By John Raffel
Correspondent
FARWELL — Jim Lard is planning on being a very busy coach this spring.
“I am the new varsity golf coach so heading into this season everything is new to me. I am taking over a program that was run by Hugh Lewis who is very active in the Clare County youth golf program and a very well liked coach,” Lard said.
“At this point of the season with only time in a hitting cage under our belts it is very hard to name the key golfers but we have a number of players that are working hard waiting for
the weather to break and courses to open. Marshall Gould, Brayden Travis, Zane Hanna, Ian Joyce, Jamison Santure, Treyton Lassen, Parker Tatara, Demir Ozdemir, Kylar McAulay, and Illia Kryvenko round out the 10 golfers that will be competing for the lineup spots.”
The expectations for the season range “from players hoping to make the starting lineup to players that are talking about wanting to make the state tournament,” Lard said. “My expectations are simple compete: every time they tee it up and have fun. Golf being one of the few sports people continue to play long, long after they leave high school I want to make it as fun as possible but you always need to compete, I mean who doesn’t want to
beat their buddies.
“I believe that hard work and dedication will be the cornerstones of this team just like any other good program. Even though we have yet to see a driving range let alone a golf
course these young men are putting in the time and work to improve their skills.
These young men aren’t short on effort so Im guessing the basics like course management and some of the intangible skills will be important to master. Knowing some of my players from other sports such as football and powerlifting these young men will
compete.”
Moving from the Mid Michigan Golf Association back into the
Jack Pine for golf “will be a learning experience for me as a first-year coach,” Lard said.
