Just 22 days into his high school varsity golf career, freshman Nicholas Notarnicola has already shot a 40 on nine holes and secured a top-ten finish at a tournament.

“Last year, I wasn’t as good and thought that I would only improve a little bit. I shocked myself a little bit on how much I have been improving over the past couple of years,” Nicholas said. “I think that my early success in my freshman season playing on varsity is only going to motivate me more to work harder and climb up that leaderboard even more.”

In his head coach’s eyes, Nicholas’s “calm before the storm” persona is the main contributing factor for his early success this season. Most golfers Nicholas’s age usually don’t have a durable mental game in their toolbox, so it’s a trait that Nicholas can take advantage of in every tournament.

“Nicholas is very even-keeled on the course; he rarely lets his emotions get the best of him,” head coach Paul TenEyck said. “This is why he is succeeding right away. He works hard and just needs to continue to focus on his wedges to continue to improve.”

Back on April 27, when the boys came in last place in their second OK White Jamboree of the season, coach TenEyck stressed the importance of the mental game. Although Nicholas and other golfers took their coach’s words to heart, FHC was handed a problematic fifth-place finish—out of six teams—at its most recent OK White Jamboree on Tuesday. Junior Joe Murdock walked off the course with a solid 42, and senior Cam David had one of his best rounds this season, shooting a 44. Regardless of how well the top three players played, the lack of depth on the roster came back to bite the Rangers’ hopes of a better finish. 

Looking ahead, FHC still has plenty of opportunities to open the lid and revamp themselves to the point where fifth-place finishes are rare. The boys’ first chance to improve comes on Wednesday, May 5, at another OK White Jamboree hosted by their rivals, Forest Hills Northern. At Egypt Valley Country Club, coach TenEyck will continue not to hold back when it comes to putting his players in certain situations to develop them as golfers and people.

“We continue to let one bad hole or shot turn into multiple bad holes or shots,” coach TenEyck said. “The only way you can overcome this is by continuing to compete and be put in those situations. “