Steve Lobaugh is pictured giving tips to Celina Heard and Paige Peters during practice.
It almost wasn’t, but then it was.
The golf team at Mariposa County High School almost didn’t exist this year until someone in the community stepped up to coach.
When he learned from his son, Konnor Lobaugh, that there wasn’t a golf team this year because there was no one to coach, Steve Lobaugh stepped up.
“They had asked me earlier in the year and I just didn’t feel like I had the time,” said Steve Lobaugh.
“Then I heard there was no team and my son’s a senior. I can’t let him do his senior year without a team.”
This is Steve Lobaugh’s first year coaching within the school district.
“I’ve coached all my kids in sports and I do have all my coaching credentials,” Steve explained.
“I’ve never coached golf but my family and I do golf and I’ve been watching a ton of YouTube videos.”
The team this year consists of Celina Heard, Konnor Lobaugh, Noah Lilley and Paige Peters.
“Unfortunately we weren’t able to get a full squad this year,” Steve explained.
Noah Lilley takes a swing during practice at River Creek last week.
The team has hit the green a few times this season against Denair, Waterford, Gustine and Stone Ridge Christian.
“They take six players and divide them into groups starting with the top players,” Steve said.
“Since we only have four, we’re missing kids to pair up unfortunately so it takes us out of the school league which means they’re still competing but it’s just on an individual level at this point.”
As teams work toward sections, top school within the Southern League will automatically go to sections.
“Then it may be another school who goes or they go amongst the remaining schools and take the top six best players,” Steve said.
Even though the group is mostly competing on an individual level, they’re still working on goals each day.
“My goals to are to see what they’re capable of and then build on that,” Steve continued.
“We practice and I’m able to look at what they need and figure out what I can do during the next practice. We really focus on contact and consistency.”
Konnor Lobaugh is shown practicing his swing last week at River Creek Golf Course. Photos by Amanda White
The group continues to see improvement each time they hit the course.
“There really aren’t many schools with girls,” the coach said.
“There’s us and Gustine, and they actually have more girls than boys this year.”
The girls go against other girls while the boys compete with other boys.
“As far at the competitive level goes, our girls have had better scores than their opponents,” Steve explained.
“So far, all of our kids have beat their opponents.”
As a coach, Steve hopes the players take something away from the sport.
“I hope they appreciate the game,” he said.
“You’re going to have bad days and good days. Just take it one day at a time and one stroke at a time.”
The team’s next match will be after spring break on April 16 at River Oaks Golf Course in Ceres.
Tee time is 1 p.m.
Responses (0)