Golf tryouts spark discussion

     Change is sometimes welcomed with open arms at Silver Lake, but one new policy has sparked discussion with parents and athletes.

     Jim Lindstrom, athletic director, and Jerry Bollig, head golf coach, decided to make tryouts mandatory for the boys’ golf team this year. Tryouts have never been required for any other sport at Silver Lake High School.

     According to Lindstrom and Bollig, based on the 26 golfers out last season, there simply was not enough time to get all the golfers to more than one practice a week. They said that was not enough to offer a competitive environment for all of Silver Lake’s more serious golfers.

     “We could only get practices at so many courses a year so we were limited with the quality of time we could have with our better golfers,” said Lindstrom.

     Bollig had similar ideas about the need for the cut.

     “The practice schedules [last year] weren’t fair to the real competitive golfers, so this year we decided to cut and go more streamline in our practices… there is a fine line between the novice golfer, the one that golfs once or twice a year, and the kid that golfs quite a bit during the off-season. I really hate to cut… but since we use other people’s facilities, we have to maintain small numbers… we are using other people’s courses and don’t have our own facilities, so we can only take six to practice at a time,” said Bollig.

     Lindstrom explained why tryouts were needed for golf only.

“Well, the main reason is we like participation. We ask kids to go out and coaches work hard to ask kids to go for minor sports and major sports. Golf [however], due to the number of facilities and where we have to travel and rely upon, we did not feel it was fair to take only six boys [out of the 26 in golf] out a day because then everyone only can practice once a week. We could accommodate those who wanted to go out, but we couldn’t accommodate being a competitive golf team,” said Lindstrom.

     Having that many golfers just became too much of a burden to coach Bollig, so he worked to get help. Bollig received his wish in the form of Bill Childs, the new assistant golf coach.

     “The school board approved an assistant to take some of the burden off of me, and my assistant is very knowledgeable about the game. He can help the kids with the mechanics of their swing, and he’s just a nice all-around guy… so it’s just a good fit,” said Bollig.

     Both Lindstrom and Bollig believed that having tryouts was an innovative idea because it gives the golf team a competitive edge and also gives the golfers a sense of accomplishment when they know they made the team.

     “Tryouts were, more or less, a good idea. If a kid really wants to make the team they can join summer league, take lessons, and play golf in the off-season. So if you really wanted to make the team you could improve and be serious and go out for the team, and probably make it,” said Bollig.

     As far as tryouts in other sports, Lindstrom does not believe that there will be a need to cut from any other athletic team. The tryouts will blend well with the golf program but will not be used in any other sport.

     In fact, he said the only reason that tryouts will be incorporated in sports in the future will be if there is a limited amount of coaches, space, or practice facilities.

     “As long as we can furnish practice facilities and coaches, I don’t think there will be a need for limited squads in any other sports,” said Lindstrom.

     The tryout idea seems to have worked. The boys’ golf team has placed first, second, or third in every tournament that they have competed in this year.

     “We are confident, but not complacent since we know that one or two members can have a poor game that ruins it for the team. This is my first season that the team concept is really finding a foundation. It used to be ‘me’ rather than ‘we’,” said Bollig.

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