Whether they have past experience or are new to the game, there will be plenty of familiarity on the Aberdeen Christian boys’ golf team team this spring.

That’s because the Knights golf roster looks an awful lot like the Christian basketball team from this past winter, right down the coach, Tyler Pridey, who served as an assistant in basketball.

“It’s fun to have the kids around,” Pridey said, “obviously a lot of them are basketball players, so I was coaching them over the winter.”

While Christian had a solid basketball team, Pridey said the main thing that carries over from basketball to golf is familiarity.

“It transfers over in terms of my relationship with them, the quality of that relationship. They know me, they’re comfortable with me,” Pridey said. “That will benefit them on the golf course, just in terms of the flexibility and their mentality of, hey I know my coach, I understand who he is, he understands me, so that will affect that, and that helps me out a ton. I don’t have to work on, do I know this kid well, where are we at there?”

The Knights will be led by a pair of returning players in Ellis Russell and Jett Johnson.

Both players know their way around the course and will help to set the tone this season.

“Ellis and Jett, they’ve been around the block with going to tournaments, traveling and stuff, and I would throw Joey (Johnson) in there just because he’s a senior,” Pridey said, “and when you have that type of leadership from a basketball team, you’re going to come over to the golf team now, and they already know who he is, again there’s a little bit of that situation, while his skill is maybe not be at the level as some of the other kids.”

Other basketball players on the golf team include Becker Bosma and Lincoln Kaiser.

Pridey said golf is a much different game than some other sports where people can’t just jump into it and expect to have instant success. He said it takes years and years to refine technique and skill.

“Obviously the work is up to the kids. Golf is hard though in the sense, if you haven’t been playing in a while and you’re technique is not where it’s at, it’s not like some of the other sports where you’re in, because you’re part of a team or whatever,” Pridey said. “Golf is so individualized where if your game isn’t there this year, it’s probably not going to be to an extent at any level ready to make the state tournament. I’ve got one or two kids that are maybe at the level, if they shoot well enough, they could maybe make the state tournament.”

That said, Pridey has also come to understand that the competitive nature that drives athletes and their ability to excel under pressure situations in other sports can play a positive role out on the golf course.

“That’s a good lesson for me, because I’ve been playing golf for so long, I know what those situations are like,” Pridey said, “but I think I discredit them maybe a little bit in terms of that could probably relate in some ways in golf, just the type of atmosphere they put themselves in.”

While there certainly are some goals for the upcoming season, Pridey tries to keep things realistic for the golfers, especially those who are new to the squad.

He said it’s not simply a matter of grabbing a set of clubs and playing a solid round of golf.

“The expectation is what they put into it, they’re going to get out of it. It’s to have zero expectations in terms of your ability with where your game’s at right now, should not dictate how you react to certain shots that you hit,” Pridey said. “Meaning that if you’ve been playing for a year or two, don’t expect too much out of yourself, because you picked a game that takes years, and years, and years to develop. That’s been a discussion.”

The Knights open their season today at Leola before a meet on Thursday in Miller. Regardless of the scores put up this spring, Pridey is looking forward to working with a group of athletes he has come to know on the basketball court.

“I’m just looking forward to this year specifically,” Pridey said, “just relating to having been around the kids all winter in basketball, so we just get to hang out for a couple more months and play some golf.”