By Bruce Karnick

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This spring has not exactly been what most people would call ‘good golf weather’ but the Raiders are taking it all in stride. Sure, there have been a few nice days mixed in, but the average temps have been under 45 for most of the early golf season.

“It's just adapting, you know, like, here, we have a, our first hole is pretty cold. But yet we're downwind. And you know, there's things in between, like temperature, wind, there's a lot of factors that we play in,” explained Klein. “And, you know, the cold just adds one more factor. But it's nothing that we can't handle. It's really exciting to me to see kids go deep on the first hole, because they're trying to do the math. They're not just hitting it as is because if they were they were in this weather, they'd be short. It depends on how cold it is. But it's hard to condense the golf ball when it's when it's cold. So, you're going to lose likely anywhere from three to six yards when it's this cold. The wind is the wind, and the ground is wet, so, that's going to affect how we get to the hole as well. And obviously the wind once it's in the air, it's going to do some fun tricks too. So, it's just kind of playing that equation and putting the pieces together for the boys and they've been doing a really good job so far.”

Klein was also pleased in how the team played in the Metro East MidConference tournament on April 27. Mahtomedi took first there with a team score of 300, St. Thomas Academy took second with 312 and Hastings third with 315. Charlie Williams had the best score for Hastings with a 76, followed by Ryan Swanson at 77. John Harris had 80 and Martin Onnen 82 for the 315.

For the May 2 Don Saatzer Invitational, Hastings Golf Club was ready to go, and the course looked to be in near midseason form. Klein welcomed the teams to the course, explained the lay of the land and the expectations on the day. The 9:00 a.m. shotgun start gave kids a day off from school and hoped to have the matches done by 1:00 p.m.

Hastings finished the invite in third place with a 316. Williams shot 75, Onnen 78, Jon Harris 81 and Jake Harris 82. The thirdplace finish was just one back from Mahtomedi and six back from Lakeville North. Simley finished 10 back from Hastings for fourth.

The girls had one match, the MidConference tournament on April 27 at Oak Marsh. The ladies finished fourth overall at 363. Simley took first with 339, Two Rivers second with 350, Mahtomedi third with 355. Scoring for Hastings, Megan Brown shot 88, Lauren Skov 89, Ashlyn Endres 91 and Lauren Hubbart 95.

This week, both teams have two matches each. Both play Tuesday and Thursday.