Ben Reese features some of the highlights of the SOL golf season.
By Ben Reese
When Tim Rimmer took over the golf program at Pennridge, the sport was almost an afterthought in the school's athletic department.
The Rams were not usually mentioned in discussions of the better golf teams in the Suburban One League. In fact, they were hardly mentioned at all.
Things have changed and changed in a big way. Pennridge is 8-2 this season and leading the Continental Conference.
"This is definitely the best (start) since I've been doing this,” Rimmer said in a recent interview. "It's one of those progression things.
"It started six years ago. I hate to say that we were doormats but...
"I kept thinking - what can we do to get better. I picked the brains of the other coaches, asking what they did to build their programs.
"Every year we were trying to do things a little bit different. This is kind of the culmination of that six-year investment."
In Rimmer's first year, the team was 2-8 in the SOL. And then things got worse.
The Rams went 1-12 in 2010, 2-9 in 2011 and 0-8 in 2012. The upswing began last year when Pennridge finished its SOL season at 8-6.
What brought about this swing to the top of the conference? Rimmer is convinced that it is the quality of the golfers and their continued improvement.
"(In the beginning) we had athletes and maybe one guy who could play golf," he said. "This year we have 14 kids, and 12 of them are junior members at Indian Valley (Pennridge's home course).
"They (Indian Valley) have been great. Even the members are interested in the kids."
Colton Pifer has been at the top of the scores this year for the Rams. He has been the consistent No. 1 for Pennridge all year, according to Rimmer.
Pifer proved his worth in the Council Rock Invitational. He led all scorers with a 39 at Spring Mill Country Club in August.
But Rimmer also tossed some kudos to another golfer.
"The most pleasant surprise has been Andrew Simpson," said Rimmer. "He's been throwing up some really good scores. He's making strides to being someone you can count on."
It hasn't been a two-golfer show. The other members of the team -- Matt Swartz, Austin Roland, Drew Bachtle, Bubba White, D.J. Holton, Pat Stewart, Jake Wiley -- have also made important contributions.
"The toughest part will be seeing how they respond (the rest of the season)," Rimmer said. "We have four more conference matches; we have to go to Souderton, Hatboro, CB West and North Penn. We've got to go into them with the right mindset.
"I've seen this team bond. "They've grown as golfers."
Better than par:Council Rock North's Matt Palmieri matched par this last week at Jericho National.
Now that isn't really news because he will probably match or beat par a lot as the golf season progresses
What is news is the way that he did it. On the second hole at Jericho, a 181-yard par 3, Palmieri did what every golfer dreams of -- he recorded a hole in one.
The ace was the first of Palmieri's career.
Summer vacation:Two Pennsbury golfers had outstanding summers on the golf course. Jackie Rogowicz and Vinay Ramesh both turned in excellent scorecards for the summer.
Rogowicz collected two victories over the summer, taking the AJGA Junior hosted by Morgan Hoffman at Arcola CC in Paramus, N.J., and the Philadelphia Junior PGA at Meadowlands CC in Blue Bell.
Ramesh joined his fellow senior Falcon with a victory at the Philadelphia Junior PGA, winning at North Hills CC in Glenside. He also added a second at the Labor Day Classic at Hershey Country Club, shooting a 69 on the second day of the two-day competition.
Their performance at the Philadelphia Junior PGA got them invitations to the Junior PGA Championship in Texas at the end of the July. Unfortunately, both missed the cut.
Rogowicz also notched a pair of second-place finishes. She was runner-up at the CorseMax/Philadelphia Runner Junior and at the AJGA Junior at Cattail Creek in Maryland.
The pair has given Falcon coach Glenn Goldsborough excellent leadership at the top of the lineup.
"They are good for leadership," Goldsborough said. "I have them playing with others (on the team) and the other players get to experience what nationally ranked players do.
"Both are at the point in their careers where they know you have to play 18 holes. You can't let one hole affect you. If you have a bad hole, you can recover.
"(At AJGA), they got to play with a whole lot of top talent, getting exposed to the other players. They have upped their game. They don't feel the pressure (like in previous years)."
Shoutout:A special congratulations to former Wissahickon standout Jalen Griffin. The ex-Trojan and now University of San Francisco Don won the Montgomery County Amateur this summer.
Par and below:In addition to Palmieri's special par round this past week, there have been many outstanding rounds since the beginning of the golf season in early August.
Tops on the list are the 32 turned in by Ramesh at Huntington Valley CC (par 35) and the 33s from Upper Dublin's Jack Melville at Lulu and Wissahickon's Noah Harrington at Melrose.
Shooting 34s were Melville and teammate David Kim, Ramesh, Rogowicz, Cheltenham's Stephen DeFrancis at Melrose CC and Luke McKeogh of William Tennent at Five Ponds.
Coaches: Please keep me informed of any special happenings with your golf teams. I can be reached at suburbanonesports.com.
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