Craig Daily Press

They may live in the mountains, but that doesn’t mean they play in them.

The Moffat County High School varsity boys golf team returned yesterday from back-to-back tournaments in Eagle County, home to what coach Ken Harjes called “resort-type-courses.”

Unfortunately for the Bulldog ball strikers, the rounds the team played Wednesday and Thursday in Avon and Gypsum didn’t feel like a vacation.

“Those were definitely some tough courses,” Harjes said. “It’s like target golf; there’s one place you can put the ball, and if it’s not there, you’re probably in trouble.

“So it’s hard.”

Junior Ty DeGuelle made his first trip of the season with the varsity team, taking the No. 5 spot — although Harjes said it may only be temporarily — from Parker King.

“I’m doing a little trading around here, is all,” Harjes said. “When I look at my (No.) 5 and 6 players, they’ve been pretty close. Even 4, 5 and 6. In fact, I may even do a little trading next week.

“I want to give some different guys experience and see what happens.”

The Bulldogs finished fifth both days with senior Nick Moyer leading the way.

Moyer carded a two-day total of 167 — 87 Wednesday, 80 Thursday — responding well under the mountainous conditions and earning a fifth-place individual finish after the latter round.

“Nick was solid again,” Harjes said. “He was hitting 5-iron to 150 yards off the tee and just kind of going at the holes like that. You always play better when you take O.B. (out of bounds) out of your bag.”

Sophomore Mark Dockstader shot rounds of 84 and 85 to close the two days just two strokes behind Moyer, tallying a 169.

“He played well, too,” Harjes said. “He hit a great shot, just missing a hole-in-one by a foot.

“He had two good days.”

The team still needs to work with the flat blade, Harjes said, but he said he was happy with the team’s performance.

“I was pretty pleased with it overall,” he said. “Our chipping inside 20 to 30 yards, was good. Are we done (because we’re good at it)? No. You never perfect that, but I think we’re pretty good at it.”

Harjes praised the play of senior Erick Leonard, who carded rounds of 97 and 95 in his first season of high school golf.

“To give him some credit, for a guy who didn’t play competitive golf before and really has only played golf for a couple of years, Erick did well,” Harjes said. “He’s been really consistent for us in scoring. He keeps shooting that same score. He’s hitting the ball well.

“He hit one of the nicest approach shots I saw over the two days.”

The team will practice this weekend, before its next round — Tuesday at Rifle Gap Golf Course in Rifle.

“We’re not going to do anything different,” Harjes said. “We’re going to just keep drilling and drilling and drilling and keep hitting ’em.”

John Vandelinder can be reached at 875-1793 or jvandelinder@craigdailypress.com