Preps: Youth golf gives boost to Rancho High

Spencer Patterson

Thursday, Oct. 8, 1998 | 10:56 a.m.

Forfeits and the Rancho High School girls golf team have been an inseparable pair for most of the 1990s.

Thanks to the three-year-old Southern Nevada Inner-City Youth Golf Association, however, there may be light at the end of the tunnel for the Rams.

Since 1996, the program has provided opportunities to 100 students from five area middle schools to get involved with the sport. And this season, that's translating into success for the long downtrodden Rancho squad.

The Rams opened the season with six golfers, allowing them not only to post a team score, but also to utilize the district's "best 5-of-6" scoring advantage.

Since then, things have reverted to the norm a bit, with one golfer transferring, two more quitting the team and another suffering a season-ending injury.

But first-year Rams' head coach Jim Hart, also the executive director of the inner-city program, remains optimistic thanks to the presence of juniors Darlene and Heather Andrade and an expected influx of eighth grade golfers next season.

"It's allowed Rancho to start having a golf team," Hart said. "This year, we'll finish with two, but we have quite a few girls in the inner-city program who will come to Rancho next year."

The Andrade sisters, along with Clark's Lisa Phillips and Valley's Latisha Stanton, were products of Hart's inner-city program, picking up the sport for the first time in middle school and developing into legitimately competitive golfers.

"Most of them didn't know anything about the sport," Hart said. "Two years ago, they could barely carry their clubs. Now, they have a good chance to go zone."

Indeed, the Andrades are in good position to reach the upcoming Southern Zone Golf Tournament, scheduled for next Tuesday at Rhodes Ranch. Both sisters currently boast nine-hole averages near 50, five strokes under the qualification cutoff.

"If we can't qualify as a team, it's good to individualize yourself," Darlene said.

And the sister know that maybe someday soon, forfeits will be a thing of the past and the Rams may have the opportunity to compete at zone as a team.

"We're just getting people started, but hopefully, after we leave, there will be people here to continue it," Darlene said.

"The people in the (inner-city) program are learning more, and if they come here, that will help Rancho," Heather said.