In a sport that requires passion and love for the game, the Pascack Valley golf team has proven to coach Brian Koch that the team is willing to improve its skills and work harder.

Valley will be relying heavily on its seniors, including Jake Cramer who will be continuing his golf career in college at Albrighton. Cramer is not the only senior leading the way, as Patrick Healy, Marco Plasencia, Thomas Barlow, and Bobby Fyfe are all returning to the team as well.

Koch believes that their experience will play a key role in their performances along with their hard work in the offseason.

“So the hope is that all the playing that they do and all the camaraderie they have would lend itself to having a successful golf season,” Koch said. “[They play often] so I expect them to translate [their success onto the course].”

PV’s team doesn’t just consist of one star player; the team is balanced, having several players who can all play at a similar level.

“We have five or six kids that are all solid [and] consistent,” Koch said. “They’re all shooting respectable scores and that should be our strength as well.”

With much of its team made up of returning players, Koch’s has high hopes for Valley in 2021.

“The goals would be to qualify for the county and state tournament’s as well as competing for the league,” Koch said.

Many other sports have dealt with a lack of experience on the varsity level as a result of the cancellation of the 2020 season, but the golf team is in a different situation. Having an entire season cancelled did not severely affect the golf team, as much of its roster was made up of sophomores and juniors, meaning the team will still be returning many of its players from the 2019 season.

“It was really unfortunate that we didn’t have a season last year for many reasons, but selfishly for us, we had a lot of sophomores who got a lot of experience my first year [as head coach],” Koch said. “We were really looking forward to them coming out last year as juniors to build on to their experience.”

Of course, losing an entire season will have its drawbacks as well. In spite of this, PV will look to bounce back and have a successful 2021 season.

“There’s a big difference between recreational golf and competing,” Koch said. “We hope to dust off the cobwebs real quick and get back in that frame of mind.”