LASA’s golf program has experienced many changes this year, with a new coach, a lack of transportation to courses, and a class size over twice the average for LASA golf. Both the coach and students have accredited this year’s struggles to the program to the aforementioned shifts as well as limited meetings. However, many members still appear to be looking for greener grass on the golf course.

While this is guitar teacher David Lester’s first year coaching golf, he’s had experience playing it in his free time, so he is not new to it. According to Lester, taking on the role has been a good experience, and he is enjoying teaching golf along with playing it himself.

“I’ve always enjoyed golf, and I thought it would be fun to pass that down to the LASA students,” Lester said. “Golf is a two part thing. It’s a class and a team, and I think both have been fun but challenging in different ways.”

The two halves of LASA’s golf program have vastly different experiences, according to Lester. While the relatively small golf team meets weekly and competes outside the campus, the large golf class has been meeting twice a week for practice and physical education (PE) credit.

“The class, on paper, is just getting a credit that’s part of their high school degree,” Lester said. “The team is interested in taking part in tournaments and things like that. They’re not getting credit for that. The class has 70-something students in it. The team has roughly 10.”

The golf program has had to adjust to limited transportation to practices, according to Jett Will, a senior in the class. Because the golf program has not been able to get a bus driver from the district for after-school transportation, all practices have been held on campus, which has been a disadvantage for students because they are unable to hit real golf balls or learn on an actual golf course. Will said having to practice at LASA is one of the main factors behind students not enrolling or being involved with the golf program.

“We can get a bus, but we can’t get a driver, just because of the time of day,” Will said. “When we go out on Wednesdays, out to the track, it’s just standing around swinging a club at a wiffle ball and grabbing it and doing it over and over while Mr. Lester just walks up and down the line.”

In previous years, golf classes have been able to practice on real courses outside of LASA starting early in the year. Junior Adi Pangal, who took golf class last year, said the days on the course were the best days of the program.

“[We started] in October, maybe even September,” Pangal said. “You actually get to practice on good ground. We’d actually practice at one hole, so it was like you could play an actual round of golf… You’re more involved and actually playing golf instead of just learning about how to play golf.”

Will said the large number of students in the class has been a challenge this year. With classes meeting every Monday and Wednesday, Will said that the Monday classes in particular can barely fit everyone in the room.

“There aren’t even enough chairs for everybody on Mondays, and those Monday lessons are really short,” Will said. “We just go into the guitar room, and we sit down and watch some golf tutorial video. Maybe Mr. Lester will have us stand up and do some exercises.”

According to Lester, the Monday classes are too large to do much more than group lectures. For him, 30 students is manageable for an outside lesson, but teaching 70 students simultaneously is not practical, so the number of students has been the program’s biggest struggle.

“I think there’s a lot of students, and nine out of ten are just grabbing a golf club for the first time,” Lester said. “Being hands-on and showing them the details of the swing with that many students is difficult. I think a lot of teachers, not just with golf, have this issue where you want to spend another four or five minutes with a student, but you just have to move on, so you can reach everyone.”

Though there have been struggles, according to Lester, the program has been successful so far. He said that it’s been a good experience for the people involved, and that many students have been invested in the team and class.

“I’m seeing some students that really care about what we’re doing, and they’re getting the things that I’m saying,” Lester said. “That’s whenever I feel like I had a really successful day. When I see someone that’s struggling with something, and at the end of the day I come back and they’ve worked on those points, and they’re doing great, I enjoy that a lot.”