The high school girls golf tournament season is underway.

Before recognizing postseason performance, I spoke with River Bluff head golf coach Roger Smith and here is what he had to say.

“Our season has gone well,” he said. “We have 14 players on our roster with 11 new to River Bluff golf. We have lots of youth. We have new players that are getting better each week and all of our players have competed valiantly. Their attitudes are good and this is very encouraging.”

What Smith described is a very complex set of circumstances to manage and lead. The fact that the golf season is extraordinarily short makes improvement challenging.

Developing golf skill competence takes time and effort. Add competition golf to the equation and it really gets challenging. Constantly taking tests without having background knowledge and understanding in the subject matter makes leading a young team difficult.

Smith has a tender developmental heart like many of the other high school golf coaches featured in this column season.

Dru Nix (Gilbert), Brandon Smith (Lexington) and Cathy Hill (Swansea) are a few other Midlands coaches that have such hearts. These compassionate individuals, in my opinion, is why our community produces so much extraordinary golf talent.

The cultivation of golf talent takes a village, especially in golf.

Congratulations to the Chapin Lady Eagles for winning their Region 5-5A Championship last week at the Ponderosa Country Club.

Lexington’s Isabella Rawl claimed individual honors firing 4-under-68, while Chapin’s Lily Reed Black scored even par 72 for runner-up individual honors. Emily Baker (Chapin) placed 3rd (74) teammate Mia Andrade was 4th(75) and Brooke Burgess of Lexington 5th with 77.

On Monday, Chapin won the Class 5A Lower State qualifier. The Lady Eagles shot a +15 at Shaftesbury Glen Golf Club in Conway to win by 16 strokes over Wando.

Defending state champion Lexington was 3rd and River Bluff tied for 6th to qualify for the state tournament in Florence starting Monday.

In Class 3A, defending state champion Gilbert repeated as the top Lower State qualifier. The Lady Indians shot a team score of 326 to beat out Aynor by 4 strokes. Kennedy Gooding was 2nd overall.

Back to Chapin, there are a couple of golf story’s unfolding in this lakeside community. Former SCJGA Managing Director Chris Miller, is going to join the Timberlake Country Club golf staff as its leader Nov. 1.

At the time of the column’s deadline I was trying to reach Chris and will continue next week.

Jimmy Koosa, one of the founders of Timberlake, recently was elected golf professional Emeritus by the club. Koosa was the club’s golf director when it opened in November 1987.

Timberlake is the only golf club on one of the world’s most popular man-made lakes. It held the first “ICRC Winter Youth Tour” and Chris Miller, along with ‘E’ Rutherford, were on the the original administrative team.

The 30th season of the Winter Tour registration is currently underway. There are also more winter golf recreational options, and in fact, each of our local recreation entities offer Family Golf Developmental programs.

These programs are fun and multi generational. Possibly the greatest aspect of golf is it lends itself to different generations playing, even learning the game together.

Visit these websites for more intel: http://richlandcountyrecreation.com/ fall-golf-programs-at-linrickgolf-course/ , https://www. icrc.net and https://sports. bluesombrero.com/lcra .