{"id":214369,"date":"2025-10-10T13:34:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T13:34:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/214369\/"},"modified":"2025-10-10T13:34:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T13:34:15","slug":"are-more-officials-needed-at-golf-championships-some-coaches-say-yes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/214369\/","title":{"rendered":"\u200bAre more officials needed at golf championships? Some coaches say yes\u200b"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Freeport golf team won the Class B championship by 12 shots in 2020<\/a>, but elated coach Jason Ouellette still had a nagging thought.<\/p>\n

\u201cI worried about someone calling out and saying \u2018Well, this kid was doing this,\u2019 or \u2018This kid wasn\u2019t keeping the right score,’\u201d he said. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t want to win a state championship that way. I don\u2019t think any coaches would.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tWill Obrin, a junior on the Freeport golf team, practices at Maine Golf Center in Freeport on Wednesday. (Brianna Soukup\/Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n

Purchase this image<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tView 9 photos<\/p>\n

That hypothetical highlighted what Ouellette wants to see at state championships: More officials on the course to help with rules, scoring questions and decisions, and less of a responsibility on the players to make those decisions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot on the line, and I feel like with that much at stake, the more eyeballs that we have out there, the better off we\u2019ll be,\u201d he said. \u201cI think some of (the players) just don\u2019t know the rules as well, so they might misplay a drop that they should have played farther back.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just started wondering, this seems odd for a state championship. \u2026 (It\u2019s like) for a state basketball championship, saying, \u2018We\u2019re not going to play with officials. Just call your fouls.\u2019 It\u2019s almost the same idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Class B golf championships are Friday at Natanis Golf Course in Vassalboro. Classes A and C will crown their champions on Saturday, also at Natanis.<\/p>\n

The Maine Principals\u2019 Association, which runs the tournaments with scoring and officiating help from Maine Golf, takes measures to ensure play is regulated appropriately. Coaches are required and players encouraged to watch a video on rules, MPA director Mike Burnham said. There will be six officials at Natanis, which has two 18-hole courses, Tomahawk and Arrowhead.<\/p>\n

Some states have even fewer officials at championship events. Massachusetts, for example, only mandates at least one rules official on site for each postseason tournament, Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association assistant director Phil Napolitano said.<\/p>\n

The MPA plans to have a stationary official at each course where most rules questions occur, and four PGA-certified officials roaming around the 36 holes who can assist players with any issues. Dick Browne, the head pro at Natanis, is also available to address questions by phone.<\/p>\n

Players are encouraged to play two balls if they\u2019re unsure about what the proper ruling would be, allowing them to sort out the issue once they get to an official or scorer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really think we\u2019ve got things pretty well covered,\u201d MPA tournament director Gerry Durgin said. \u201c(Asking for more people) has never come to me or to the MPA at the end of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morse coach Chris Whitney<\/a> said in a text message that he\u2019s satisfied with the current setup.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t complain that Maine Golf doesn\u2019t have enough officials for rulings when you have 36 holes to cover and over 200 kids (playing),\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Still, some coaches say they want to see more people \u2014 officials, coaches or other qualified people \u2014 to ensure a player is close enough to someone who can answer questions or concerns. <\/p>\n

\u201cAt our SMAA coaches meetings after the state tournament, every year it comes up,\u201d Thornton Academy coach Jeff Camire said. \u201cThere\u2019s a level of frustration with the coaches because we can\u2019t be everywhere. \u2026 We\u2019re asking these kids to know all the rules and to try to make these decisions, when most of the time it\u2019s impossible to know all the rules, even at the highest levels.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Gardiner\u2019s Jack Quinn chips onto the ninth green at Natanis Golf Course\u2019s Arrowhead side on Tuesday at the KVAC Class B qualifier. Quinn shot 69 to win medalist honors. (Anna Chadwick\/Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n

Gardiner senior Jack Quinn, the defending Class B individual champion who shot a 69 in the KVAC qualifier on Tuesday<\/a>, said there was a moment in his round when a player was confused about whether a ball was in bounds or out.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, it would be nice to have a couple more officials out there,\u201d he said. \u201cI think a lot of players kind of throw themselves in a loop when they (think), \u2018Oh, I have to play two balls, what do I do here?\u2019 If we had a couple more officials out there, it definitely would be easier.\u201d<\/p>\n

With players often several holes away from an official, Ouellette said, they could feel pressured to make a hasty call on a matter such as relief, or if a ball can be moved from ground under repair, rather than holding up play to wait for help. They could also shy away from approaching a competitor about a call.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have a case where there\u2019s discrepancy between two kids, and one kid is really overbearing and (saying), \u2018No, that\u2019s not right,\u2019 or, \u2018That\u2019s not true,\u2019 and you\u2019ve got a kid who\u2019s not going to want to argue, he\u2019s just going to kind of give in,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS<\/p>\n

The issue is finding enough people to put on each hole and making sure they\u2019re qualified to give accurate information. Cheverus coach Billy Goodman said he\u2019s in favor of there being more help on the course, but acknowledged that hurdle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how they could do it. (Maybe) get some local pros to come up that day, but that\u2019s not easy,\u201d Goodman, who also is Cheverus\u2019 girls basketball coach, said. \u201cYou\u2019re covering 18 holes. In a basketball game, the officials are right there, everyone\u2019s right there. \u2026 You would wish there would be more, I just don\u2019t know how they could do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ouellette said coaches could spread themselves out to cover the groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the Western Maine (Conference) qualifier for Class B, there were 17 groups,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have nine schools in Class B in Western Maine. If each school brings up two people, a head coach and a JV coach, that\u2019s 18 people you can assign, one person to each group. \u2026 Right there and then, everything\u2019s kind of taken care of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Enlisting coaches, however, would prevent them from being able to check in with all of their players during their rounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a coach, I want to watch my kids perform, and coach them when I need to,\u201d Leavitt coach Harry Haylock said. \u201cAnd unfortunately, I\u2019ve been in situations where I hear some coaches giving information to kids before they proceed incorrectly, and even that information is incorrect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brian Bickford, the executive director of Maine Golf and former coach at Greely, said officials on every hole would be \u201coverkill.\u201d He did, though, suggest having more spotters on the course, who help players find balls and could help speed play along.<\/p>\n

\u201cA spotter might have a few basics that they can provide for guidance, and\/or call a rules official,\u201d he said. \u201cIf there is a rules infraction, or something that\u2019s called into question, you just try to make sure that we\u2019re following the rules as best we can.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Freeport golf team won the Class B championship by 12 shots in 2020, but elated coach Jason…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":214370,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":["post-214369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}