Three seniors to lead Park Hill golf team

Trying to get your swing back after a long winter can be one of the most frustrating things for avid golfers, but along with hitting familiar with the links again the Park Hill boys golf team will also be developing what coach Zach Dorrell describes as an inexperienced and, in some places, young team. While the Trojans will be led at the top by three seniors in Travis Perry, Collin Pummill, and Austin Dorward, only Perry and Dorward have varsity experience leaving the rest of the 15 member squad in a situation to be exposed to their first serious competition.

“We don’t have a lot of kids that play just golf,” Dorrell said of his team. “It’s going to be a good year for them to get some experience, play against the competition, and get them to buy into taking the game more serious into the future.”

Junior Colby Bueller and senior Robert Lawrence will likely round out the last two spots on the varsity roster for the Trojans. Park Hill has their work cut out for them, but Dorrell believes his team should easily be able to collectively shoot under a 330 by the end of the year. Currently holding the top spot on the roster, Perry appears to be the most consistent early in the season.

“I think Travis has an opportunity,” Dorrell said of his chances of qualifying for sectionals. “He’s a real steady player and should be consistently around an 80 or 82; possibly drop down to 78 or 79 once in awhile.”

Although lacking in experience, the Trojans are a fairly grounded team and realize that could benefit them on the course.

“They’re all good kids, none of them are real flashy, but they have good attitudes and they understand they’re not going to the tour,” Dorrell said. “We have to understand what our capabilities are and play up to those.”

Finishing third in their conference last year, the Trojans believe they can match or beat that this year and talented Lee’s Summit West and St. Joe Central teams will likely be the contenders. The beginning of April is when Dorrell believes they’ll have a good idea of what they can achieve as a team when they host the Darren Floyd Memorial Tournament at Tiffany Greens.

“Our tournament is a good one, barring weather, and it can tell us where we’re at,” Dorrell said.

Park Hill will compete in two big tournaments prior to their own at Lee’s Summit and Ray-Pec. They open the season this week with duals against Truman and Platte County.