NATCHEZ — Cathedral golf coach Kurt Russ said he’s been told not to be overly tough on his daughter, Chandler, but he said it’s just not in his nature to listen.

But Chandler said she understands.

“He pushes me in the right direction,” Chandler said of her father. “I guess he’s too hard on me at times, which I guess is normal.”

Chandler is one of two returning players for the Cathedral girls golf team, and Kurt said he’s looking for his girls to continue building upon last year’s foundation.

“It was my first year to coach them last year,” Kurt said. “I started with Chandler and Rachel Benoit, and they were the only two I had last year.”

The Lady Green Wave have since added freshman Tori Bradford and eighth grader Katie Mayo, and Kurt said he’s relying heavily on the veteran players in his second year coaching the girls.

“Both Chandler and Rachel have made tremendous strides, and for the others it’s their first time to play golf.

“They’re not as young (as the boys’ team), but they’re not much older. They’re just now learning the rules of golf. The rules can help you if you know them, and they can hurt you if you don’t know them.”

Chandler has been getting personal instruction for the past year by local golfer Pete Powell, who has won numerous city championships, and she said the lessons have paid off.

“I’ve gone from A to halfway through the alphabet because of him,” Chandler said. “I used to think it was all about swinging it really fast to make it go far, but it’s really just about timing. You have to slow yourself down and think about what you have to do.”

And Chandler said timing makes all the difference between a good swing and a bad one.

“If you don’t know how to time your swing, you’re not going to get anywhere,” Chandler said.

Chandler said Benoit, who as a sophomore is the oldest player on the team, is a big support as far as having a playing partner.

“She’s really helped me stay with the game,” Chandler said. “If she wouldn’t have been here last year, I probably wouldn’t be playing at all. We became really good friends playing in tournaments together.”

Cathedral boys golf

If you’re giving the Cathedral High School boys golf team the eye test, the first impression is that the team looks young.

“They look the part, and they act the part,” Kurt said.

“I was spoiled rotten the last three years. We’re very young and very inexperienced. They’re kind of learning the game. When I say they don’t know the game — they don’t know the game.”

Kurt said he has given his young players books on golf rules and etiquette, something that wasn’t necessary the last few years.

“Most of those guys, they had someone before me that taught them the swing of the game and everything,” Kurt said. “They picked up the love of the game from somewhere, and all I had to do was fine-tune it a little bit.”

Freshman Jarrett Graves said he isn’t really concerned about being new to golf, he’s just trying to pick up as much as he can in his rookie year.

“It’s not as easy (to pick up) as you’d think, but then again, it’s not that hard to pick up,” Graves said.

After playing golf on a family vacation in Turtle Bay, Hawaii, Graves said he was inspired to give the game a try. And there’s definitely one part that tends to be difficult to learn, Graves said.

“Getting your swing down right,” Graves said. “I’m still working on that. The harder you swing the ball, the more sloppy your swing gets.”

Seventh graders John Elliot Ward and Rudy Nugent, eighth graders Logan Young and Haiden Harvey and freshman Jacob Hamilton round out the boys’ squad.