Houlton golfers head to Regionals tomorrow

After losing five starters from his team, Houlton golf coach Bruce Nason wasn’t sure what to expect this year. He knew it would be a tough road.
    “If the kids wanted to work hard and spend time on their game, they could do pretty well, which they are,” he added.
The Shires are 7-1 entering Thursday’s Regionals.
“They have played consistent,” said Nason. “They are playing pretty well, but their course management skills need a lot of work, as does their short game, their chipping, putting and pitching. Those are things we need to do well and improve upon before the Regionals.”
Nason said his two top golfers are Ian Gervais and Nick Chase. Others coming along in their play and showing a lot of improvement are Logan Shaffer, Gage Flewelling, Parker Sanderson, Ethan Quint, Mike Ring, Ben Flewelling, Isaac Brown, Eric Cone and Zach Ritchie.
“The discrepancy this year is our away matches,” said Nason. “We are not playing with good course management. We are not playing the ball in the fairway and staying out of trouble. We are all having a tough time with that. It has to be addressed and worked on.”
Nason wants his players to continue working on their short game.
“They have done well so far,” he said. “I’m happy with the progress they are making so far. I want to see improvement  at away courses so we aren’t shooting high scores. At the Regionals, we are playing on a course that can get to you in a hurry if you are not using good course management skills.”
The Shires will be playing their Regional Meet at JaTo Highlands in Lincoln.
“They need to play consistent,” said Nason. “Par is a great score. Bogey is not a bad score, but when we start getting doubles, triples and quads that’s when your score balloons and we play stroke play so that is where we get in trouble.”
Last season, the Shires were the Class B state runners-up, losing by four strokes. This year, the Shires are playing in Class C.
“It isn’t an easy road,” said Nason. “Class C has some great teams in the lower part of the state. If we qualify, we will have to compete against them.”