MATTOON - Those occasional disgusted looks on faces of some of Mattoon boys' golfers are a good sign to coach Bob Lockart.
"I think it's like any sport," Lockart said. "Some of the guys who have invested their time, when they don't play well it bothers them and they want to step back out there and do better. Last year it was more of a playful thing: ‘Oh, I shot a hundred.' "
So Lockart is still seeing some maturity even if this team of 24 players has only one senior.
The Green Wave does return three individual sectional qualifiers - that lone senior Chris Havlik and juniors Kris Heller and Tony Wente - from a team that placed fourth in the IHSA Class 2A Mattoon Regional and fifth in the Big 12 Conference.
Still, heading into Tuesday's season opener at the Bloomington Raider Classic, Lockart considers this a young and unproven Mattoon team.
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"When you look at our roster with only one senior it's going to be important for those guys who ranged from the low 80s to upper 90s for that range from high score to low to go down a little bit," Lockart said. "Our goal as a team is to have four guys shoot around 80 so we have a 320 for the 18-hole tournaments. Then we hope to knock some strokes off that. Until this group can have four guys consistently hit 80, we're going to be inconsistent."
Those good scores figure to start with the three returning regional qualifiers.
Heller qualified for the state two years ago as a freshman and then fell one stroke short of a return last year in his sophomore year that included a fifth place in the Big 12.
He played in a mini-tour this summer against some strong competition while several others played considerable golf as well.
"As far as the summer goes, it's probably the most consistent we've had," Lockart said. "We went a couple of days a week.
"We have a real good nucleus where we are starting with scores about where we ended last year. We expect some of those juniors who were in and out of the lineup now to be more consistent and knock some strokes off their scores."
From early preseason rounds juniors Gage Wetzel, Jordan Boldig and Ross Hutchinson and sophomore A.J. Diepholz appear to have joined Havlik, Heller and Wente as the seven players competing for the six varsity spots.
"I think we have a nice competition there and we also have some good competition for the JV spots," Lockart said. "I think that's important, that inner competition."
That could lead to success against other teams in a schedule that starts with Tuesday's tournament at the Weibring Golf Club, which is the site of the Class 2A state finals and again includes the Mattoon Invitational bringing some of the state's best players to the Sept. 10-11 tournament at Meadowview Golf Course and Mattoon Golf & Country Club.
"The first thing you want is for them to have fun and I want them to be competitive within themselves and like the competition," Lockart said. "That's always important."
Contact Brian Nielsen at bnielsen@jg-tc.com or 238-6856.