Homeless Crusaders: Saxony Lutheran sends four to state golf tourney despite no home course

The Saxony Lutheran golf team has gone through a season of detours, but the Crusaders have arrived in record numbers at their ultimate destination -- the Class 1 state golf tournament in Springfield, Mo.

The Crusaders will be among five local high schools competing at the four Missouri high school tournaments that will be played out at four venues around the state Monday and Tuesday.

Saxony coach Tim Zumhofe will take four Crusaders for the first time in school history as the team completes a nomadic season at Rivercut Golf Course.

It's a far cry from Zumhofe's nightmare scenario when he learned two weeks before the season that his team did not have a home course nor much of a competition schedule. The school had used Dalhousie Golf Club as its home course in its first three seasons after starting a program in 2007.

"I was very pleased because I didn't know what to expect," Zumhofe said of topping the school's previous high of three qualifiers last year. "I was thinking worst-case scenario we don't have a team. So it all worked out in the end. It's been a real successful season."

While St. Vincent won the recent Class 1 District 1 crown at Ste. Genevieve Country Club with a 325 total, the Crusaders placed four golfers -- senior Adam Boehme, juniors Zach Vaeth and Garrett Brewer and freshman Collin Sprandel -- among the top 10 finishers that did not include St. Vincent players. Although the four players qualified individually, Saxony Lutheran will be eligible for the team competition for the first time.

"It's been a challenging year, but I think we've stuck together, so I would say it's been a positive year," said Vaeth, the Crusaders' team captain who led the charge at the district tournament with an 82 to qualify for state a third time.

Vaeth was the lone returning state qualifier among the three from last season. He had spent his first two seasons as one of the lucky golfers who got to call Dalhousie, which has been rated the No. 1 course in Missouri by Golf Digest, his home course.

"It was definitely kind of a disappointment because that was two weeks before the start of the season," Vaeth said. "It hit you because you just didn't know what to expect now. They have great facilities, and I know it helped a lot of my game, too. But we took it day by day."

Zumhofe had eight players on his varsity team and about three or four JV players.

"I had a lot of returning guys from last year and they were kind of bummed out because they didn't get to play on the best course in the state anymore, but at the same time I had to get in their heads that one day at a time we'll hang in there," Zumhofe said. "And they showed quite a bit in overcoming adversity throughout the whole season."

Saxony Lutheran spent its first two weeks of the season practicing at Arena Golf. It later arranged Monday practices at Bent Creek, and Cape Girardeau Country Club later accommodated the team with two days of play each week.

"Definitely the first two weeks were a challenge," Vaeth said. "We could go out to Bent Creek and play on Monday. We spent a lot of time at Arena just working on our iron game and stuff. Just not knowing where we were going to be, but definitely once we got out to Cape Country Club, it was just like any other season, going to the course and doing what we had to do. Get ready for districts."

The location of Saxony's 10 home matches had to relocated, and it had to forego its two home tournaments -- a pre-district tournament and the Saxony Invitational, which had attracted 24 teams the previous season. Zumhofe said it was the biggest high school golf tournament in the state outside the state tournament. His team's home course was a big draw and popular among other schools.

"It's the nicest course in the area," Zumhofe said "I don't blame them."

Neither the Dalhousie nor Saxony Lutheran sides offered a concrete explanation as to why the school was not able to use the course for its home schedule, although both said they were open to an arrangement in the future.

Dalhousie director of golf Jack Connell was hesitant to address the topic, but did offer: "We met once in November and then through some change of personnel we couldn't come to an agreement."

Zumhofe confirmed the two sides had a meeting in November.

"We had met with them to better our relationship between us, but nothing ever really went forth from there," Zumhofe said. "It just kind of deteriorated."

Zumhofe was an assistant to former Saxony coach Carol Williams two years ago, and the men switched positions last year. This year, Zumhofe is in his first season of going it alone with the Crusaders.

"I'm still learning each year as we go, even now," Zumhofe said. "And I think that might have led to some of the miscommunication. It was just a series of events that went one direction and just kind of snowballed a little bit and nobody realized it was a snowball, just small things that were happening."

Throughout the winter, Zumhofe said he thought Dalhousie still was going to be the team's home course.

"We thought there was an agreement, and there was, I guess, an agreement, but it was like we dropped the ball a little bit," Zumhofe said. "Our director of development who was coordinating a lot of the things between us, she pursued other directions. And when she left, that kind of threw everything up in the air. Christmas came around and before you know it two weeks before the season, I gave them a call and things just didn't work out."

A Saxony fundraiser golf tournament, which is held annually at Cape Girardeau Country Club, was one of the sticking points between the school and Dalhousie, Zumhofe said. He said Dalhousie wanted to host the fundraiser.

In the end, Saxony Lutheran found itself without a course shortly before the season.

"If that could be remedied, I wish we could of done that," Zumhofe said. "My whole idea after the news was broken is we just have to move forward and just move on with our season the best that we can."

Zumhofe began to contact area courses and opponents as he scurried to reschedule matches and work out a practice plan.

"A lot of schools were accommodating," Zumhofe said. "We played an extra match with Notre Dame at Bent Creek and we played an extra two matches at Cape Country Club. They were willing to help us in that situation. Tons of people were behind us and supporting us and wanting to make sure we could get out there and still compete."

Zumhofe said the nomadic season wasn't without its benefits. He said his team not having a course to play practice rounds on every day was a positive in some ways.

It allowed his team to become more familiar with playing Bent Creek and Cape Girardeau Country Club.

"I think it actually helped us," Zumhofe said. "So that was a positive, and that's the way I try to look at the season, try to glean whatever was possible out of it. And when I look back at it, it was quite a lot."