boy’s golf teams will open their
seasons on Saturday when they compete in the Seymour Invitational at
Shadowood Golf Course.
Both coaches, Jim Hoffman of Seymour and Kim Overgaard of Trinity,
said they will be playing a lot of underclassmen.
The Owls will have three sophomores in the varsity lineup, and
Overgaard doesn’t have any seniors and only one junior.
Hoffman likes the progress the Owls have shown during the preseason.
“I like where we’re at right now,” he said. “We’re hitting the ball pretty
well. We have 13 kids out this year and we’re going to have a couple
solid teams.
“Score-wise, it’s hard to say, but in the long run I think we’ll be OK.
I think it’s really going to bode well for our youth.”
Sophomore Luke Baker will play No. 1 for the Owls Saturday.”
“Noah Wieninger has really come on. He started playing last year
and he has really hit the ball well,” Hoffman said.
Freshman Kirby Tormoehlen and juniors Zarik Black and Jay Herbert
have been playing well, he said.
Herbert and Trevor Goecker received special junior varsity awards last spring.
Trenton Morris and Paulton Rennekamp are two other sophomores
that could move into the varsity lineup later this season. Hoffman
said Morris worked on his game over the winter, and Rennekamp has
been taking lessons.
“We’re building some depth, we’re building some competitive play at
practice, which really helps us,” Hoffman said. “I’d say our last two
spots are up for a group of five.”
Seniors on the Seymour roster are Luke Farhar and Cooper Murphy.
When the Owls tee off 9 a.m. Saturday at Shadowood, they will be
paired with Guerin Catholic, No. 1 in the state, and Bloomington South,
who is the No. 3 team in the poll.
“We’re going to play the best and see what happens,” Hoffman said.
“We’re playing for score. It’s nice for those kids to play against good
competition so they can see how to take care of themselves, how they
play, just watch their demeanor.
“I would like to be in the 360s, 370 range. I think we have that
possibility. If we’re a little higher, we’re a little higher. We always tend
to get better as the season goes on.”
Wylie Jones is the only junior on the Trinity roster. He received the
Cougar Award at Trinity’s awards program last year.
The only other player with any varsity experience is sophomore Alex
Overgaard, the coaches’ grandson.
Kim Overgaard was the Cougars’ assistant golf coach last spring.
“Wylie and Alex are the only two back from the team that went to
sectional last year,” Coach Overgaard said.
Other sophomores are Jeremiah Clay and Sam Lorenz.
“We played them in as many matches as we could,” Overgaard said.
Freshmen Rylan Adair and Nolan Teipen played golf at Immanuel last
year.
Trinity Lutheran’s Wylie Jones chips over a bunker during the Cougar Invitational in 2023 at Shadowood Golf Course.
Tribune file photo“We have worked on the distance especially from 100 yards into the
green, their approach shots, and sometimes 150 and in,” Overgaard
said.
“When we get them out on the course a lot of times that is what we do,
we hit a driver, pick up the ball then go to the 100-yard marker and hit
two balls into the green, hoping to get them to mentally understand
that that is how you play the course.
“That is course management. You get that driver out and hit it in the
fairway or in the rough, and then you try to get it on the green.”
Overgaard said the younger golfers are learning about club selection.
“We’re trying to teach them what club they can get to the green from 100 or
150 yards,” he said. “Any experience they get is really good for them. I know we’ll get better as the season goes on. That is our goal, to get better every week, and
improve a little with each match.