The Lady Trojans golf team was back in the swing of things last Thursday at Siena golf course in Las Vegas. The girls shaved off 37 strokes since their last meeting a week before, where they carded a 465 at their home course at Mountain Falls.
At Siena, Faith Lutheran came in first place, carding a 333 and was led by Julia Beckers’ 1-under-par 71. Clark was behind them with a 347 and Pahrump came in third with a 428. The Lady Trojans scored as follows: Shelby Brown shot a 118, Riley Moore shot a 99, Jayde Woodworth shot a 99, Courtney Berry a 115, Krista Toomer a 128 and Kellie Hunn a 115. Natalie Hunn did not play due to illness.
Trojans Coach Bob Hopkins said he has changed his coaching methods with the girls. He had to find a way to bring back some emotion into their game. He said it was hard to duplicate game conditions during practice, but he found a way.
“The girls just thought that once you got on the green that you just putt away until you get it into the hole. We worked on the putting. They would not line up any of their shots prior to shooting. They would stand over the ball and hit it and then hit it again right away. At practice I made them run if they didn’t make five putts in a row,” Hopkins said.
The coach said he resorted to running because of the way the girls practiced. “The reason we are making them run is because that is the only way we can instill some pressure during practice. Usually it didn’t matter if they missed one out of five putts at practice because there were no consequences,” Hopkins said.
The practices last week made a big difference. Kelli Hunn shot a 52, on the front-nine, which was a personal best for her.
“All the girls putted better,” the coach said. “We have six practices left before our next match. We are so happy the way we played at Siena.” Hopkins said the team will need to average some low scores to qualify for the regional tournament.
Last weekend Hopkins was bestowed an honor that few coaches experience. Bennett County High School in South Dakota honored the coach by inducting him into Bennett County High School Wall of Honor for his 15 years of coaching at the school. Hopkins went to South Dakota to receive the honor and returned on Monday.
The Bennett County High School said Bob Hopkins was honored for his coaching of boys basketball from 1972-’74.