Most high school golf coaches don't double as PGA professionals. Spring Grove coach Jeff Van Etten isn't the average golf coach.

Though his PGA credentials gave him plenty of opportunities for one-on-one tutoring, his gig with the Rocket varsity golf team is unique.

"I've given lots of lessons to juniors. Coaching, this is my first time," Van Etten said after a tournament Wednesday at Hickory Heights Golf Club in Spring Grove.

Van Etten said there are some nuances in coaching that individual lessons don't offer.

For one, the ability to focus on an individual's performance rather than a team of 16 golfers is a stark difference for Van Etten.

"With a team, it's hard to spend time individually, especially when we have all of our varsity matches jammed close together. The big thing is I'm going to have to get together with them one-on-one, and that will make the team better as a whole," he said.

In his short time as the team's golf coach, though, four of his starters have shaved 15 strokes off their games.

"(Senior) Jake Smeltzer was the exception. My two, three and four were all shooting around 100. In just a few weeks' time, that's awesome," Van Etten said.

Spring Grove finished in second place in the YAIAA Central Division last year, but lost All-Area Player of the Year Shane Henry, who has since gone on to play golf at Millersville University.

Replacing Henry and fellow senior Gage Weaver is easier said than done,

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and Van Etten's squad has gone through some growing pains.

The Rockets have spent much of the golf season battling for fifth place with recent Central Division addition New Oxford.

"I'm hoping by the time my freshman class are seniors that we can be one of the best teams in the district," Van Etten said.

Luckily, Van Etten said, his team is full of young and impressionable golfers, whom he said are easier to correct than older golfers.

"It is definitely easier (coaching younger kids). The longer they play with their old habits and old attitude, the harder it is to break them," he said.

The Spring Grove coach spent the bulk of the summer teaching his kids the rules and etiquette of golf. It was a consumption of time that he will be able to avoid next season as he expects to return nearly his entire team.

The Rockets' only senior is Jake Smeltzer, who is the older brother of Zack Smeltzer.

"Next year, we're going to have our whole team, starting 6, shooting 90 or better, maybe even a handful of them shooting in the 70s," Van Etten said.

Sam Latter is an Evening Sun sports writer. You can read his blog, Latter's Letters, at http://blogs.eveningsun.com/latter.