Mexico needs to be playing its best golf at the end of the season and believes it will be doing that.

From a few of its recent events, like when the Bulldogs finished fourth and Aidan Knipfel was the runner-up by one stroke at the Centralia Invitational on April 15, they believe that they are in the process of playing their best golf. 

Head coach Becca Bates admitted that the beginning of the season was a struggle due to the number of new or inexperienced golfers Mexico had, but practice has helped in showing the kids they should be playing smarter and not harder.

“The kids are just making smarter decisions instead of just going out there and hitting the ball and seeing what happens,” Bates said. “They are actually learning different types of shots like how to hit out of the sand and putting all the shots together. I can see them making decisions on the course instead of just walking up and whacking the ball.”

At the Centralia Invitational, Bates said it was a nice and hot day after dealing with colder and wetter conditions this season and ended up being Mexico’s best through its first eight meets and tournaments, as of April 16. The fact that it was an 18-hole tournament on a nine-hole course allowed her to see the progress her kids were making on that day.

“They are learning from the first set of holes and changing to do things better for the second,” Bates said. “I can see the gears in their head grinding, and they’re actually doing well.”

Mexico played a quad meet at Tanglewood Golf Course in the Fulton the next day, and Bates said it was the team’s “best match by far” to add to the encouraging development of the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs then finished second in a tournament at Arthur Hills in Mexico behind host Missouri Military Academy and was ahead of third-place Montgomery County. Knipfel won the individual tournament by shooting a 77, Jake Stephens was seventh, Houston Crowd was 11th, and Kaiden Doebelin was 12th.

The Bulldogs will have their conference tournament next week in Kirksville before the district tournament in Innsbrook on May 6. Bates said she wants to see them do well at conference so they could take that momentum into districts.

“We want to place well at conference and hopefully do well at district so we do get some state qualifiers,” Bates said. “We have a few that have a chance to play well.”

Knipfel is definitely a name Bates sees as having a good chance for state qualification as the senior has played at the state tournament before. Judging from his performance this year, she doesn’t see why he can’t make it back this season.

“He’s always done really well,” Bates said. “(Centralia) was one of his best days, and he’s doing really well especially after struggling at the beginning. He’s worked through some stuff and is playing really good golf right now.”

Doebelin is another senior Bates has high hopes for since he has impressed in just his second year on the team.

“Some of the scores he’s been putting up have been pretty impressive,” Bates said. “He’s just been grinding and practicing.”