After opening the season with their first meets, the Hastings High School boys golf team began competition with both varsity and junior varsity lineups. The early rounds gave players their first official scores of the year, along with the experience of competing under match conditions instead of practice settings.
The transition into the season has meant adjusting to pressure on every shot and learning how small mistakes can affect an entire round. For many players, the first meets served as a reset point, where offseason work is tested, and new goals begin to form based on real competition.
“Most of us just golf for fun, and thought maybe we should try it in high school, so the adjustment is very different. It is very competitive and takes a lot of work to be good and prepared for this level.” Clark said.
Sophomores Owen Clark and Collin Hermes are competing on the junior varsity squad and have already experienced how match play feels compared to practice rounds. Both described the opening meets as a learning experience, which showed them their games need more consistency.
“The first meets showed me what I need to work on. It’s different when every shot counts, and it made me focus more on my short game and staying consistent,” Clark said.
Clark explained the pressure of counting shots and posting a score for the team changed how he approached each hole, especially when things did not go as planned early in a round.
“When you hit a bad shot in practice, you can kind of move on without thinking about it too much,” Clark said. “In a meet, it sticks with you more, so I’ve been trying to stay calm and not let one mistake turn into another one.”
Hermes also pointed to the adjustment from practice to competition, saying that the first meets helped him understand how to manage nerves and stay focused throughout an entire round.
“Playing in the first meets helped me get more comfortable. I learned that even if you don’t start great, you can recover if you stay focused,” Hermes said.
He added that finishing rounds strong has been one of his main focuses early in the season, especially as he continues to build confidence in competitive settings.
“The biggest thing I noticed is that you can always bounce back,” Hermes said. “Even if one hole goes wrong, there are still a lot of holes left, and you just have to keep playing each shot the same.”
At the varsity level, junior Kaleb Krueger has competed in the team’s opening meets and is helping set the tone for the Tigers as the season begins. He described the early part of the season as an opportunity for both evaluation and growth as a team.
“We’ve had a solid start, but we know we can be better. The first meets gave us a good idea of where we’re at and what we need to improve,” Krueger said.
Krueger noted that early-season scores are important not only for standings but also for identifying patterns in the team’s play that can be improved over time. He emphasized consistency is something the team is continuing to work toward as more meets approach.
“A big thing is staying locked in for the whole round,” Krueger said. “In the first meets, we saw how important it is to not let one bad hole affect the rest of your game.”
He also mentioned that the mental side of golf has already been a major factor in how the team is performing early in the season, especially as players adjust to pressure situations and competitive pacing.
“Golf is really mental,” Krueger said. “You can hit good shots, but if your head isn’t in the right place, it’s hard to put together a full round. We’re trying to stay steady and not get too high or too low.”
As the season continues, the Tigers across both varsity and junior varsity levels will keep building experience with each round, using early-season results as a foundation for improvement.Hastings High boys golf is working through the early stages of the season with a focus on growth, consistency, and learning how to compete across every hole of every round.
“We are looking forward to the rest of this season and continuing to bring more hard work as well as skill to the table. Our goal is to make people beat us and not to give anything up easily,” Krueger said.
