Alma golfers eye state
By Kevin Taylor
Alma Schools
The wind kicks leaves across the already leafy Par 6 at Hardscrabble Country Club. Jack Taylor grips his club and blasts the ball, which had sliced slightly left, toward the green, an uphill battle on what Hardscrabble vets consider one of the tougher holes.
“I think I got it to within 10 to 15 feet,” quips Taylor, Alma’s junior golfer.
As it turns out, Taylor’s second shot landed about eight feet from the hole.
“I’ll take that,” he grins.
Fingers crossed, Alma's golf coach, Eddie Corder, will too.
It’s not as though Jack Taylor, Caden Hesson, Chase Wood, Parker Morland, and Carson Curd make every putt or hit perfect shots every time.
Golf is a game of patience and precision.
But Alma’s fivesome have a chance to make history next week at the 5A state tournament in Pine Bluff.
“This one’s a pretty good group,” Corder said. “This year, with them being such a good group and playing against a lot of good competition, they’ve played well lately. It’s the first time we’ve had five golfers that, one through five, can shoot in the mid-70s.
“We’ve had Parker playing in the five-hole, and he’s gone through the tournament leading after the 13th and 14th holes. It’s a matter of whether we go down to Pine Bluff if we all play or not.”
Taylor is among Alma’s most consistent golfers, though any of the top five are capable on any given day.
“We have prepared really well this season and showed a lot of progress along the way,” Taylor said. “This week we need to go out and just play how we know we are capable of playing. When we are all playing our best, I truly don’t think there is a team that can beat us.”
Alma finished second at the 5A-West conference meet last week, falling one stroke behind Mountain Home.
“It was a weird day, weather-wise,” Taylor said. “For about four holes, there was no wind or anything. It was calm, and then later on it got really windy.”
“You want to win it, but it didn’t work out that way,” Corder said. “You just hope they learn something from that, and hopefully they’ll all play well together.
“We’d rather win the state (championship) than the conference, anyway.”
Taylor and Curd agree this year’s team is closer than any previous teams they’ve competed on.
On this warm, windy day, just minutes before Curd takes the first swing on the first hole, the group is trying to figure out where to eat following today’s round.
“Over the years, starting as freshmen, with some of us hanging out and just watching, but over these last two years, especially, everyone’s gotten close,” Curd said. “We became best friends; we even hang out outside of golf now. We didn’t do that until this year, and then, adding Caden to the squad, he brings a lot of humor that we all enjoy.”
Curd is one of those multi-sport athletes who seems to touch gold no matter what the sport. Excelling in basketball and baseball, he didn’t pick up a golf club until the summer before his ninth-grade year.
“I wanted to try out for it, and I started taking it seriously a little after ninth grade,” Curd said. “I was having fun in ninth grade, but I realized I had a little talent and thought I could take it to the next level.”
While Curd picked it up late, Chase Wood was quite the opposite, learning the game from his dad, John, and brothers Kade and Devin.
Now, it comes down to one day. The 5A state meet is Wednesday at Pine Bluff Country Club.
“I think we just need to do what we usually do,” Wood said. “We don’t need to try to do anything special, just do what we do every day in practice.”
“It truly is a blessing to have been able to play with these guys through the years,” Taylor said. “Not only because they are good players, but because they are genuinely great people to be around, and we always have a great time spending time together. We have all definitely made some great memories with each other throughout the years.”