As the spring season begins, boys’ golf coach Ronald Richards has high hopes for the new season compared to the last.

Last season, the team ended the season placing third in the conference. One of the weaknesses that Richards identified from last season was the absence of upper class encouragement.

“I would say not having seniors last year, we were lacking in that senior leadership. We didn’t have that person to kind of rally up everybody.” Richards said.

Compared to last season, this year has a more positive outlook due to the increase of those needed golfers on the team.

Apart from last season’s weaknesses, Richards anticipates a good season based off of the player’s abilities to keep their gameplay and scores constant.

“I think our success last year was because everybody was pretty much consistent,” Richards said. “When one of the guys had a bad day, the other four or five stayed steady enough that we scored well at the end of the day.”

Even though the team has the ability to stay unwavering, Richards aims to help the team keep an optimistic and stable mindset when their gameplay is not up to par.

“Honestly, I’m always just looking for the person who bounces back after a bad shot, who doesn’t allow that to define their round,” Richards said. “It’s mental, being able to sometimes just scramble where you have to make sure you are always taking advantage of your opportunities and making your birdie putts.”

The team is in action today at Hedingham Golf Course.

Yesterday, they tied for second in their first conference match with Josh Buxbaum being the leading cougar and shooting 4 to 1.