On Tuesday, May 21 Purcell Golf hosted a Kootenay Zone high school golf tournament featuring eight teams of five players competing in a stroke play format.
There were A, AA and AAA schools from the East and West Kootenays competing and each school within their division competed for a spot to go to the Provincials. The overall winner was determined by the lowest gross score of the top four of five players.
the teams were JL Crow, Kootenay Rivers Secondary, Selkirk Secondary, Mount Baker Secondary, Nakusp Secondary, Golden Secondary, Sparwood Secondary, and David Thompson Secondary.
“Overall, there was some great golf played,” said Selkirk coach Michael Gruggen. “Josh Tatton, of Golden Secondary School, shot a 76 and scored a hole-in-one on Hole 15. Coulter Henyecz from DTSS also scored 76 – these were the two lowest scores.
“Selkirk students fiercely competed, although Nate and Jake Murdoch would say they didn’t bring their A game, each shooting 92. Linden Keiver shot an 80, Keiran Stephan shot 84, and Lukas Carlson shot 87. Selkirk came second in the tournament, only losing out to DTSS by a collective 10 strokes.”
This is Gruggen’s first year coaching the golf team, after volunteering to take over former coach Jeremi Pakenham. Gruggen has in the past coached both the Senior Girls basketball team and the Selkirk Baseball team, but decided to take a break from coaching to focus his time and energy on his family at home.
“Rural sports are difficult to participate in with the amount of travel that is required of coaches on weekends throughout the year,” he explained. “With my girls getting a bit older now, Claire (5) and Annie (3), there was a bit more time to spread to other commitments.”
READ MORE: Golf begins to emerge from the winter in the East Kootenay
This year the Selkirk golf program grew to 25 players, with 22 boys and three senior girls. Most joined the team as beginner golfers, with 1o returning, developing players. Their season was hosted at Purcell Golf Course and assistant pro Dave Woytowich supported their practices every Tuesday and Thursday.
Practice consisted of half an hour of skill building and drills on the driving range, followed by nine holes of competitive stroke play.
The students’ scores were collated and ranked over a five week period, with the top five players chosen to represent Selkirk at the Zones tournament.
“In the last two practices there was a show down between four players: Finn Bohm, Keiran Stephen, Lukas Carlson, and Carter Chown, to determine our final 2 spots,” Gruggen explained.
“Finn (grade 10) won the 18 holes with a score of 85, followed by a tie between Keiran and Lukas (87) and Carter (93) coming last. Given that Keiran and Lukas are grade 12s, Finn graciously offered up his team spot so the seniors could represent in Zones one final time before graduating.”
Gruggen has played for nearly 30 years, from when he inheirited his grandfather’s Spalding wood drivers and old irons when he was 10. His dad would take him golfing at a course in Suable Beach, Ont. and he became hooked. He played on his high school team, the Regina Mundi College Titans and has continued to play recreationally ever since.
“What I love about golf and coaching, besides the feeling of a purely flushed iron that drops three feet from the pin, is disciplining and training the mind,” he said. “Golf is an incredibly frustrating sport and consistency is a fabled skill for most players. Emotions get the better of us on the links and often will degrade the quality of our performance.
“Golfers, or any athletes, who can control and contain the anger and frustration of a chunky wedge, or the excitement of a 16-foot birdie putt, will be able to transform their overall game to a higher level of competition. Outside the scope of the game and coaching, I also just love spending time, connecting with, and building relationships with students outside the classroom.”
