The Scottsdale Community College men’s and women’s golf season recently got underway—and both teams have promising leaders, not to mention an SCC “fixture” by way of Head Coach, Dan Dersam—or “Coach Dan” as many of his players call him.

“Coach Dan” played college baseball and football at Eastern Arizona University and went on to coach several college sports, including baseball, men’s and women’s basketball and football for many years.

An avid golfer, Dersam eventually decided that he wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father, a PGA teaching professional.

“I found out from several college athletic directors that to land a job coaching college golf, I needed a Professional Golfers Association card,” Dersam said.

So, at the age of 50, according to Dersam, he became one of the oldest, first-time members in PGA history.  He shot a remarkable 10-under-par for two rounds (36 holes) of golf in one day, to earn his card.

According to the team’s schedule at gochokes.com, the college golf season runs from approximately February 1—through the National Championship in May.

There are nine players on the SCC men’s team, with seven other teams in the conference competing against them. The eight teams rotate hosting the matches at their home courses.  Each school hosts one match per season.

All eight teams compete at the same time. The golfers are broken up into threesomes and play two rounds of golf over two days.

SCC’s home course is located at the Hillcrest Golf Course in Sun City West and is one of freshman golfer, Zachary Reiser’s, favorite courses in the Valley. 

Competitive team courses are scattered throughout the valley and include, Queen Creek, South Mountain and Litchfield Park, so it won’t be difficult to catch an SCC match throughout the season.

The men’s golf team opened their season on January 28 at Dobson Ranch golf course in Mesa.

The SCC men’s team finished in 4th place, led by freshmen, Alex Skarperud, from Fargo, North Dakota, at +1 and Reiser, from Pewaukee, Wisconsin, at +2. 

On the second day of the tournament, Reiser carded a conference-best round of 4-under-par 68.

“I’ll take a 4-under-par any day,” Reiser said.

The women’s team, which usually has a different schedule, also played their opening match at Dobson Ranch and were led by Alana Hackett, a freshman, from Monte Vista, Colorado.

For a complete breakdown of the SCC team results and a schedule of upcoming matches as well as course locations, go to gochokes.com and select either men’s or women’s golf under “spring sports”.

You can also track individual players at golf stat website.