ROCKINGHAM – This spring, the Richmond Senior High School boy’s golf team will once again be under the leadership of Coach Al Reams. Reams led the 2016 Raiders to a second-place Southeastern Conference finish, and a trip to regionals before taking a one-year hiatus from the program to coach the Ninth Grade Academy baseball team last spring.
Since the school will not field a freshmen baseball team this year, Reams has returned to guide a very young group of Raider golfers into the newly formed Sandhills Athletic Conference.
Even though it has only been 2 years since Reams helmed the program, there have been many changes, both internally and externally that will make this season both exciting and challenging.
The first big factor that will affect Richmond’s 2018 campaign is the youth of the team.
“Half of our golfers are freshmen,” Reams said. “There are five coming back and five freshmen. It’s really good to have something to build on, but it is also important to have that senior leadership.”
There are a few golfers returning from Reams’ 2016 team, but he will be without some of his other experienced players and will need some of his newer additions to step up.
“We had a couple of guys move away and one that just doesn’t play anymore,” Reams explained. “Most of the freshmen played middle school golf, so the good news is that there is no one on the team who has never played.”
This year’s team will be made up of seniors Evan Mabe and Cordell Nelson, junior Kyle Goodwin, sophomores Evan McFayden and Jordan Lambert, and freshmen Jonathan Rich, Carter Richardson, Jacob Puckett, Will Thompson and Jackson Mabe.
Another challenge Reams’ team faces is the lack of facilities to be able to effectively practice.
“We no longer have a golf course in Richmond County, so we practice and play our home matches at Deercroft (in Wagram), Reams explained. “I wish we had somewhere more local to play, but we just don’t.”
Despite the 25-mile commute to Deercroft, the team has still found a way to get in some quality practice time. According to Reams, they manage to make the trip two to three times per week, but he still encourages all of them to practice on the weekends.
“I think golf in this county is hurting because there is no course,” Reams explained. “We don’t have a driving range to go to. We have nowhere to practice the little things, chipping, putting, that kind of thing.
“My first time coaching the team, I had kids that could play all the time,” he continued. “They grew up playing at Richmond Pines before it closed. Now the kids have to travel to places like Cheraw, Deercroft or Pinehurst that are 30 to 45 minutes away. Many of them can’t do that. Since half of our team is freshmen, they aren’t even old enough to drive yet. So, their parents have to take them. It can be hard for them to get out and practice.”
Jack Britt and Seventy-First high schools joined the conference this year, changing the six-school Southeastern Conference into the eight-school Sandhills Athletic Conference. The addition of two new schools affects how many Raiders can compete each week.
“With two new teams joining the conference, you’re going to have about ten more golfers to get out on the course each match,” Reams explained. “This reduces the number of players that we can take, so each week the players will have the opportunity to qualify for the match. We’ll get together twice this week, have them play four holes, and the lowest five scorers will go to participate in the upcoming match.”
At each match, the five golfers representing the school will play 18-holes. The team score at each match will be determined by using the four lowest scores from the five participants. Teams will be awarded points based on where they finish in each match. The final conference standings will be determined by combining those points.
The season will “tee off” at Bayonet at Puppy Creek in Raeford on Monday, March 12. The conference teams will then travel to Gates Four Country Club in Fayetteville on March 19, followed by trip to Pinecrest Country Club on March 26.
Richmond will play host to the SAC teams at Deercroft on April 9. Then the regular season will wrap up with another trip to Gates Four on April 16, followed by a match at Pinehurst Resort on April 23.
“I’m excited to see how they do this year,” Reams concluded. “I don’t have any expectations of where we are going to finish in the conference, I just want them to each get better as a player and as a person.”
