It appears all the way around this year, the Douglas High boys' golf team is going to be about taking baby steps.
"For me, I'm going to be taking a different approach coming into the year " just taking baby steps," said four-year varsity player Eric Guzman, one of only two seniors on the Tigers' roster this year. "I just want to focus on the little things and hopefully after that, everything else will fall into line."
Indeed, it's an approach head coach Brent Eddy is hoping his entire team will take on this season.
"Fundamentals are going to be key for us," Eddy said, after assigning his team to an hour's worth of drills on the putting green during practice last Thursday. "If a kid can chip and putt, they won't have to hit the ball a mile to get a good score.
"These first couple of weeks are going to simply be about getting the fundamental things down on a consistent basis. We're really going to spend a lot of time on the greens."
With only three returning starters from a team that qualified for regionals last year, Eddy said he'll literally be building from the ground up.
"We've got two seniors, four juniors and after that it's a whole lot of freshmen and sophomores," he said. "It's really kind of rebuilding year for us. There'll probably be three spots open at the varsity level for someone to step up and take."
The new faces haven't gone unnoticed by the team's veterans.
"I actually don't know a lot of them just yet," Guzman said. "They're kind of a quiet group, but they seem like they enjoy working hard. That'll be important, for guys to buy into the program and see where it gets us."
One face that is far from new for the Tigers is junior standout Thomas Wicker, who finished last season as the top point-scorer in the Sierra League, which earned him his second-consecutive trip to the state championships.
"I've been playing a lot over the summer, but one thing that has really kind of been a bummer about living here is it's a lot harder to practice during the winter months," Wicker said. "I've been working a lot on my swing, but you can't really stress the short game much. You can put indoors all you want, but you can't really chip or anything.
"Coming into the year, I've really just been refining my swing and working on my balance."
His improvement since the end of last season hasn't gone unnoticed.
"Thomas has gotten a lot more confident in his game," Eddy said. "He plays all year, gotten some good experience and when it comes to tournament time, he's not tight at all out there.
"He expects big things out of himself, but he knows he can compete at this level. He knows what it takes to get to state and also how to compete once he gets there."
Eddy said he is also looking for Guzman and fellow senior Trevor Wentz to round out the team's top three spots.
"I'm expecting big things for those two, not just on the course, but also in terms of taking on some leadership for these younger guys, showing them how we do things," Eddy said.
If Douglas is going to repeat its regional appearance from last season, it'll have to get through a much deeper Sierra League field this season to do so.
League realignment brough traditional powers Galena and Manogue, along with always-competitive Fallon in while dropping also-rans like North Valleys and Hug.
"Regionals is always a goal of ours," Eddy said. "If we're going to make it, we're going to have to get past a couple of really solid teams to do so.
"It'll be much more challenging to get there this year."
n Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
