“I’ve put on some muscle,” said Goecke, who’s added about 30 pounds. “I feel great. It’s helped with my consistency and overall performance.
“You see a lot of guys on tour now, and, in the past, there wasn’t a lot of really strong guys. Now, you’ve got to be an athlete to play golf. You have to keep up with everyone else.”
Goecke has had no trouble keeping up with the competition as the No. 1 golfer for the Raiders, who will compete in the Horizon League tournament Sunday through Tuesday at Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla.
His 70.58 average is on pace to break Ryan Wenzler’s single-season school record of 71.73.
“My ball-striking is pretty good, but the thing that has improved the most this year is my putting,” he said. “I’ve tightened up the weaknesses in my game that have cost me strokes in the past. And it’s really started to make a difference.”
Goecke has a school-record four individual tourney wins this season. The previous mark was three by Frank Lickliter in 1989-90 and Wenzler in 2015-16.
Goecke, a junior, shot 68-69-68 to win the Marshall Invite. He also was medalist at the Orlando Invitational, the Seahawk Intercollegiate and Big Blue Intercollegiate
He has four other top-four finishes in 11 tourneys overall.
Credit: Erin Pence
Credit: Erin Pence
“He’s got all the shots. He can move it both ways. He’s got a good short game and is a good putter. And he never really gets in trouble.” said first-year coach Conner Lash, who joined the staff as an assistant in 2020 and took over when Brian Arlinghaus left for Xavier.
“The biggest thing is, he also has what I like to call ‘it’ in quotes. He’s got ‘it.’ He wants to go out and win every tournament. He wants to birdie every hole. He likes going against the best competition and beat those guys. He’s confident in himself. The confidence comes from hard work.”
Goecke’s roots in golf run deep.
His great-grandfather, Will Goecke, started the Will-Goe Driving Range (later Smiley’s) on Linden Ave. and, 54 years ago, purchased the nine-hole Xenia Country Club.
Tyler’s grandfather, Garay, spearheaded the drive to make it an 18-hole layout in 1982. And Chris Goecke, Tyler’s father, currently runs it.
The named was changed to WGC to honor the course pioneers.
“I’ve been very fortunate to have that in my backyard, right down the street, and to grow up in the game,” Tyler said. “It’s helped me to be successful.”
He’s hoping for better success for the Raiders in the league tourney after a shocking loss last season. And they seem to have the firepower to do it.
The averages of the other four starters all are on pace to land in the top 10 in school history. Mikkel Mathiesen is at 71.82, Bryce Haney 72.13, Cole Corder 72.48 and Davis Root 73.23.
That depth has led to dominance this season: four firsts and a second in five events in the fall and four more victories in six tourneys this spring.
They’ve faced HL teams 30 times along the way and have gone 30-0.
“With the coaching change, I didn’t like to see Brian go, but it brought a fresh start to the program,” Goecke said. “A lot of guys knew Conner already. With him coming in, it energized us.
“He was like, ‘Listen guys, we’re even better than we were last year.’ At first, it sounded crazy because we lost two really good players. But he was right. We worked hard to get where we are. We’re excited to have another shot.”
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