The Wright City golf squad features several returning contributors and a strong roster size in Zack Gorman’s first season at the helm of the program. 

After serving as an assistant soccer coach the past few years, Gorman is in his first year at the helm of the boys golf program. The Wildcats return Dustyn Bailey, Steve Cox, Aiden O’Donnell and Kye Schnarre this season. The four golfers all competed at the district meet last season. The Wildcats also feature a good number of golfers who are new to the team, including some that never played golf before. 

“We’ve got kids of all different levels,” Gorman said. “Some of them, it’s more about getting their feet wet and getting out and playing in a match to see what it’s like. Whereas, some are going out to compete. And I think that’s really the difference between varsity and junior varsity.” 

Gorman’s goal for the Wright City varsity golfers is for their top four golfers at each meet to shoot a total team score under 500. They shot over 500 at every 18 hole meet last season. 

“You start by shooting in the 40s,” Gorman said. “That’s kind of my goal is to do better than last year. I have those guys coming back so I don’t think it’ll be difficult. You’ve got one kid going from a freshman to a sophomore is a big age difference maturity wise and how you play a game. So hopefully that helps.”

Early in practice, Gorman’s focus for the Wright city golfers was to make good contact with the ball. They also spent time working around the greens. Gorman believes golfers lose a lot of strokes around the green, especially at the high school level. 

“You have to really play that mental aspect for sure and just keep them level headed in a match where you can get a lot of strokes really quick,” Gorman said. “So mentally, they need to be ready to play. 

Wright City is scheduled to compete in the Bulldog Golf Meet March 29 in Louisiana.