HAMPSHIRE COUNTY — Come the Western Mass. Division 1 Golf Championships at Westover Golf Course last fall, the Belchertown golf team felt it was more than ready to show out on the big stage and punch one of two team tickets to states.

The Orioles fell just one stroke shy of doing so, and they instead left Granby disappointed their season had come to a close.

That heartbreak only fueled them during the offseason.

Throughout the summer, Belchertown’s leaders took initiative in improving every aspect of their games so that come 2024, they could exorcise the demons that haunted them in 2023. Senior Jared Haynes and junior Michael Murray played in several big tournaments over the course of the summer and are now two of the best players in the area. Both shot 37 in the team’s season opening win over South Hadley on Thursday.

Add in the likes of Brady Jolly (who shot a 38 Thursday) and Daniel Hulmes (the team’s No. 3 golfer who is plenty capable of hovering around par), and it’s clear the Orioles – which play their home matches out of Cold Spring Country Club – are expected to be the Hampshire County powerhouse with a plethora of players skilled enough to break 40.

“As a coach, you’re looking for a team score around 160, and if you break that you’re usually in good shape to win,” Belchertown head coach Matt Stenuis said. “We have a handful of guys who can help get us to that number. I see this team being really, really good this year. Course management and putting are the two things that high school golf comes down to. So if we can get that figured out, we’ll have some success this year.”

Regular season isn’t completely irrelevant in high school golf (winning 50 percent of matches qualifies a team for the Western Mass. tournament), but the real work begins once the postseason arrives.

All year long teams play in nine-hole matches against other teams, and there is a double-par limit on each hole. Matches take no more than a couple of hours. So when the Western Mass. and state tournaments roll around, not many players are used to the five-plus hour days, the 18-hole, championship-style golf courses being played and the immense pressure put on each shot.

A few coaches in the area, Stenuis included, do their best to ensure their teams are ready for the change in pace when the time comes. Stenuis feels Belchertown simply ran out of steam during last year’s Western Mass. tournament. Once the mind gets tired on the golf course, everything else becomes that much harder.

Shaping that endurance now is going to pay dividends.

“We strongly encourage our players to go out and play 18 holes somewhere on the weekends during the season,” Stenuis said. “You have to build up that stamina now so you’re ready. Nine-hole matches, a lot of our guys just fly through them. But the big tournaments, you gotta be out there for a few more hours than a regular match. You have to be engaged the whole time. It’s a whole different beast.”

Smith Vocational adds golf program

The Vikings will be taking to the links in 2024, the first time they’ve ever fielded a golf team in the 96-year history of the school.

Head coach Nathan Bergeron was pleased to find out the interest levels were high when talks of a golf team percolated through the school last year. A dozen students signed up to play golf for Smith Vocational, including several players that Bergeron brought over from the baseball team – where he was an assistant coach.

Wyckoff Country Club in Holyoke will be the home course for Smith Voc in its inaugural season.

“It was kind of spur of the moment,” Bergeron said. “I’m a physical education teacher [at Smith Voc], and after talking to some of the kids I teach, it seemed like we could find enough people to get a team started. So our athletic director Jeff Lareau handled the paperwork and stuff behind the scenes, and we had a meeting to see how many kids would show up. Luckily, we had more than enough. Now here we are.”

Smith Vocational only has nine matches (all independent) on its schedule as the Vikings assimilate into the high school golf realm. They’re not yet in a league, but are looking to join one next season.

The beauty of having Wyckoff Country Club as their home course is that Bergeron, 31, grew up playing golf there with his father. He’s been playing at Wyckoff since he was two years old, he said. Teaching his team how to get around and manage the course won’t be too difficult for Bergeron since he knows every little detail of it.

Regardless of how the Vikings do record-wise, this season stems much deeper than the win-loss column.

“We're just looking for everyone on the team to just get a fair chance to grow their skills and their knowledge of the game,” Bergeron said. “And even after a bad round or a good round, hopefully everyone walks off the course saying, ‘Oh, you know what? I learned something out there today.’ And then as years come, people will want to play for our program and we can get some really competitive golfers over at Smith Voc.”

Northampton to experience change-of-pace after years of dominance

A 57-2 record over the last four seasons almost sounds made up, but that’s exactly what the Blue Devils have done since the new decade hit.

Last year, Northampton shredded through its regular season slate with an unblemished 16-0 mark. The Blue Devils have been on an unprecedented trajectory. But after losing four seniors, three of which were huge contributors, the dynamic has changed a bit for head coach Bob Boulrice and Northampton.

That’s not a knock on the 2024 team, either, it just emphasizes the brilliance of the last four Blue Devils teams – which were led by the sharp game of Galen Fowles, who graduated last year.

Boulrice took over as head coach last fall, and he admittedly didn’t have to do a whole lot of coaching considering he inherited a team filled with golf knowledge. With a team full of newcomers in 2024, several of them giving golf a try after playing other sports in previous years, he’s excited to take on the challenge of going back to teaching the basics.

“It’s been remarkable, an extraordinary run,” Boulrice said. “This year is gonna require a whole different kind of coaching. It’s a rebuilding year. We have a lot of raw material, and that’s a great thing. They’re all real good athletes, but they’re new to competitive golf. It’s a really fun and interesting challenge to get them to apply their athletic skills to a golf swing.”

Reilly Fowles, who shot a 2-under 33 at Amherst Golf Club in Northampton’s season opener, is the unquestioned leader of the Blue Devils’ squad this year. Joining him are returners Brett Baranowski, Jack Carpenter, Jamie Fowler and Reed O’Connor among a handful of new faces.

Northampton will certainly hold its own once again this fall, but asking the Blue Devils to repeat a historical season is a bit much.

“I have five repeat starters from last year’s 16-0 team, including Reilly, who’s our captain,” Boulrice said. “I lost three very good players, but I’ve got some experienced golfers. We just need to find three more to be playing consistently by the end of the year to round out the team. The goal will be to make the Western Mass. tournament and to have a tournament-ready squad.”

Elsewhere in Hampshire County

South Hadley

Ryan MacGregor has shown early on that he’s poised to be a top player in Hampshire County, as the South Hadley junior has played a pair of rounds a combined 1-over through the Tigers’ two matches thus far.

South Hadley dropped a match to Belchertown 153-167 last week, but the Tigers have the potential to make some noise later this fall as they continue to settle into the season. Jameson Webber, Caiden Drohan and Matthew Blaser each shot a respectable score and broke 45 in the loss to the Orioles.

South Hadley is coached by Jason Bourque and its home course is Ledges Golf Club.

Frontier

Ryan Cetto was the lone member of Frontier to qualify for the Western Mass. Div. 2 tournament and is poised for a big junior year.

Cam Skiffington, a senior, was often Frontier’s No. 2 a season ago while Adelynn Wood, a sophomore, had a strong year and is another to watch.

Frontier is coached by David Blanchette and its home matches will once again be played at Cherry Hill Golf Course in Amherst.

Amherst

After having only seven members on their golf team in 2023, the ‘Canes have more than doubled that number in 2024. Amherst currently has 17 players on its roster, a number head coach Carl Vigeland was thrilled to see.

Senior captain Nate Ziomek is a player to keep an eye on at Amherst, which plays its home matches at the pretty little 9-hole Amherst Golf Club. Alongside Ziomek in the first group for the Hurricanes is junior Ben Scott. Scott turned in a good round of 39 in Amherst’s season opener against Northampton.

The ‘Canes are looking forward to improving on last year’s 1-11 record.

Hampshire

A senior-heavy Raiders squad is eager to repeat last year’s success, a season in which they went 15-3 and finished seventh at the Division 2 Western Mass. championships. 

Robinson Agresto, Robert Herman, Camden Jarosz, Ashton Lashway, Phil Morin and Zach Phakos are the half dozen Hampshire seniors. Below them, there are no juniors, and then 16 athletes combined from seventh grade through 10th. Head coach Dan Korpita has a huge team to work with, including sophomores Brayden Fennessey and Riley Florek – who Korpita thinks will have big seasons for the Raiders.

Hampshire edged Frontier by one stroke (162-163) in the two schools’ season opener last week. Hampshire plays its home matches at Beaver Brook Golf Course.

Hopkins

Head coach Joe Whalen comes over from Southwick to man an under-sized Golden Hawks team that has only seven golfers on the team in 2024. Seven was the number of seniors the Hawks had last year, a huge group that helped them to a 10-5 record.

This fall, Hopkins only has one senior in Jack Dyjach. The rest of the bunch are underclassmen, including seventh graders Zachary Bisson and Mason Balut, eighth graders Jessica Waskiewicz and Ryley Regan and ninth graders Laney Crutch and Siddarth Parmar.

Regan is a player Whalen believes can go low for the Golden Hawks this season. Hopkins plays its home matches at Holyoke Country Club.

Easthampton

Following an 0-10 season in 2023, head coach Chris Abild and the Eagles welcome back most of their young core that saw the majority of action last fall.

Easthampton opens up its schedule with a road match against Pioneer Valley at Northfield Golf Club on Tuesday.

The Eagles play their home matches at Holyoke Country Club. Their home opener is Friday afternoon against Smith Vocational.