Submitted by Coach Jack Rice

To earn a spot in the state golf tournament is quite an accomplishment. Dylan Posenjak continued playing well and finished 25th out of the elite field of 40. As a junior, this is Dylan’s first trip to the big show and he conducted himself with pride and honor.

I classify Horn Rapids as a target golf course. It is cut out of the sage and is being surrounded by a housing development under construction. The course required a lot of strategy and local knowledge. Dylan only used his driver once all day.

Every tee shot was a layup with a utility club or three wood to a small green target called the fairway. The greens were large, so looking at 50 to 70-foot putts wasn’t uncommon. Dylan shot 42 the front nine with three 3 putts and one train wreck on a par 5.

Then the heat, as well as the stop and go plays started to bother all the players. The high temperature for the day was 97! You can imagine the coach and player coming from San Juan where we have barely seen the temperature in the 60’s trying to handle the heat. The tournament officials anticipated heat stroke problems so they had water on every other hole. To top it off, the officials put the 80 lady golfers out first. Horn Rapids is a difficult course and pace of play was brought to a crawl. It took us almost four hours to play the front nine. We played the back nine in three hours and 10 minutes. A seven hour round of golf in that heat might be a record. The players’ legs, their concentration and the coaches all gave out. I knew I was on the verge of heat stroke when I walked off and left my umbrella on the bench two holes in a row.

I was pouring water down Dylan like he was in a shower. We kept a wet golf towel on his head in an attempt to keep him cool. On the back nine, we could see the player’s legs giving out. I’d bet the average scores were 8 to 9 shots higher on the back nine. You might say we coastal folks were not used to that kind of heat.

I couldn’t have been prouder of Dylan. He hung in there and fought for every stroke all the way to the finish. On the final hole, I thought we were going to have to surround the green with car’s headlights on so he could see to putt out! Dylan is already talking about next year and how excited he is about competing again in the state tournament. Congratulations go out to all 24 members, boys and girls, for another great season of golf. Let’s do it again.