STARKVILLE — Doug Cater took over Starkville Academy’s golf program in 2020, with his first actual season on the course being 2021.
From the outset, he looked to build the roster from the ground up, with hopes down the road of competing among the best in the region.
Two years later, bolstered by a roster of young talent, the Volunteers head to the North State Tournament in Greenville not just looking to qualify for the next tournament. They’re looking to win the whole thing.
“Things have gone beyond my expectations,” Cater said. “My expectation was to really try and compete this year and see if we could better ourselves. Maybe hover around the 90s and try to break 90, but we’ve consistently been breaking 80.”
Leading the charge has been two eighth graders, Ty Marconi and Christian Riekhof, both of whom have put together solid tournament performances over the course of the season.
At Starkville Academy’s home tournament on March 20 at Starkville Country Club, Riekhof led the Vols with a 78 on the day and placed fifth individually among the 85 golfers who participated.
Two weeks later at Meridian/Lamar Country Club, Marconi returned the favor, shooting a 78 to pace SA in a tournament where the Vols finished second as a team.
“I feel pretty good,” Riekhof said. “I think we’ve done well compared to last year and I feel like we’re only going to keep getting better.”
With a younger roster, the Vols have four to five years of development for those players to get stronger and more consistent on the course.
Those changes are already beginning to take place as drives are going further and the hole strategy is approaching that of playing for par instead of bogey or double bogey.
That extra carry makes all the difference with club selection.
“We’ve gained 15 to 20 yards since last year, even more for some of us,” Marconi said. “We’re now able to have 8, 9 irons in almost every hole instead of hitting 6, 7 irons.”
From its first tournament, the Oak Hill Invitational on Feb. 20-21, to its most recent tournament, Starkville Academy has improved over 30 strokes as a team, finishing with a team score of 321 on Monday.
Progress has been substantial in a short period of time and Cater is excited for where that will take the program in just under two weeks’ time and beyond that point.
“We recognize that we’re up against a significant competitor in Bayou Academy who has established themselves,” Cater said. “They’re there to win North State and win state, so we’re going to do all we can to take that away from them. … Just the attitude that we have of competing, these guys are competing at a high level. Honestly, to be able to take a team that was non-competitive in my first two years and now we’re seeing it really accelerate to a level where we’re going to be competing with the best in the state.”
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