A young Ames boys golf team plans on challenging for a conference championship in 2022
It's a new year and a new conference for the Ames boys golf team.
The Little Cyclones are heading into the 2022 season with a lot of inexperience but also a lot of high hopes.
“A lot of these guys haven’t played many of the courses we’ve played on,” Ames head coach R.J. Voss said. “It’ll be a learning experience this season and I’m looking forward to it.”
The Little Cyclones moved from the CIML Iowa to the Iowa Alliance Conference this season. They'll be joined by Marshalltown, Fort Dodge, Ottumwa, Waterloo East, Des Moines Lincoln, Des Moines Roosevelt, Des Moines East, Des Moines North and Des Moines Hoover.
Though his team lacks experience, Voss is confident they can do well in the new conference. Voss expects Marshalltown will be the toughest competitor for Ames.
But the Ames coach said he knows there will likely be some pitfalls as his young golfers figure out the varsity game and adjust to a different schedule that included a later start than usual. The Little Cyclones open Tuesday at the IAC North meet against Fort Dodge, Waterloo East and Mason City in Fort Dodge.
“A whole new conference and a whole new everything this year,” Voss said. “Playing these quads, triangulars and nine-hole deals are different.”
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Voss said having the Veenker Memorial Golf Course in Ames as the Little Cyclones' home course could prove to be an advantage for his younger golfers as they adjust to the varsity game. But they will have to be patient.
“Playing at Veenker gets them ready for everywhere else, but on the other side it’s hard to build confidence,” Voss said. “It’s such a difficult golf course.”
Senior Elliott Sternberg will be the top golfer to start the season for Ames. Sternberg shot a nine-hole average score of 44 and an 87 over 18 holes last year, ranking third on the team with an overall average score of 43.59.
“I’d like to make state,” Stenberg said. “If not as a team, I’d love to make it myself.”
Stenberg plans to do all he can to help the younger golfers along, especially at Veenker.
“Being a senior and playing a lot of these courses, I’ll be talking about the challenges and tough shots,” Stenberg said. “They’ve got to learn how to play this course and they will.”
The other senior leaders on the team are Sutton Battles, John Becker and Anahad Sharma.
Freshman Jackson Kepley and sophomore Bowen Flemming will take up the next two spots. Flemming shot an overall average score of 43.43 a year ago.
Sophomore Ashton Richey and junior Nick Alexander will likely be in the fourth and fifth spots to start the season. Voss said it will be a toss-up for the sixth and final varsity spot.
“Once I get some meet scores we'll see if they’re ballers or not when it means something,” Voss said. “That makes a big difference where they're playing.”
The Little Cyclone coach feels his team has the potential to win some hardware this year.
“We’re going to have a pretty solid squad,” Voss said. “Marshalltown and us are probably the two teams at the top of the conference. Our goal is to win conference. I think that could happen.”
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Inexperience not holding Ames back heading into 2022 boys golf season
