Boys golf: Under Caporusso, Hersey looks to build beyond breakout campaign last year

It might have turned into another mediocre season for Hersey boys golf after the team opened last year with two straight losses. But the team later flipped the script.

“The golf season is kind of a sprint,” coach Dan Caporusso said. “You take two opening losses and you're in a bad position. But we never lost again.”

Under Caporusso, the school rallied for a historically successful season. The Huskies broke a 22-year Mid-Suburban League title drought, punched a ticket downstate with a second-place finish at sectionals and wrapped up the season fourth in the state — the program's best finish since 1978.

This season’s Huskies are looking to repeat, or even improve on, last year’s success.

Junior returners Davis and Colin Lockerwood, brothers who have played golf together since they were young, give the Huskies a core to build around. Caporusso credited their shared passion and work ethic, which could potentially impact the team dynamics.

“You know how we said Larry Bird was a gym rat? (Davis and Colin) are golf rats,” he said. “Having twins who are both passionate about golf and also supremely talented. That's a secret sauce in terms of building a golf team.”

While continuing to teach his players about the selfless play on the course, Caporusso, inducted into the Illinois Coaches Association Golf Hall of Fame in 2024, said his approach this season will be the same one that got him there — be genuine.

“If you don't know an answer, don't lie to the kids, don't make it up,” he said. “If I can't help the kids in golf, I'm gonna get some help … That's my plan. Use what's worked team-wise in the past. And if I can't figure it out technically, I'll get help.”

Last year’s turnaround started with a team meeting after those opening losses to Barrington and Fremd. Caporusso wanted his players to play golf as a team.

“Golf is so individualistic, so it takes time for kids to understand the team aspect of it,” he said.

Though the sport is played individually, only the combined team score decides the winner. What Caporusso wanted to instill was the idea of scoring for the team even when struggling individually.

“If they can score something the team can use, you can win by even one or two shots,” he said. “If they can give up the self, that's the hard part to teach in high school golf.”

He also introduced a defensive course strategy. Instead of urging an attack on every hole, he preferred his players to hit the birdies or triple bogies.

“You cannot always charge. Sometimes you have to play defense in golf,” he said. “That's what those kids bought into. But it took time.”

The Huskies took off while carrying such a conservative mindset. Hersey posted a school-record 3-under 288 at Schaumburg Golf Club to win the MSL Championship, then earned a state berth with a runner-up finish at the Class 3A Buffalo Grove sectional. Caporusso believed they had a chance to win the sectional outright before a storm moved in during the final round.

“We had a great chance to win the sectional. But a storm came in at Buffalo Grove when we were finishing our round,” he said.

It didn't slow them down downstate. At the Class 3A finals, Hersey shot 611 over two days to finish fourth for the school's highest state placement in nearly 50 years. Down the stretch, Caporusso leaned on Every Shot Counts author Mark Broadie, whose work reinforced his conservative approach, to remind his players to trust the strategy even as the stakes of the match rose.

“Have a conservative strategy but a confident mentality, and aim at the smallest target,” he said. “We knew the greatest golfers on the planet don’t always hit it. They call it the shotgun as opposed to the rifle.”

Behind the breakout campaign, two seniors anchored the run. Owen Spokas shot an even-par 144 at state and finished fifth in the individual state standings. Tucker Hemminger hit a 3-under 68 at MSL and became one of five Hersey golfers in the program's history to win the MSL individual medal.

As both have graduated, there is a significant void to fill.

“You got Tucker and Owen. How do you replace them? It's tremendously difficult,” Caporusso said.