Recently a former Board Member and long-term supporter of our Chapter, Mitch Stump, CPA asked if we could assist a new high school golf team from his home town of Stumptown, WV.
The Calhoun County High School Golf team began with the hires of Coach Matt Walker and Coach Mike Stump. The team started with zero dollars, zero supplies, and zero players. After tremendous efforts in fund raising and generous donations from area businesses, the golf team bank account finally had a balance and some supplies in the closet. After some recruiting of students within the school, the team secured five players to try something new and participate on the first golf team at Calhoun County High School since the late 1970s.
Pictured above the team of Drue Goad, Jaden Swearingen, Bryson Montgomery, Cole Rogers, Mason Bennett and Reagan Lynch.
Upon Mitch’s request, our chapter provided golf bags, clubs and training aids for their first-year team. Another supporter of our Chapter, Richard Ekey, heard about the new team and donated a golf bag full of 12 dozen Pro V-1’s!
The boys were very excited to be with Stump the morning they received their new team gifts. Only one of the five students on the golf team had ever been on a golf course before up until this season. The expectations for the season were not very high and included establishing a tournament schedule and teach the students the basics of golf. The team scheduled a whopping 18 matches and won 10 of them! Team members even recorded a few birdies this season.
During the last two matches of the season all five players shot in the 50s for their nine-hole match. Calhoun finished 10th out of 12 teams in the Little Kanawha Conference and finished 7th out of 9 teams in the Reginal Tournament exceeding all goals the team set at the beginning of the year.
The team looks to build on the strides made during the 2017 season and will work hard to continue to improve in 2018.
