Boles hopes to rebuild Skylight Golf
Havre
Daily News Sports Editor
New Montana State University-Northern golf
coach Dave Boles has a simple
philosophy: If youıre going to have a sport, you might as
well do it right.
Boles takes over
this season for
³I actually golfed with Dave Gantt
(MSU-Northern athletic director) in the Skylights golf tournament,² he said. ³And I enquired about the position. And two days
later I was hired. It all happened pretty fast.²
A longtime Havre resident, Boles inherits a
program that really hasnıt had much success in the past few years, and thatıs
something he hopes to change.
The Skylights return just two golfers from
last yearıs team in Julie Wagner and Anita Strommen.
Wagner is a former Havre High golf standout and was a solid scorer last season.
Strommen had some very good rounds in the limited
tournament action the team saw.
They will be joined by Heather Riener, Chelsie Searle and
Hinghamıs Heather Haas.
Riener golfed for
the team two years ago. Searle was recruited to play both golf and basketball.
Haas joined the team this summer.
Boles said he isnıt above adding more
golfers to the program this year. If there is a student at Northern who excels
at golf, he will definitely take that person into consideration.
³Iıd like to open it up and see if there is
anyone interested,² he said. ³We may even have a
little money for them. But I am also going to work hard with the girls I have.²
Boles, whose wife, Tammy, is an assistant
volleyball coach, is familiar with the history of the program and what it has
gone through in recent memory.
³I really respected what Chris Handley did
when he started this program,² Boles said. ³He really
got things off the ground. However, it kind of changed after he resigned. The
past few years, theyıve kind of just filled in the position with assistants
from others programs.²
Boles doesnıt see himself
as just a fill-in. He will coach as long as he can or is wanted.
³With my job and family, I am set here in
Havre,² he said. ³So I want to really build this
program into something.²
To do that, he is going to change some
things up in the program, particularly in terms of practice.
³I believe in practicing to play,² Boles said. ³I donıt consider going out and just playing
a quick nine holes every day as practice. We are going to work on all facets of
the game every day.²
Boles will be the first to admit he is no
golf pro or teacher. Instead, he will enlist the help of former PGA teaching
pro Jim Kato, who was last yearıs assistant coach.
³Jim is a great teacher,²
he said. ³Weıve talked already about some things. But Iım
really going to defer to him on the teaching aspects. Iım more about
organization.²
The organizational aspect will include a
daily practice schedule with set times for work on each part of a playerıs
game.
³We are going to spend a little time every
day chipping, some time on the range and some time on putting,²
he said. ³We will also work on things like reading putts and understanding
situations.²
However, all of that practice will have to
wait. Boles will met with his team to go over his practice schedule and
basically get them familiar with who he is and what he expects. They will begin
practice officially on Thursday.
³The first week I want to see what their
golf background is and how much we need to work on,²
Boles said. ³We will also spend the first couple of days working with the girls
on determining the distances they hit each of their clubs.²
The Skylights will up against some stiff
competition in the Frontier Conference.
But Bolesı biggest concern is just building
the program from within.
³I want to give them every opportunity to
succeed,² he said. ³I am very dedicated to the girls
and helping them find success. I want them to get something out of this program
other than golfing a few months out of the year.²