Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2004 | 9:46 a.m.
Trouble is brewing in the world of high school golf.
Day after day, several Clark County schools' golf teams show up to their home course, knowing they're going to lose not because of the strength of the competition, but simply because they don't have enough players.
An increasing number of Clark County schools don't have the required five players to participate in a dual match, meaning they automatically forfeit the match as a team. While the number of forfeits tends to stabilize as the year goes on, it's still been a cause for concern for golf coaches and supporters who fear that dramatic changes to level the playing field could, in the end, hurt all schools.
"There's definitely a problem," said Jane Schlosser, executive director of the Southern Nevada Junior Golf Association. "There's not enough girls to go around for all the high schools that we have right now."
At present, each team is supposed to play six golfers in a dual match, and take the top five scores to make a team score. Even if a team only has five, they still can compete with those top five scores, but with some team scores approaching the 400-stroke barrier while others hover in the low- to mid-200s, the quality of competition has gone down.
"The quality of girl golfers we have right now is not that good, so a lot of girls are fearful of golf," Schlosser said. "We have a lot of schools having to grab girls out of PE classes, and that kind of ruins the caliber of play. A lot of girls don't know how to play golf, and the coaches don't have time or the facilities to teach them."
Last year, the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association put forth a proposal to have teams play six but only count four scores, according to Donnie Nelson, the NIAA's Assistant Director. Nelson said that proposal got mixed support from the 4A schools, but the schools at the 1A and 2A levels shot that down.
Bishop Gorman coach Kelsey McCall, whose Gaels girls are the defending state champions, said he didn't think reducing the number of scores counted was fair. The Gaels, led by 16-year old In-Bee Park, who has competed in LPGA events, are the clear favorites to repeat this year as state champions.
"If we go where we reduce the numbers, I think we're going backwards in the sense that we're not giving the girls the opportunity, even though maybe there aren't that many girls golfers out there," McCall said. "It goes in cycles. Four years ago, everybody was strong -- Durango, Green Valley, us, Palo Verde. It goes in cycles."
Joe Sawaia, coach at Sunrise Region favorite Coronado, said that other proposals have been to combine schools, or to simply have one golf season and make the girls qualify for the boys teams.
"I think there are some situations where girls can play with the boys," he said. "With the expansion of the school district, when a school opens up in an at-risk neighborhood, you only have 1,100 kids to choose from, how do you get a team?"
Valley is one of the schools that has been forced to forfeit matches. The Vikings' coach, John Wood, said it's hard to show up to a meet knowing that his team is going to lose, no matter what. He said he came up with an idea that so far has received some support.
"It's the old bowling coach thing. When we don't have enough people to bowl, we put in a blind and they still bowl for the game," Wood said. "When I bring my four girls up, I can't possibly win because it's called a forfeit because we don't have five to make a team. If the team shows up, it's not a forfeit, just write in double par for all the girls not there. Then everybody's got a chance. It's not fair to the kids, when you've got three or four girls willing to come out every day and try their darnedest, you've told them before the first stroke they're going to lose the game."
Nelson said that the NIAA does that with 2A cross country.
"We have what's called ghost runners. If the team does not have a fourth or fifth scoring runner, they take the last finisher, add on one, and that's the score of the ghost runner," Nelson said. "It gives the team a sense of accomplishment. Maybe that's something that should be looked at."
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