In witnessing his War Eagle A and B golf teams just stay in contention after Day One in the District 14-5A championships being played at Raven’s Nest Golf Club in Huntsville, Coach Kevin Edmonson knew what his team needed to do. He has watched these competitors improve throughout the school year and had enough confidence in them to believe they could move into one of the two top spots on Day Two to earn a team regional berth. A tall order when you consider two of the three teams (Lufkin and The Woodlands) are ranked in the state ahead of Oak Ridge and the third being a resurgent College Park team that was shooting lights out. 
 
Besides his obvious confidence in his team, Edmonson had other reasons to believe his team could come back. Not the least of which was his #1 player, Grant Godfrey who ended Day One with an 83, was due for a low number on Day Two. B team player Drake Barlow shot the round of his life on Day One finding his name on the leader board with a 77. If that doesn’t get a team fired up, nothing will.
 
Even though the A team shot the second best score on Day Two, it just wasn’t meant to be and a regional berth will have to wait.
 
Coach Edmonson, “Well, to say that we are disappointed in today’s results is an understatement. We felt like we were one of the better teams in our district, and when you believe it as strongly as we did, it hurts to lose. Our kids fought hard
today, and I’m proud of them for that. Our A Team was making a move on the
front nine. We knew exactly where we stood with nine holes to play. We knew we
had to play the last nine holes very well, but we just fell short in the end.”
 
While walking the course, this 30 handicap noticed how tough the conditions were. The holes play east to west and the wind was blowing hard from the north. On top of that, the pin placements were ridiculously tough. No, I’m not golf educated enough to know that, but that was the term two of the coaches used when I inquired about pin placements. One alleged golf educated parent from an opposing school indicated the holes were set up in transition areas, making it all the more tough to sink a putt…..your guess is as good as mine.
 
“Edmonson describes it better, “It was a much tougher day today with the wind coming out of the north. The golf course plays much tougher with a north wind. Our A Team actually shot the second lowest team score today behind Lufkin’s 315, but we needed to put up a much lower number to clip College Park. With the exception of Tanner Keen, whoshot 78, our B Team struggled with the conditions. They played an outstanding first round by shooting 315, and they were within striking distance of a
regional berth as well. Every player on the B Team will be back next year, so
hopefully we can build on this experience, and be ready next year if we are
faced with the same circumstances.”
 
Grant Godfrey did put up a good number in these conditions finishing with a 77. With Grant recovering from a fracture in his left foot, you’d have to call that a gutsy effort. Godfrey is not the kind of athlete to make excuses, but with better conditions and better health, he’s in the 60′s on day 2. He played that good. ”He is a tough kid and a competitor”, Edmonson added.
 
The three seniors, Daniel Woods, Kendall Richardson and TJ Holm who were top 5 fixtures all year, will be missed next season. Coach Edmonson, “I feel bad for them because I know how much they wanted to make it to Waco and compete in the Regional Championship.”
 
What is refreshing about being around “Coach Ed” is he never offers excuses and always believes his team can win. Combine that with sportsmanship and you have a man that every parent would want their kid playing for as evidenced by his complimenting of Lufkin. “Lufkin’s display was real impressive. What’s even more impressive is that they are all underclassmen. We get to battle these same kids again next season.”

College Park seems to be peaking at the right time and came in behind Lufkin to grab the other regional berth.. They put up an impressive first round and did what they had to do on Day 2 to hold on. Even more impressive is how they held off both of the Woodlands teams for second. Edmonson knows that’s special, “That’s hard to do. The Woodlands had been to the State Tournament 10 years in a row, so getting out of district for them had not been an issue. Needless to say, our district is pretty deep this
year with talent.”
 
Coach Edmonson’s crew as well as the whole Oak Ridge golf community can hold their heads high knowing these athletes gave their all and did not back down. I saw these players today as well as their parents throughout the course. Not once did I see a player lose composure. Not once did I see a parent make a negative gesture when their kid made a less than perfect shot. In observing Coach Edmonson throughout the day, as competitive he is with the high expectations he has for his golfers, not once did he advertise disappointment.
 
Combine those three discriptions and you have a “team” which is pretty tough to pull off considering how golf is more of an individual game.
 
You know, Oak Ridge is getting good at everything. Although Coach Stewart’s basketball team advanced to the third round of the state playoffs and brought us all closer together, when all is said and done and the school has won multiple state championships in every sport, I’ll look back and remember how basketball AND golf showed us all how to win first. 
 
I’ll be honest, when I started hearing how golf was #17 in the state, # 3 in the state, winning in Bastrop and more, I couldn’t believe it. Oak Ridge golf putting us on the map? Get out of here! It’s amazing how far they’ve come because I remember watching a War Eagle football game with Coach Edmonson four years ago. He had recently started coaching Oak Ridge having been a golf pro. I had asked him how he sees his Oak Ridge golf program. “Well, we have a lot of hard work in front of us. I’m not saying we are destitute here in Oak Ridge but our kids aren’t members of country clubs. Most haven’t played much golf at all and some are starting from scratch. I guess you could say we come in with a disadvantage but it’s nothing we can’t eventually overcome. Sometimes, coaching isn’t about the right swing, it’s about teaching the basics to beginners who have never played before like golf etiquette-not walking in someone elses lie and so forth.”
 
Here we are four years later and his players are no longer starting from scratch,
they are almost playing scratch golf.
 
For seniors Woods, Richardson and Holm, who led the team to its best finish in Oak Ridge 5-A history, you can look back on this season forever knowing you led the team to new heights. You were stars and your teammates followed your lead enabling them to be as good as they could be. For that, in a few years when you are 21 and we are playing a round of golf together, when we get to the clubhouse after the round the Ladouls are on me. So you have that going for you.
 
Oak Ridge golf leading us to the promised land….Who’d a thunk it?

14-5A Boys District Golf Results
April 7-8, 2010
Raven Nest Golf Club, Huntsville (Par 71)

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