The North Union girl’s golf team is as follows, row one, from the left, Lilly Taylor, Madelyn Taylor and Kaylee Rensel. Row tow, from the left, coach Mitch Loomis, Kelsie Price, Kaylee Brestle and Charlee Brestle. (Journal-Tribune photo by Sam Dillon)
The North Union boy’s golf team is a follows, row one, from the left, Josiah Stillings, Tayden Peck, Wyatt Davis and Dyllen Alltop. Row tow, form the left, coach Ken Brust, Nathan Matlack, Zach Vernon, Owen Hall and Miles Hall. (Journal-Tribune photo by Sam Dillon)
The North Union golf programs have had their struggles over the past several seasons.
The boys team has not won a match in the past two years, while the Lady Cats haven’t seen much in the way of success either.
This year’s girls team has only one returning player in Lilly Taylor.
Coach Mitch Loomis said he is really going to lean on her to help teach a team of players with little-to-no experience.
“I do have Lilly Taylor, who is a senior this year,” said Loomis. “She is going to be like a right-hand man for me.
“She will lead by example and will be someone I can count on. She will be good for the girls.”
The team in total has six players with three being freshmen.
Loomis will be looking to Lilly’s younger sister Madelyn to help pick up some wins.
She is one of the only other players with golf experience.
“Out of the other six girls only one upper classman with a little golf experience and three of the five underclassmen have golf experience,” Loomis said. “Madelyn Taylor has some experience and I think is going to be strong for us.”
With the experience low, Loomis is looking to help improve the basics of the game and give the girls a fun experience this season.
“I just want this to be something that is a good experience for the kids,” he said. “Come out, learn how to play the game and have something that they can enjoy for this season and their high school careers.”
The Wildcat boys are also looking to improve and head coach Ken Brust hopes to be that improvement.
Brust is new to the team this season, but brings high school coaching experience to the team.
He coached the girls’ golf team at Springfield Shawnee and hopes that experience can help him with the Wildcats.
Brust’s goal is to focus on each player’s individual battles to help with team scores.
“What we need to be looking at in terms of expectations is to get them playing better individually,” Brust said. “Hopefully that will give them confidence as players and then they’ll start playing stronger golf by the end of the season.”
Those individual scores will come from some players who have been with the Cats for a while and some new faces.
Nate Matlack is going to be Brust’s two or three golfer, while the coach believes new comer Zach Vernon will help lead the Cats.
Tayden Peck, who played well for NU last season, will likely be in the mix for the top spot.
“We go week-to-week what our lineup is going to be,” Brust said. “I’m hoping that by changing the lineup we can develop some competition within the team.”
In the early matches of this season, Brust said he is already seeing the improvements.
The Cats played in the pre-season Central Buckeye Conference tournament at Cherokee Hills.
The Cats finished near the bottom, but Brust said the front nine was solid for the team.
“We had our CBC event recently, an 18-hole match, and they really struggled on the back nine,” he said. “However, we had four golfers shoot in the 40’s on the front nine.”
The Cats followed that up with one of their best team scores over the past several seasons.
“We had an early match in Marion and shot a 188 as a team,” Brust said. “That that is one of the best scores we have had in the past two years, so we are getting better.”
Now, Brust just wants the Cats to focus on their game in order to play better golf by the end of the season.
The Lady Cats will return to action today against Indian Lake while the boy’s team will play at Liberty Hills against Ben Logan today.