Bogalusa brought back golf this season in what was expected and proved to be a season of learning and improvement.
Bogalusa coach Randall Ginn said the first thing was to get interest in the game and then to get better. He said some of the golfers had not ever picked up a club until early February and by the end of April we were a lot better than where they started.
“You saw five kids originally come out. Three of them stayed. We picked up a newer player, so we wound up with four kids on the season. From early February to the end of April, you saw thirst for knowledge of the game, you saw improvement, kids that wanted to go out to the country club, kids that got to go to different courses throughout south Louisiana that they have never experienced before and you saw great sportsmanship,” Ginn said. “I want to thank Bogalusa Country Club for their support in allowing us to use their course to practice and some of the members donated equipment and we are thankful for that.”
Ginn said that when you first start, the local tournaments allow you to shoot double par per hole. In those tournaments, the highest you can shoot is a 144 on a 72 par.
“At first, we had guys shooting in the 130s and just trying to learn how to hit it, but all of them shot their best scores either in the district tournament or the final regular season tournament,” Ginn said. “We knew we weren’t going to compete for district or regional titles, but the key was to see the improvement and we did.”
Ginn said he enjoyed this season greatly.
“I enjoyed the teaching part. When I stop enjoying the teaching part, I need to get out. It helps to teach receptive people. Those four kids were like a sponge. They never acted like they knew everything. Every thing you taught them, they were receptive and they put it into action,” Ginn said. “They were great ambassadors for our school. Many different golf pros welcomed them after not having seen our school for a number of years.”
The team featured Zach Castilow, Keltron Harry, Silas McGowan and Ramero Watterson.