2021 Keelhaulers Golf Team season preview

The Cal Maritime Men's Golf team will start up their season this weekend in Prescott, Ariz. with a new coach and itching for competition after being unable to play in the spring of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A new era begins for the Golf Team this season as Captain of the Cal Maritime Training Ship Golden Bear, Sam Pecota, takes the helm of the Keelhaulers six-man crew after the retirement of former Athletic Director and Golf Head Coach, Marv Christopher.

"I've actually had many hats in my 20 years here, so this is nothing unusual for me to have several different types of jobs," Pecota said. "This one, I've got to admit though, will probably be the most fun for me of all the jobs I've had. Being captain is nice, but playing golf is fun."

The Golf Team is one of three teams competing intercollegiately in the 2020-21 academic year at Cal Maritime, with Men's and Women's Cross Country being the other two.

"This is great and unexpected actually," Pecota said. "My team is very happy to be competing in three tournaments over the next couple of months and we hope to represent the school well."

While the golfers are excited to hit the links, junior Ricky Castillo empathizes with his fellow cadets whose sports were deemed too contact-heavy to resume intercollegiate play just yet. "I do feel for my fellow cadet-athletes," Castillo said. "They aren't able to enjoy their sports this year but I do feel grateful that the golf team is able to play this season."

Senior John VanDixhorn is looking forward to being able to play in competitive tournaments again. "I'm super excited honestly," VanDixhorn said. "it's a nice break away from school and I guess we will get more recognition now, but yeah I think it's gonna be good for our team."

Even with some normalcy resuming in being able to play a season for the Keelhaulers, they will still be cognizant of the precautions they'll continue to take regarding COVID-19 protocols.

"We expect to be as safe as we can be, doing covid testing, taking care of ourselves, wearing masks, and physically distancing during this covid time," Castillo said. "But we're very fortunate to be able to play, so we want to be safe and to not harm the other players so that we can continue to have this opportunity to play."

One of the team's top returners is senior Josh Hauser. The Thousand Oaks, Calif. native is one of three players in Cal Maritime Men's Basketball history to score 1,000 points in their career but he has also been a star on the golf course as a Keelhauler. He made par with a 72 at the 2019 Cal Pac Championships and medaled in the final round with the lowest score of any golfer at the tourney. All three rounds of that Cal Pac Championship were played under windy and cold conditions, with Hauser being the only player in the field of 32 golfers to overcome the elements and complete a round at par.

"Hauser has a great swing," Pecota noted. "He doesn't try to do too much and has great ball-strike ability."

Pecota is very pleased with how the team has been a great group to coach and are exemplary cadet-athletes. He mentioned the team has worked on their short game a lot, which might not be as exciting as working on their long game but it matters in the scoring. Pecota has taught some philosophies of golf instructor Dave Pelz, who was a researcher for NASA at the Goddard Space Flight Center before becoming a golf coach, and a lot of his golf theory is based on percentages and odds, including the theory of using four different wedges in the short game.

"I have high expectations for my own golf game and I've played with our players a couple of times and I hold my own with them," Pecota said. "They're still better than me but I can show them a few things. I've studied golf all of my long life and I can show them a few pointers that they didn't know, so they're learning a lot."

Pecota has short-term and long-term goals for the season, especially after a long lay-off between tournaments.

"For the first tournament we'll get everybody used to being back into competition again and how different that is than just going out and playing a practice round," Pecota said. "So once we can establish that, we have kind of a baseline to go for and see where everybody fits into the team and I think that as we move forward to the championships it's going to be a great experience for the kids."

Castillo also comes into the season with his own set of goals for his junior year. "This season one of my biggest goals is to really try to straighten out my swing and straighten out the ball flight a little bit," Castillo said. "I think that's a lot of golf golfers' goals and think it'll put me in the right spot.

"Golfing is a big mental game," Castillo added. "And I think just learning to have fun instead of only focusing on competing. I mean, I try to win of course, but at the end of the day just try to have fun is really what it's all about here."

Though the team's 2021 Schedule is still a bit abbreviated from past seasons, the two regular-season tournaments and the conference championship are a sight for sore eyes for Keelhaulers athletes and supporters. Follow along on the Keelhaulers social media channels and here at the website for updates on the team's tournament results.