I was pleasantly surprised when the Norwood High athletic director asked me to submit a list of goals for myself, the team, and the program as a whole. This was a great exercise that I think every coach should try no matter what level of sport he or she coaches. Writing down these goals really forced me to evaluate not only the team’s, but my personal strengths and weaknesses. Only after this analysis was I able to determine
a) performance goals and b) developmental goals. I first took a look at the team. Where do the players stand, talent wise? With such a young, inexperienced team, how committed are they to improving? I realized that I wasn’t happy with the answers to both these questions. This is where I as a coach need to step in and create talent by inspiring improvement. The trick is how…

There is no question that every player wants to improve. Where the line is drawn is whether the kid is willing to take an active part in his or her improvement. There are a handful who have a natural drive and desire to practice. I would guess this is about 20% of high school athletes. These kids will practice till their face turns blue without any guidance. On the other hand, the other 80% want to improve but won’t practice unless prodded. Their mantra is: hope and pray and maybe tomorrow I’ll miraculously get better. How do you keep their interest? More importantly how do you keep their interest when they’re not winning?

I am quickly learning that creativity is essential. I instituted an ongoing ladder system in the beginning of the season. The guys responded well to the idea of challenging each other for spots. This week I hope build some teamwork by having them play a best ball scramble in their match pairs. I want them to hit as many balls as possible without boring them to death with inane drills. With only one day a week of practice time, hopefully this can keep the “driven” players active while inspiring the others to push themselves.

It’s tough being on the road in any sport. With golf in particular, playing on an unfamiliar course is probably the biggest disadvantage a team could have. With that being said, it comes as no surprise that my team was defeated away by two of the top teams in the Bay State League – Wellesley and Natick. There were a couple remarkable performances by Norwood players, but overall the guys were really struggling off the tee and on and around the greens. Unfortunately, those are the most important parts of the game. You can hit a bad drive and recover from it, but you can never save yourself from a missed putt.

Still, it’s always important to come out of tough losses with a positive attitude and build on the small victories. One thing I noticed was that a lot of the players are very inexperienced and are learning a little about the nuances of the game every match. Thursday, a good number of the guys learned how to play upwind and downwind. Tuesday they developed confidence off the tee. But as I mentioned before, putting and chipping right now are their weak areas. I am hoping that with time and disciplined practice these skills will improve.

My goals for the rest of the season will still have to be to get the guys focused on enjoying the game and continuing to learn every day. If by Oct 12 (last match) I can get all 13 guys to tell me that they succeeded in learning even one new skill, I will consider it a major step in the development of the team for the future.