Trojan Golf sports fresh faces

The Park Hill Boys Golf team will only return limited experience from last year’s team that finished 5th at districts and featured a state tournament qualifier. Coach Zach Dorrell has a young team, but is excited about the potential upside that inexperience breads.

“Inexperience is going to be biggest problem beyond the top three players,” Dorrell said. “The good thing is they’re all pretty good kids and they like to practice.”

Those top three players include senior Victor Solderholm, a foreign exchange student from Sweden, who will likely hold the top spot for the Trojans followed by Austin Dorward and Ayden Tittone, both of which split time between varsity and junior varsity competitions last year. Junior Travis Perry will hold the fourth spot while the final varsity spot has yet to be determined.

With only a few weeks under their belt in terms of practice, Dorrell says he tries to emphasize to his players the responsibility they have to improve in the offseason.

“I have them for such a short amount of time, if they’re really going to improve they need to start before the season,” Dorrell said. “I try to get the kids to buy into the idea of improving during the summer and signing up for junior tournaments."

The one area the Trojans do know they can improve on throughout the season is their approach to a game that relies so highly on mental toughness.

“Trying to get them to play within their capabilities, sometimes they try to play way above what they’re able to do. Understanding what is realistic instead of what they hope or want to shoot. A lot of kids think they can shoot it far, but they need to focus on getting to 85 before 80 or for some kids breaking that 100 mark,” Dorrell said.

Their work will be cut out for them in terms of conference and district play. Park Hill South returns a strong team while Truman brings back four of their five starters from last year, not to mention the district tournament being held at their home course, Drumm Farm.

Being untested hasn’t changed the accomplishments the Trojans have set their eyes on though.

“Our goals are always the same: do well in our own tournament, win our home matches, win conference and send an individual to state or go as a team,” Dorrell said.