Mark Tinder hopes to carry on the rich tradition of San Benito
High golf after taking over this year as the new boys coach.
Mark Tinder hopes to carry on the rich tradition of San Benito High golf after taking over this year as the new boys coach.
The task for Tinder will be to try to get the young squad to bind together with just one senior.
“With the experience Mitch Thomas and I have, we can help golfers with their swings,” Tinder said. “But we can also prepare them mentally as well. If they are going to bogey, make it a hard bogey. I don’t want them to be 15 feet from the hole then three putt.”
Thomas, who was named as the head professional at Ridgemark this year, didn’t have as much time this year to attend meets. But Thomas, a 1975 Haybaler alum who was coached by Larry Edwards, remains as the JV golf coach for San Benito.
Tinder graduated the same year as Thomas from Pacific Grove High School
“This program has a long tradition as one of the better teams in the league,” Tinder said. “We have enjoyed using a very good golf course like Ridgemark. Ridgemark provides a lot of junior players the opportunity to improve.”
Tinder, a former All American at Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma, played in a U.S Open in 1976. He competed in six U.S. Amateurs, finishing as high as the quarterfinals. He was a semifinal state placer as well.
Tinder played professional golf on the Asian Tour. During the year that he tried out for the PGA tour, he came in one stroke shy of making the cut, which at the time was limited to 25 players.
Some of the players who received their cards that year were Fred Couples, Mark O’Meara and Loren Roberts.
Tinder is a third-year instructor who teaches business and computer applications at San Benito High. He moved to Hollister the year before he started teaching.
“It was actually the best decision I have made,” Tinder said. “I enjoy teaching, and I like the community. I think this is a very good district.”
Tinder coached the girls team the past three years. The team came in first once and second twice.
Edwards took over as the head coach at San Benito High in 1969. He took a break in the early ’80s to be with his family before coming back for three years when his kids were in high school. Bob Mattson and Charlie Ayre coached the team for about eight years while Edwards was out.
For the first couple years Edwards was coaching, Bolado Golf Course was the only course in San Benito County.
When Ridgemark opened in 1972, the Balers received an invitation to play and train there for free. The team has used that course as their home course ever since.
Thomas grew up with the Ridgemark Golf Course in his back yard. His parents were some of the first people to build homes on the course. Thomas coached the team for two years after his former mentor left.
The Balers had some strong female players before a separate team was created about eight years ago.
Former Baler Julie Ordonez was a teammate of Julie Inkster at San Jose State. Linda Bridge, Stephanie Gula and Andrea and Alexis Dunning were some of the other golfers. Alexis Dunning played on both the boys and girls teams.
“I think we had something like 50 matches in one year,” Edwards said. “We were going everywhere. We had 28 kids out there and had three varsity teams. Teams from San Jose would come down to play us and we would beat them with our second and third teams.”
Edwards hosted a 36-team tournament at Ridgemark for about 20 years. The Haybalers would usually finish in the top five among some of the best teams in Northern California, Edwards said.
During one of the years, there were 45 kids who tried out for the San Benito golf team. And Edwards had to cut the team down to about 20. That was the year of El Niño.
“We had to be real careful we didn’t do any damage to the golf course,” Edwards said. ”
This year’s team is a young team, but Edwards said it should do fine because it is in capable hands.
“My philosophy was to get the kids to come out when they were freshmen, and by the time they were juniors, they could break 80,” Edwards said. “It is just like with swimming. If a kids does enough laps, eventually he will become a fish.”
Tinder is looking forward to molding the clay he has been given.
“This will be a rebuilding year,” Tinder said. “Although I would like to be the top team, I know it will be hard to do. But with the young golfers that we have coming up, I think we should be the team to beat next year.”
