The high school golf season is up and running, with the local linksters hosting their first event of the season out of Eagle Mountain this past Monday, March 7.

The squad will skip out on competition through spring break next week, returning to the course on March 21. The Falcons will be welcomed to Hillcrest Country Club by the host school, Northwest Christian, for a 3:30 p.m. event.

Heading up the team this season is new head coach Willie Dudley, who has a large enough roster to field both a varsity and JV squad this season.

“We’re pretty young, but we’ve got some good talent for their age and, as time goes on, I think they’re going to become pretty doggone good,” Dudley said.

“Our standout golfers, so far, would be Robbie Trudeau, Dean Trimble and Matt Ruby. Golf is a mental game, so now we're just working on getting those kids, and the rest of the team, mentally ready to compete.”

The Falcon roster is 14 deep this season, broken into seven on JV and seven on varsity.

“The courses we play every day are difficult,” Dudley continued.

“Those courses can just eat you up if you’re not on the fairway. But when it's narrow and leaves not much room for error, when they get to a wider course to compete, they’re going to love it.”

Dudley said he wanted to give special recognition to the local courses that have, once again, opened their doors to the team for practice and competitions. FireRock, We-Ko-Pa, Eagle Mountain, Desert Canyon and SunRidge Canyon have all welcomed the Falcons, giving them a different course to practice on every day of the week.

Dudley is working without an assistant this season, but he said wrangling 14 golfers is different than what a coach might face in other sports.

“Golf is such an individual sport,” he continued.

“You put some on the putting green, some on the range and you do your best to work with them. They all want to get their game better, so they spend the time necessary to do that.”

With only a couple of weeks into practice, Dudley said the Falcons are putting in good effort.

“There are a couple kids who are making some really good progress and that's great to see,” he continued.

“I tell all of them that the best lesson I ever got in golf was to line up straight and swing straight. It sounds silly, but you’d be amazed. People tend to play to the left or the right and line up their shot to make up for that. The best thing you can learn is how to line up straight and swing straight. From there, the degree to which you miss becomes much more manageable.”

Dudley said that golf is a long-term game, so he’s keeping the goals long-term, too.

“The goal is to get them to the point where their game is serious, and they’re getting there,” Dudley said.

“I don't know how we'll compete until we get out on the course, but I hope we're a competitive group. I just hope that the ones who have the potential to become good golfers reach that point where they see their game change...The goal is to have them feel the pressure, but then to respond and play like it's not there.”