Lakeland High School golf coach Stephen Watkins has had to nearly start over in his development of the Cavaliers’ golf program with only one returner from last year.

But a new foundation is being laid, and improvement has already been evident four matches into the 2015 season.

In their matches on Aug. 10 and 17, the Cavaliers had some players out of town and were unable to post scores. On Aug. 13, Lakeland posted a score of 501 to Hickory High School’s 325, but the Cavs narrowed the gap significantly in their most recent match, shooting a 463 to Deep Creek High School’s 391.

“They’ve done really well,” Watkins said of his players. “And I think that by the end of the year, we’ll be right where we want to be.”

Lakeland made that happen last year. Though it went 1-8 during the regular season, it took second in the Ironclad Conference tournament to qualify for regional play, which had been its goal from the beginning of the season.

The Cavs placed fifth out of six teams in the Region 4A South tournament.

Four out of the five players from that Lakeland team graduated earlier this year, including No. 1 Blake Harris, No. 2 Jack Boswell, No. 3 Jacob Diggs and No. 5 Blake Bullock.

The only returning golfer is junior James Whitley, who is the team’s new No. 1.

“Really, James is the only one I have set,” Watkins said.

The rest of the rankings may change match-to-match. The other golfers include juniors Jake Hardy and Clint Huffman, sophomore Ben Leonard and freshmen Brehon Epps and Corey Hansen.

“This is definitely the youngest team that I’ve ever had, which is good and bad,” Watkins said. “I’m very grateful to have the young kids, because that means that I have them coming back for several years,” but it is a big transition for the program.

Watkins said he is working with the guys to build their conditioning.

Though golf may seem like a leisure sport to some, playing 18 holes over the course of four to five hours under the hot sun, while remaining mentally tough and actually playing well can be a daunting task.

But Watkins is pleased to have six players that really enjoy the sport.

“It has to be something that you’re passionate about,” he said. “All of my kids really like to play golf, and they want to put the time in.”

He said the team’s goal is to finish in the top two of its new conference in the Virginia High School League’s Group 3A classification and advance to the regional tournament.

And Watkins already has plans beyond this year with his young core of players.

“We expect to compete this year, but by next year’s tournament, we want to be the team everybody’s gunning for,” he said.

He knows what they will need to do this season to help make that happen.

“We have to realize that we are going to hit some bad shots, we are going to have some bad rounds, but we need to learn something every time we go out and play,” he said.

Lakeland’s next match is on Aug. 24 against Grassfield High School at Nansemond River Golf Club.