The California Pintos girls golf team started practices Aug. 12, preparing for the upcoming season. The team's first competition is at 4 p.m. Sept. 3, at Blair Oaks.
Last year, the team finished in eighth place in the Class 1 District 2 competition with a team score of 467.
Head coach Ashley Atteberry said the girls have a great attitude and have been ready to play. This year, Atteberry said the team is focusing on their short game.
"We are really going to be working on putting and chipping to bring our overall scores down," Atteberry said. "Some goals we have will be to get better in the scoring zone. We need to reduce our chips and putts."
A difference between this season and last year will be the senior leadership for the Pintos.
"Last year I didn't have any seniors, and this year I have three," Atteberry said. "So I am looking for some senior leadership to help out the rest of the pretty young team."
With the rest of the team being pretty young, they will be faced with inexperience.
"The challenge that my young golfers face is that they really haven't been very exposed to golf before they come into their freshmen year of high school," Atteberry said, "especially because there is not a middle school golf team. They are trying to learn a sport that they have never really played before, and it is a very difficult sport to master. They can overcome these challenges by working hard at practice, learning from some of the older players and playing anytime they can to get some repetition in their swings."
The team will work on continuing the improvements they made last season.
"I think (the returning players) can take away that each one of them improved throughout the season, so if they continue to work hard during this season, they can be even better at the end of this season than last year," Atteberry said.
California girls golf schedule
Sept. 3 - at Blair Oaks, 4 p.m.
Sept. 5 - at Green Ridge, 4 p.m.
Sept. 10 - at Boonville, 4 p.m.
Sept. 11 - at Helias Invitational, 9 a.m.
Sept. 13 - at Boonville Tournament, 9 a.m.
Sept. 17 - at Marshall Invitational Girls Golf Tournament, 9 a.m.
Sept. 18 - at Jefferson City, 4 p.m.
Sept. 19 - at Camdenton Tri, 4 p.m.
Sept. 23 - vs Boonville, 4 p.m.
Sept. 24 - California Invitational, 8:30 a.m.
Sept. 26 - vs Southern Boone, 4 p.m.
Sept. 30 - at Tri County Conference Tournament, 9 a.m.
Oct. 3 - vs Helias, 4 p.m.
Oct. 8 - at District Tournament, 9 a.m.
Oct. 14 - at Sectional Tournament, TBA
Oct. 21-22 - at State Tournament, TBA