Should high school golf be a fall sport? Weather calls the question once again

Matt St. Martin runs the Class 3A boys and girls golf state tournament and calls the question of whether to move Minnesota high school golf, traditionally a spring sport, to fall "a hot-button topic for many years now."

The paradoxical statement reflects how urgency ebbs and flows. Years when spring comes early and student-athletes can get outside close to the season's March start date, nobody discusses a move. Then there are those springs when winter's grip proves hard to break and golfers are stuck inside domes or on simulators until further notice. At that point, moving the season to fall becomes an unavoidable topic in administrative meetings and among parents and players on courses throughout the state.

That makes it unavoidable in 2023, a hot-button matter again.

St. Martin, Centennial activities director and a member of the nine-person Golf Coaches Advisory to the Minnesota State High School League, said switching seasons "never gets 100% support one way or another." The high school league last surveyed its activity administrators five years ago and found no interest in making the change.

Factors include availability of courses and multisport coaches and athletes. Weather comes into play when considering the hypothetical date of fall golf state tournaments.

The 2023 golf season was slated to begin March 20 and span 13 weeks through the state tournaments June 13-14. Had golf followed the comparable fall volleyball schedule, golfers would have hit the links Aug. 15 and played 13 weeks through the state tournaments Nov. 9-12. Deteriorating conditions would threaten the prestige of postseason golf events.

Blaine senior Kathryn VanArragon, two-time state champion and defending Class 3A winner, said the condensed 2023 spring season has led to "really busy weeks" as teams from Worthington to Warroad packed in rounds. She hopes the tradeoff comes in mid-June.

"I've heard a lot of different opinions," said VanArragon, in her sixth year on the varsity scene. "But I think it's good to have the state meets at a point where you have close to a guarantee of good weather."

Vern Schnathorst, Detroit Lakes boys golf coach, said: "You get two springs like we've had the last two years and it really makes you consider different options. Most falls you'd be in good shape. But you'd get your falls where you might be playing the first round of the state tournament in snowflakes, so that's a little concerning. And then what happens if you did get measurable snow?"

In North Dakota and Wisconsin, the golf season is split. Girls play in the fall, boys in the spring. But St. Martin has zero interest in jamming another girls activity into an already loaded fall slate of cross-country, soccer, swimming and diving, tennis and volleyball.

"Numbers would drop for golf or other sports," St. Martin said.

Heather Hoeck, Milaca girls golf coach and president of the Golf Coaches Advisory, said if fall golf became a reality, "I don't know if I'd have a team. Swimming and volleyball are big here."

Coaches would face tough choices, too. Schnathorst is also an assistant football coach.

"I would have to make a decision, which I sure wouldn't like, because I like coaching both," he said. "But you don't make your decisions based upon coaches. You make it based upon kids."

St. Martin understands the barriers faced by many schools, but he remains a proponent of moving Class 3A boys golf to the fall for at least a two-year trial period. He believes that particular slice of the golf world contains fewer multisport athletes, and he said several metro area golf courses, overrun in the spring, would welcome shifting a portion of patrons to the fall to alleviate what he calls "course fatigue."

"We have enough 3A coaches and ADs in support to at least pen a proposal," St. Martin said. "But it might not go anywhere."

Hoeck said her teams played outside on the season's first day in six of her 14 seasons at Milaca. "And the other eight, we were inside no more than two weeks," she said. "That's not that bad, to be honest — though I'm more of an optimist.

"I respect the frustration people are feeling. But both fall and spring have their pros and cons, so there is no perfect season. I'd love to survey all the coaches after this season to see if they are even interested in changing. I don't know that you'd get a consensus. It's not a slam dunk either way."