Five Craig County golfers will be on the links today when the Rockets partic-ipate in their first match in eight years. The Rockets will play a Pioneer District match against Eastern Montgomery at the Blacksburg Municipal course, beginning at 4 pm.
Geoff Boyer, who coached volleyball for many years for the Rockets, is the new golf coach. The school has not had a team since Fred Moler coached a small team in 2018, with his son Noah putting up good scores. Boyer has two sons on this year’s team, freshman twins Ryan and Thomas.
“When we decided to have a team 13 kids signed up, but for one reason or another we’re down to five,” he said. “Some of the kids who had signed up had never played before.”
Craig will have a young team, as the five players are all underclassmen. Coleton Wolfe and Aubrey Keffer are freshmen like the Boyer twins, and Easton Wright is a sophomore.
“We’ve been playing nine holes each day and the kids seem to love it,” said coach Boyer. “They’re going to con-tinue to get better, and it’s a sport you can play for the rest of your life.”
Corey Smith, who is also an assistant football coach, has been helping with the team.
“Corey has been tremendous,” said Boyer. “He helps when he can get away from football and it’s worked out well. The kids love him, especially the new kids.”
Ryan and Thomas Boyer, who have played a lot of golf growing up, will man the one and two spots on the lad-der for today’s match. Wolfe will play three followed by Wright and Keffer.
“My boys have been playing since they were five years old,” said Boyer. “We have a home simulator as well.”
The Hanging Rock Golf Course in west Roanoke County will serve as home course for the Rockets, sharing it with Northside and Glenvar High Schools. The Rockets currently have one match on the schedule at “The Rock,” on August 26. They have three others on the schedule including today’s match in Blacksburg, an August 12 match at The Homestead against Bath County and a match on August 19 with Narrows at Castle Rock. Boyer is look-ing to add a few more matches if he can.
