Golf has now become an official part of the West Prairie High School athletic program and the early excitement is showing with 15 student-athletes signed up initially (14 boys and one girl) for the first day of practice.
Head coach Blake Denney, a 2005 Colchester High graduate, is leading the team into its initial season and despite it being his first head coaching position, Denney is more than prepared to lead his young squad out on the links this fall.
“I didn’t play a whole lot growing up, but both of my grandpas were avid golfers,” said Denney. “We would get out once or twice a year with them at family outings. When I got into college (WIU) my freshman year, one of my roommates was a golfer. I started golfing with him a little bit and I got the bug.”
“In college, I was going for exercise science,” Denney continued. “When it came time for a final internship, I looked for something that combined golf and fitness.”
Denney ended up at the legendary Cantigny Golf Course in Wheaton, IL.
Cantigny has been listed as one of the finest 27-hole courses throughout the Midwest. After serving his internship at the golf academy there, Denney moved back home, but soon missed working in golf-related activities. That eventually took him back to the Chicago suburbs, this time in Westmont where he became a golf fitness instructor at a new facility there.
“I was the first employee and we strictly did golf fitness,” said Denney.”We grew that into three facilities with about 30 employees.
I worked there for about eight years and got to work hand-in-hand with the golf instructors and learned a lot from them. When my oldest daughter was born, we moved back here.”
“Just from playing a lot and building my own swing being self-taught, that’s kind of been my background,” Denney added.
Denney recently put his background to good use when he opened The Golf Garage in Colchester, a business that caters to those who wish to improve their game.
With a mix of upper and underclassmen on the roster, Denney figures on using a weekly qualifying system to rotate his lineups for each match.
“It’s going to vary from week-to-week, but roughly once a week, we’ll have qualifying,” said Denney. “Everyone plays nine holes and the top six will be the varsity who will play the matches that week. The remaining will be on the junior varsity.”
In the early going, the schedule could be subject to change, but to start, Denney said they have seven varsity matches so far along with possibly four JV matches.
The Cyclones opened the season last Tuesday with a triangular match in Rushville where Pittsfield won with a team score of 155 followed by the hosts at 178 and West Prairie carded an 183. Despite finishing third, Denney was more than pleased with the result.
“I was happy with how we played,” said Denney. “We hadn’t even really been able to practice yet.”
Tyson Carnes led WP with a 45 while Braden Coplan, Holden Coplan, and Ethan Percy each carded a 46. Keegan Siemans had a 52 to round out the scoring.
With Carnes and Holden Coplan just sophomores and Percy and Siemans both freshman, Denney is already excited about the team’s future.
“We’re pretty young,” said Denney. “Both of the Coplan boys are good athletes and have good potential. And Percy is a freshman who’s got some game. In a couple of years, we’re going to have a pretty experienced and solid team.”
As they enter the first season, the one main goal Denney wants to teach his team is to have fun.
“I want them to learn the game, obviously,” said Denney. “I want them to learn all the rules because that’s a big learning curve. A lot of them have been playing all summer so they have a general idea on the rules. If we could win a couple of matches, that would be awesome.”
“I want to build a program with people who want to be a part of a winning program,” Denney continued. “In a couple of years, I think we could absolutely make a run downstate. That’s kind of my long-term goal.”
All of the West Prairie home matches will be played at Twin Oaks in Blandinsville.
