"Course management" is one of the elements of golf Los Lunas High boys coach Tim Garro says his team has improved upon. A week from Monday, the Tigers will get to put that improvement to the test as the LLHS teams open the 2009-10 season.

Los Lunas is set to compete at 10 events this spring, starting with the Abbie Paiz Invite at Tierra Del Sol Golf Club in Rio Communities on Monday, March 8. The Tiger boys team will have four returners who have played in a significant number of varsity events, while the LLHS girls team is practically all newcomers to competitive golf.

"For the returners, we're working on getting them all to be more consistent," said Garro. "Instead of things like playing five great holes, then blowing up for the next two, then playing great again, we're trying to eliminate some silly mistakes and guys trying to make impossible shots."

Alec Trujillo was the only senior on last year's team to consistently post competitive scores. A trio of juniors, Gavin Gutierrez, Greg Holmes, and Zach Romero, return with varsity experience.

Gutierrez placed fifth at last year's District 5-5A tournament at Los Altos Golf Course, carding an 85, and logged an 84 on the tough Chamisa Hills course in Rio Rancho.

Holmes had an 88 at district, his best score of the season, and Romero showed improvement in a few areas of his game.

"We're going to play a lot of courses this spring, so these guys will see a variety of situations," said Garro.

Jahn Rivera will be the only senior LLHS boy with much varsity golf behind him. Garro said sophomore Stone Lardner gained valuable experience last year, and junior Eric Baca will "compete for varsity time."

The Los Lunas girls team won't have any household names within the golf community, but could have enough players for a regular full foursome for the first time since 2007. Leading the way for the Lady Tigers, according to coach Tony Launey, will be junior Diana Lopez, who has played in a couple of high school tournaments and is currently getting over an arm injury. Seniors Cherey Otero and Loretta Romero, along with freshman Monica Trujillo, have golf experience, but haven't played competitively, Launey said. The coach said a few more girls players might possibly join the team.

"Everyone can make contact, and knows the rules of golf," said Launey. "We play a few holes in practice, but we haven't actually gone out and played nine or 18 holes, so we'll have to wait to see how well they do with course management."

The wintery weather of January and February has caused Isleta Eagle Golf Course to be closed at times, robbing the Tiger teams of much of their practice time.

After the Paiz Invite on March 8, the Tiger teams will compete at the Highland Invite on March 15 at the University of New Mexico's Championship Course. That's the same site where the two-day Class 5A state championships will be held on May 10-11.

Individuals and teams must earn three qualifying legs or win the district tournament to advance to the state tournament. The Tiger teams played in five tournaments in the fall and five in the spring in 2008-09, but no players earned state qualifying legs.

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