The California Pintos boys golf team has seen its fair share of successful moments this season.
For one, the team finished in first place in the Class 2 District 4 Tournament. Will Boyd played his way to a second-place finish overall, with a score of 78, and Jackson Hackett finished in a tie for 11th place overall, with a score of 92. Both of them qualified for the state meet. The team also turned in a strong performance at the Tri-County Conference meet, finishing in fourth place. Boyd finished in seventh place with a score of 84, and Enoch Dunnaway finished in 10th place with a score of 85. Boyd and Dunnaway earned all-conference honors for finishing in the top 15.
Head coach Doug Miller said another highlight for the team this season was its freshmen stepping up.
“They really posted some really good scores to add with what we had with the upperclassmen coming back,” Miller said. “Really, we were one of the best teams in the area this year, so the freshmen stepping up and making this season the success that it has been.”
Another one of the things that Miller said he thinks contributed to the success the team had this year was the amount of competition the team had for its top five spots.
“Nobody could get complacent this year,” Miller said. “There was always somebody trying to take that spot. With that competition, a lot of hard work was going on.”
While the team had a nice season, Miller said it still needs to work on decision making during competitions.
“Some of (the players) still want to go for it, (rather) than make the smart play,” Miller said. “Ask yourself, ‘Is the risk worth the reward?’ Punch it out there, yes, it is a one stroke penalty, (don’t) try to go for the green and end up (with) three or four strokes. We need to improve on our decision-making.”
For the golfers who will be back next year and did not make it to state this season, Miller said he thinks those who missed out saw how their course management cost them and learned from those mistakes.
“I think the guys who did not make it, they were close, and honestly, they should have made it,” Miller said. “But I think they saw how some of their decisions, their course management, cost them a chance to go to state. Looking back at it they can see, ‘Man, if I did not do that.’ One kid missed it by one stroke, one by five strokes, so just looking back, they can learn from their mistakes.”