Golf coach ‘disappointed terribly’

Lee Kauftheil
Mesa Legend

The men’s golf team has not kept pace with their improving opponents this season. Last year the MCC golf team finished third in the conference; this year MCC is ranked as eight out of nine teams.
Coach Les Wimp said he “was disappointed terribly” this season.
Only one out of the eight players on the team is returning from last season. The team has finished four out of the six tournaments scheduled this year and with only two more matches, Wimp said he feels that they are positioned to finish eighth with a possibility to move up one slot if the team turns its attitude around.
Wimp stated almost all other teams in the conference had improved and come out strong compared to previous seasons. He added that the only team that had not shown improvement this year was the ninth placed team, Easter Arizonian Community College.
Wimp singled out Gateway Community College who is in third place this year. “Last year Gateway was a doormat,” he said.
Andrew Johnson, one of the team’s top players according to Wimp, said he thought there is always room for improvement and plans to keep practicing. He also said he had hoped to make it to the national tournament and would like to make a strong showing in the next two matches.
Wimp said that he thought all of his players could play a par game but added that they were not playing to their potential. He also noted that the team seemed distracted but he did not know why. He felt that “they have not produced; they are all capable players but they are not where they ought to be.”
Johnson said he thought the team could “take it a little more seriously, and try harder.”
There are no handicaps in the conference matches, but Wimp commented that if he had to give his players handicap numbers, they would be between twos and fours.
Roy Farris, the only second-year player for the T-birds, said he was feeling good about the season. In the matches he has played he has been one of the top players. He said he thought he could work on his putting and that the overall team needed more low-scoring players.
In their last few games, a small number of strokes could have made the difference between a seventh-place showing and a fifth-place showing.
Wimp mentioned a respect for his team and their personal lives, but a disappointment with their performance.

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