Marble Falls golfers focus on fun, not scores, at regional tournament
The 2020-21 Marble Falls High School boys golf team finished fifth at the Class 5A Region IV tournament. The squad includes assistant coach Rick Blackington (left), players Grant Norris, Waylon Hibbitts, Blake Turner, Bode Moss, Mason Neill, and Isaiah Ramirez, and head coach Lonnie Tackitt. Courtesy photo
The Marble Falls High School boys golf team and Lady Mustang Jordi Oelschleger did not advance out of the Class 5A Region IV tournaments, but players didn’t let that take the fun out of the game.
“Don’t worry about scores – just play golf,” head coach Lonnie Tackitt told them during the contests.
“It was a whole lot more enjoyable watching them have fun,” he said after the tournaments, which were held at Hyatt Hill Country Golf Club in San Antonio. “On the first day, they weren’t having any fun.”
During the boys’ tournament April 21-22, the Marble Falls team shot a 363 the first round but followed it up with a 337 the second round. The scores combined for 700 and fifth place. Grant Norris’ 88-79–167 and Blake Turner’s 88-80–168 led the squad. Waylon Hibbitts shot an 89-86–175, Mason Neill added a 98-92–190, and Isaiah Ramirez shot a 98-97–195.
“They played so much better,” Tackitt said. “We moved up from eighth (the first round) to fifth. We passed all those teams that were ahead of us.”
Oelschleger shot an 88-87–175 to finish 17th overall at the girls’ tournament April 19-20. She was two strokes away from qualifying for the state tournament.
“Jordi was very disappointed in her scores,” Tackitt said. “I told her, ‘You’re right there. You’re not in that bad of shape.’ She really did play well.”
Tackitt noted the first rounds for the boys team and Oelschleger were challenging.
“The first round (for the boys) was real difficult,” he said. “There were 30-mile-per-hour winds and upper-40s temperatures. The course was extremely difficult. When you see teams that normally shoot in the low 300s shoot in the mid-300s, you know it was a tough day. And when Jordi played on Monday and Tuesday, it was tough, too.”
The course’s challenging length and layout added to the high scores.
“The course was tougher than anything we played at in a long time,” Tackitt said.
Boerne Champion, San Antonio Alamo Heights, and Georgetown High will represent the region at state, which didn’t surprise Tackitt. Going into the tournament, he thought those three teams were the favorites.
“We knew the three that advanced should be the ones,” he said.
At the beginning of the school year, Tackitt believed all of his golfers had the potential to advance to the playoffs, and he is so proud to see them fulfill that.
“I looked for great things from these teams,” he said. “You never know what’s going to happen at regionals. We knew we were capable of really strong season. I’m really proud of them.”