Alex Eisen/MDN Minot High junior Becca Tschetter (right) follows through with an approach shot during a practice round Tuesday morning at the Vardon Golf Club.

For the first time since Scott Foltz took over the Minot High School girls golf program in 2013, his daughter Marley Foltz isn’t on the roster.

It’s a graduation away from the team that’s going to take a while to get used to.

“I’m always excited to start a new season, but it’s a weird feeling this year,” Foltz said about Marley’s departure. “She brought a lot of intangibles, a lot of leadership skills and a lot of attitude to this team. I think we should be able to replace her score. We just need a couple of kids to step up and replace her leadership.”

Marley Foltz carded the Majettes’ best individual score (77-88–165) at the Class A State Tournament last year. So, while her leadership and scores will be missed, Minot High softens the blow by bringing back the five other golfers who helped produce a fifth-place team finish at the state tournament last season.

All five of them — senior Joelle Fettig, junior Becca Tschetter, junior Jaci Jones, sophomore Sydney Berg and sophomore Bella Dobrinski — have plenty of varsity experience to draw from having combined to play in 10 state tournaments during their high school careers so far.

“The last several years we have had a lot of retention,” Scott Foltz said. “We haven’t had a lot of seniors, so we have been able to bring back a lot of experience. That has really helped and hopefully this year it will be a culmination of that and we can get into the trophy bracket again.”

The Majettes last won a West Region championship in 2016 and a state championship back in 2009 when they went back-to-back. MHS hasn’t had the state tournament medalist since Jaime Fundingsland won consecutive state titles in 1994 and 1995.

One of the Majettes gunning to break that individual drought is Jones. She was named to the All-WDA team last year and was the Majettes’ top finisher in four out of their 10 tournaments, which was tied for the team-high with Marley Foltz.

Tschetter was the top MHS finisher in the other two tournaments last season. She took second place at the Minot Invite by shooting a season-low 76.

The Majettes host their only home meet of the season at the Vardon Golf Club again on August 27.

“I like it early and I like to get all these tournaments in while the weather is still nice,” Scott Foltz said. “And playing at home is a nice advantage to shoot a low score and build up your confidence. Golf is a lot of skill, but also a lot of confidence.”

Foltz believes the strength of his team, at least early on, will be hitting the ball far and straight down the fairway. Also, they have a lot of depth to rely on with 25 golfers across the varsity and junior varsity teams, and Foltz hopes that number increases to around 30 golfers once school starts.

“I think we have 12-14 kids who could compete for a spot in the Top 6,” he said. “There are four or five (girls) who are going to be hard to beat, but we got some depth. I think that’s going to give us a competitive edge, as far as having to be on the ball every day at practice because somebody wants your spot.”

The Majettes open the season at the Garden Gate Golf Course in Dunseith on Friday. Then, they head over to the Jamestown Country Club for the two-day East/West Classic on August 13-14.

“The first tournament I want to see that we haven’t lost a step since the summer time,” Foltz said. “I want to see the kids improving. I want to get back to where we were at the end of the season last year.”

Alex Eisen covers Minot State athletics, the Minot Minotauros and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @AEisen13.