In his second year coaching the Leopards’ boys golf program, Kevin Bittinger feels his golfers are ready to impact the 2021 season. Leading off from last year’s district win creates a competitive outlook to keep those titles as a yearly goal and for the team to dominate the green.
“As a coach, I want to continue to establish the program,” said Bittinger. “We took some huge steps last year. We went undefeated, and we won districts. I think that is a big step if you want to build your program, it helps to be successful.”
Last year young golfers made that transition into the 2021 fall season go smoothly, but not after implementing a few adjustments.
“We are a team that people want to play because we have quality golfers. And for the team, I want them to get better individually, but I also want them to continue to learn how to play the game as a team. A lot of kids think golf is an individual sport, but in all actuality, it’s a team sport.” said Bittinger. “The big thing for me is their mental approach. When you play golf, bad things happen all the time. You hit bad shots, and you can’t let that affect you from one shot to the next. The most I can do for them is to try to improve their mental game and how they approach one shot at a time.”
The season’s matches begin in August as the Leopards compete on the green to completely focus on collecting those low numbers. They match up with Springstead on the 24th, River Ridge on the 26th, and Nature Coast Tech on the 31.
“The target’s on us, and it should be. I think we are looking at a special year,” said Bittinger. “There are times where you’re rebuilding, and there are times where you are looking to compete, and we are looking to compete every time we play. We’re focused on scoring at every match, and I feel we can put some pretty good scores out there this year.”
