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Young men’s golf team hopes to peak at Horizon championships
Young men’s golf team hopes to peak at the Horizon championships
By JON MOFFETT
Youngstown
Maybe the biggest hazard the Youngstown State golf team will have to deal with this season is its tendency to be consistently inconsistent.
“Golf is a goofy game,” said senior Ryan Stocke. “It’s up and down. One day you’ll hit it well and the next day you’ve got nothing.”
For that reason, Stocke said, it’s hard to get a feel for how he thinks the team will perform this year. A cocaptain and one of only two seniors on an otherwise young squad, Stocke, 22, has taken a leadership role this year.
And veteran golf coach Tony Joy has taken notice.
“In golf, there are so many things out there that can make you feel better or obviously make you play worse,” Joy said. “And the players will listen to the coach, but sometimes if there is one of the players who is kind of the leader on the team, who will mention something about their swing or their stance, the players are more apt to be reinforced.”
Stocke, and classmate Tim Morrow, act as the liaison between Joy and the younger players. They also lead by example on the course.
“Having Ryan and Timmy is big,” Joy said. “They’ve been through this for four years. I kind of look to them to not only score well, but to be the leaders.”
Joy said he’s been especially impressed with Stocke, who redshirted last year.
“He’s learned to score,” Joy said of the Lima native. “He knows how to not just hit the golf ball, but he knows how to manage the game on the course. And that’s what the younger players learn from him.”
Stocke said he has embraced the leadership role and hopes to help groom the underclassmen any way he can.
“It’s tough,” Stocke said of his role. “A lot of this game is mental, and I am just trying to help with getting the guys’ confidence up, and getting them to play their way around the course and not let them beat themselves up. I try to teach them that the best way to get better is by practicing.”
Practicing golf during the offseason – the winter months – isn’t exactly easy in Northeast Ohio. Joy said the team practices indoors, but relies on spring trips to knock off the rust.
“Over the winter, we’re kind of stifled,” he said. “When we went down to Nevada for spring break, that was basically the first time we’d seen green grass since the fall.”
The Nevada trip, which included the South Dakota State University’s Jackrabbit Invitational earlier this month, was the first action many of the players had seen since late October. The YSU golf season is split into fall and spring matches.
“We played OK, but the kids were fairly inconsistent,” Joy said. “I thought we were going to perform a little bit better since we had just had five or six days of practice prior to the tournament. But they’re getting a little bit better.”
But a slow start, Joy said, is often times par for the course.
“When you come here in the fall, the kids have been playing all through the summer and are kind of at their peak,” he said. “But during the winter months, unless you’ve got an indoor facility, you’re making a lot of trips to the warm weather areas and it takes them a little while to get competitive.”
Joy hopes the team hits its collective peak just in time for the Horizon League championship later this month.
“We’ve got a really young squad; we’ve got two seniors and the rest of the guys are pretty young; but we’ve got a lot of talent and a lot of potential ability,” Stocke said. “We’ve just got to go out and play our best, and give our best shot at the conference tournament.”
Stocke said his goals are simple: make the all-tournament team.
“I’ve been on the all-conference team, but I’ve never been on the all-tournament team, which I think is the top eight,” Stocke said. “So that is one of my personal goals. That and helping to lead my team to the conference title.”
Aside from that, Stocke just hopes to help groom the YSU program for continued stability and success.
“Coming out here and practicing, keeping a consistent schedule and the way we prepare, are all very important,” he said. “We’re going down to tournaments the night before now, rather than driving up that morning. Just our preparation has changed. We’re getting out here every day and giving it our all.”