By DAVID COLBURN

News editor

Last year’s state-qualifying Goessel golf team left some big shoes to fill, none bigger than junior exchange student Michal Holada, who placed second.

Rhett Makovec and Miguel Guerrero also departed, but coach Chad Lindeman’s 14-member team includes three members of that team intent on returning to the state tournament.

“We have three guys with experience,” Lindeman said. “Braden Roby, a senior; Carson Sterk, who’s a senior; and Dylan Lindeman, a sophomore. I’m hoping to find one more to make a team. I have a couple of guys in mind. We’ll just have to develop them and see how it goes here at the beginning.”

While the trio has shared experience, each has his own style.

“Braden drives really well, putts pretty well, and his in-between game is pretty good, too,” Lindeman said. “For Dylan, putting is probably his weakness right now, so being consistent on putts and reading the greens is important. Carson does pretty good, too — it’s primarily the mindset part and managing the course, what clubs to use when and what should you do.

“That probably goes for all of them. Course management is huge at this level. That’s probably the biggest thing we work with right now.”

The rest of the team is characterized by youth and inexperience, including some swinging clubs for the first time. Some in that group will have to develop quickly if the Bluebirds want to make another state run.

“I’ll just kind of rotate until I get a good regional team,” Lindeman said.

Without an assistant, Lindeman has to rely on the team’s work ethic.

“When you have one coach and you have 14 people you have to be resilient and you have to be willing to work by yourself,” he said. “Being by myself, it’s hard to get to everybody, especially when you have kids who’ve never golfed before. The upperclassmen help the others out, too. If I send them out and say, ‘I want you to putt’ or ‘I want you to go chip,’ they go do it. I don’t see them messing around somewhere or sitting around talking. They work hard, they’re here to get better. They talk about returning to state, and they can do it if they want.”