SIDELINE SCENE: Golf programs offer chance to learn skills for a lifetime

That’s not meant as a slight — advancing out of a district and region with programs known for their golf tradition and loaded with refined players would be some feat for the Knights.

I can also say with absolute confidence that I am a fan of the team, of its coach David Victor and of players such as Cody Beesley. 

With the selection of sports available to current high school students — especially students at large, public schools — there are bound to be plenty of teams designed to be  less competitive and more of an opportunity for students to join a team, get involved on campus and get some exercise. 

That’s not to say those programs can’t be and aren’t competitive, but rather to say that playing a sport and joining a team because it’s fun is a concept that hasn’t fallen completely by the wayside. Ocoee’s boys golf team is one of those teams.

Arriving Aug. 28, at Forest Lake Golf Club, to meet Beesley and Victor for this week’s centerpiece story, I came upon the team as they were hanging out before practice began, and it’s not hard to tell that it is a close-knit group of guys who genuinely like each other. Now, a couple of Ocoee’s golfers may advance to regionals, and even states, as individuals. Others are just happy to see progress in shaving strokes off their score. 

The value is when kids get to be a part of a team — but there are perks, too.

“We get to play a lot of the other really good golf courses in the area,” Victor said, noting that courses are a big consideration when he sits down to make the schedule for the Knights each year.

Get to be on a team and make new friends? Check. Get to play some of Central Florida’s best golf courses? Check. 

It sounds like a pretty sweet deal — but wait, there’s more.

“This is a game that, as you get older, you don’t realize (it) in high school but you’re going to (continue to) play,” Victor said.

And he’s right. 

Whether it’s with old buddies from college or with business partners or clients, golf seems to find a way of working its way into the adult lives of so many Americans. And, take it from someone who only started playing in his early 20s and is still pretty awful: Start playing as early as you can. Opportunities to play golf are going to present themselves, and while golf can still be a lot of fun when you’re terrible — there’s nothing quite like the feeling of hitting something that at least resembles a competent shot — it’s always more fun when you’re playing well.

So, cheers to the Ocoee boys golf program and all the programs like it that are giving our high-schoolers an outlet to get involved.