Now in his fifth season since taking over for Gordon Moore in 2006 as Lake’s golf coach, Terry Tansel has quietly

Casey Witt

Nathan Yeager

made the Flyers a force to be reckoned with.

Tansel, 34, a business teacher at Lake, has led the Flyers to three district berths in his first four seasons as head coach — something that was a rarity for Lake golf teams before he took over. 

"We hadn't been to districts since 1984 and our program has really built off of the recent success," Tansel said.

Tansel credits the recent turnaround to the hard work his players have put in over the last several years. 

"It helps that these kids start playing golf at an early age and have experience when they get to the high school level, but the work they all put in has made the difference. They golf all summer long and really care about being successful and helping each other.

"They all know that they have to come and work hard six days a week and put in a lot of time in the summer. It's the competition among the guys that has improved our performance on the course. In the past, we had one or two guys who everyone else depended on. We had no jayvee team — no inner competition. The added pressure has pushed the kids to do their best. Next year, we will have 14 kids competing for six spots."

 After the birth of his two sons, Tansel, formerly a baseball and basketball coach at Lake, has turned all of his attention to resurrecting Lake's golf program. 

"It was tough leaving those other sports behind. In the end, I had to decide what was best for me and my family. Because the golf season is fairly short, I have been able to spend more time with my family and focus the majority of my attention on making my players the best they can be." 

Tansel keeps getting more and more out of his players as he gains experience and he credits a pair of Ohio High School Hall of Fame coaches — Genoa’s Tom Pickerel and Eastwood's Mike Gardner — for helping him along the way. 

"The biggest thing from my first day of coaching until now is watching the other coaches in the league.  Coach Pickerel and Gardner have helped me more than anything else. I love talking golf with them and watching how they go about their business."

And Coach Tansel has to love how his experienced team has conducted business on the course this season.

"This might be my best team yet," says Tansel.

It is experience and consistency that has carried the Flyers and has them eyeing their third consecutive district appearance.

 The Flyers are led by their only senior Casey Witt and junior Nathan Yeager, two of the top players in the Suburban Lakes League. Yeager and Witt, who was named SLL Player of the Year last week, have been on varsity every season during their high school careers, but it has been the performance from the other juniors on varsity — Cole Brossia, Jake Materni, and Casey Conine — and their consistency that has impressed Tansel. 

"We have been much more consistent this season. As a team, we don't have to count on one player anymore.  We have a small gap between our one through five guys.  Casey Witt and Nathan Yeager proved last year that they could carry the team and compete for medalist every match, but I have been impressed with the way the other guys have stepped up."

The Flyers have had four different medalists this season — Witt, Brossia, Materni, and Yeager — and Tansel believes that the team's consistency has only made them better.

"It's nice to know that you don't have to go out and shoot your best every night. It takes pressure off of all of them knowing that they don't have to rely on one guy. In the past it was one guy or two who carried our team.  This year I never know who's going to shoot the best on any given day."

Casey Witt has been one of the few players the Flyers have been consistently able to rely on the past three seasons

 and with some added help, he has been every bit as good this season.

"We are definitely going to miss him next year," says Tansel.  It feels like he has always been here. I don't remember what it's like coaching without Casey. Our team will miss him."

Says Witt, "Playing for Coach Tansel has enabled me to develop much more than skills for golf. The skills he has taught me have assisted me in life as well. He's the perfect example of what a high school coach should be — someone who teaches kids about the sport, but more about life."

Witt has provided senior leadership this season, but Yeager has been friendly competition for the last three years. Yeager, whose highlight of the season came on August 10 at the Liberty Benton Invitational where he shot a season low 73 and earned medalist honors, leads the Flyers with the lowest season average and was Lake's lone Suburban Lakes League first team selection this season.

Yeager, who along with Cole Brossia shot an 83 to lead the way for Lake at the league championship last week, was a little disappointed that Lake couldn't win their first SLL championship for Coach Tansel.

 "I am a little disappointed," says Yeager, "because I know we had the talent to win, but we couldn't put some solid rounds together when we needed to. Now that the league championship is over, we our getting our minds focused on sectionals and hopefully play well enough to move on."

Coach Tansel agrees completely with Yeager. 

"Our goal at the beginning of the season was to come out and play every day and have a lot of success with everyone coming back.  We have to finish strong these last few weeks to meet our goals."

Lake will play for a chance to advance to districts for the fourth time in five years next Thursday at Heatherdowns and Coach Tansel is stressing to his team the importance of focusing on the task at hand.

"I am a little disappointed because I know we had the talent to win, but we couldn’t put some solid rounds together when we needed to. It would be hard to say that we are not thinking about districts at all, but our primary focus is on sectionals. We are focused on Heatherdowns. We cannot worry about the other teams; it's all about us.  We must play against the course and ourselves."

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed