Winter sports are over, and with the first practice on February 28, the spring sport seasons officially began. With a team of 23 members and Brant Banzhaf as head coach, Boys Golf is getting ready for this year’s season.

This year’s team includes the Timbers brothers, junior Taytom and sophomore Tristen, who competed at state last year, as well as seniors Kellen Muhr, Jayden McCracken, Isaac Weems and Wade Sanders. 

Banzhaf remarked on the 23 team members this season saying, “It’s great to see the enthusiasm for the sport and helps with the depth for the future. It’s a testament to our program’s rise.” Banzhaf is very excited to be back on the golf course. When asked what he expected for this season Banzhaf stated, “We lost a great group of seniors from last year’s team but we still have a strong group of upperclassmen who are not only talented golfers but great young men. We’re returning the Timbers brothers who competed for us down at state and who were a big part of the success we saw last year.” He continued saying, “Kellen Muhr, Isaac Weems and Jayden McCracken will bring strong senior leadership and look to build off the momentum we had last year. If we can be consistent with getting up and down and gain confidence off the tee, we will be in the hunt for tournament titles.” In his eyes, the most challenging part for the upcoming season is that, “Our district will be tough. Ogallala returns the bulk of their team which qualified for last year’s state tournament and will be a top competitor this year. I believe Scottsbluff will also be tough as they made a very strong push to finish the year and are one of the most well coached teams in the state.”

The Timbers brothers have been playing golf since they were little kids. Taytom’s favorite thing about golf is “competing and the people you meet at the tournaments” while Tristen’s favorite thing is “getting better and shooting lower scores every day.” Both of them have the same goal for this season: to consistently score in the 70s and make it to state once again. Taytom stated that he is most excited about “competing every week and lowering [his] scores” and Tristen stated that he is most excited about “having fun at practice and making a run at state with [his] brother.” The Timbers brothers agree with each other that the weather at the beginning of the season is going to be challenging. Taytom added, “Districts [is going to be challenging], playing a course we haven’t seen and just all 5 of us focusing on lowering our scores to qualify for state as a team again.” 

Senior Wade Sanders is going to be a newby this season. He “decided to try golf [his] senior year because it’s a sport [he’ll] be able to play until [he’s] old. So [he] figured since [he doesn’t]  know how to golf, there’s no time like the present to learn.” Sanders’ favorite thing about golf so far is “the overall nature of the game. It’s super laid back and relaxed, yet it still requires a lot of mental toughness and concentration to perform well.” Sanders is “mainly most excited about learning how to play the game and spending time on the course with friends.”  He thinks “the most challenging part of this season for [him] will be figuring out how to play consistently. [He’s] figuring out that golf is pretty much all about proper technique, and to be a good golfer those techniques have to be mastered. Therefore, it’s going to take a lot of time and practice to get those skills down so [he’s] able to play well.”

The SPUD would like to wish the team good luck for the upcoming season! The AHS golf team will officially kick off their season on March 25 in North Platte at 10 a.m. CT.