BP’s Hardecopf learning on the job

Blooming Prairie’s Andrew Hardecopf took on his new role as the head coach of the school’s golf team this year – a career move that the Grand Meadow native admitted his younger self may not have seen coming in his future.

After competing in football, basketball and track and field for the Superlarks, Hardecopf went on to Winona State University, but felt he was missing something from his days as an athlete.

“I missed that competitive drive. A couple of buddies of mine played golf and they invited me to go along. I got frustrated when I wasn’t hitting the ball how I wanted. The beautiful thing about golf is that you’re not really competing with anyone else, you’re kind of just battling the course,” said Hardecopf.

With golf only becoming a big part of his life in college, Hardecopf noted that when he became a teacher, he was more interested in coaching the three sports he grew up playing due to his familiarity with them and the knowledge he possessed.

He initially began with coaching football and basketball, looking to also become a coach for the track and field team.

However, the course of his coaching career would change when he met Blooming Prairie’s Carl Peterson.

“I already loved golf by the time I moved to Blooming Prairie, and I was spending a lot of time out at the course. I got to know Carl, who was the assistant coach and became the head coach at the time. He asked me to be an assistant coach on his staff. I was a little apprehensive at first because I was unsure how I would coach it with the little knowledge that I had, but he told me the most important parts of coaching were course management and short game – both things that I knew well.”

Fast forward five years of coaching as an assistant and Hardecopf is now leading the Awesome Blossoms into their matches with a staff of his own.

Blooming Prairie golf has a relatively young roster this season with just one junior, Ben Riley, being the oldest athlete amongst both teams.

However, the youthfulness of the program is something that Hardecopf said he thinks is a major plus for his first year.

“It’s actually really nice because we’re all kind of learning as we go. We’re going to focus on course management and just gaining experience a lot this season, and I think we’re all going to get better as the season progresses. It’s nice knowing that I’ll get to work with this team for the next couple of years and be able to improve in my new role as they improve their game.”

Hardecopf’s teams will compete next at Waseca Lakeside Club in an eight-team tournament on Thursday, April 27 at 12 p.m.