Raso takes over as new Austin boys golf coach
Published 12:13 am Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Most people around Austin know Matt Raso for his impact on the baseball field. The 1999 grad grew up playing baseball with the Packers and he’s been a fixture at catcher for the Austin Greyhounds for a long time now.
Matt Raso is the new Austin head boys golf coach. — Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
But Raso, who was an assistant baseball coach for seven years, is about to use his other hobby to try and help out the Packers as this spring. Raso is taking over as the Austin boys head golf coach, and he’s pretty optimistic with how things are going after just a couple of weeks on the job.
“It feels good to be back. I want to help the kids in the community,” Raso said. “I’m here to do a good job and try to win some Big Nine titles and eventually develop a program that has some kids involved.”
Raso didn’t even try golfing until he was 19 years old when he started working at Ramsey Golf Course. Eventually Raso found himself playing eight rounds a week it wasn’t long before he was making golf his ‘other’ summer past-time.
“If anyone has golfed, they know when they get hooked,” Raso said. “It becomes more of an obsession. I focused on two swings for the last thirteen summers, my baseball swing and my golf wing.”
Raso started off shooting in the high 80s and low 90s and now he shoots in the mid 70s with a three-handicap. Learning golf from scratch has given Raso solid insight on what it takes for a player to develop their game.
“Everyone’s not good when they start playing golf. If you don’t put the work on, you’re not going to get anything out of it,” Raso said. “It just takes that one solid shot to keep you coming back. You can play terrible all day and if you hit a solid shot on one of your last shots, you’ll want to come back and play. It’s kind of a teaser.”
Raso wants to eventually build a solid golf program and he’d like to have some camps in the summer for his team.
“I just like helping kids out and I want them to enjoy golf. It’s something you can play until your eighty,” Raso said. “You don’t see as many kids playing anymore. I’ve got to try and make if fun and enjoyable for these guys and at the same time make it competitive.”