In the past few years, golf has become more noticeable in local and national news. Local professional golfer Ryan Palmer has become a well-recognized name and 2013 Randall graduate Justin Jennings received a golf scholarship to the University of Nebraska. The RHS golf team is no exception to this, using their fall season as a build up.

“We are really using this fall season to prepare for the Spring and work on the areas that need improvement and with such depth,” coach Jeff Fields said. “We have 8 or 9 kids battling for a position on varsity every week, so it is nice to have a competitive balance in practice to keep the kids motivated.”

The preparation since last year has already begun to show in the players’ personal games.

“What I felt like in the past was our worst area has turned out to be our biggest strength this year, our short game,” Fields said. “We really focus on putting and chipping in practice and it is beginning to pay off with kids shooting better scores.”

Seniors Daniel Hix and Jared Jennings, junior Clay Lankford and sophomore Brady Tredway are the returning golfers to the team.

“What excites me the most is 3 returning varsity letterman and a lot of good young talented players that are passionate about the game,” Fields said. “Hopefully they will use this year to develop and we can continue to have opportunities to be competitive in golf [tournaments].”

As a team, Fields said the biggest obstacle will be improving the team’s driving and ball striking, but the fairway percentage is down from a year ago and that puts a lot of pressure on the rest of your game.

“The team goal for the year is to win 2 invitational tourneys and win the district championship which would give us a berth in the Regional [Tournament],” Fields said.”