By Christopher Tremblay, Staff Sports Writer

Dan “Bo” Botelho has been around the game of golf for many years and has been in the golf business since 1993. He has played the sport in high school, college and on the professional level as a PGA member. He coached the Dover High School team in New Hampshire some time ago and was recently an assistant for the Brown University program in Rhode Island. Botelho also teaches golf at the John F. Parker Municipal Golf Course in Taunton.

At this stage in his life, he was looking to continue doing only two things: continue teaching golf and coaching golf. When Botelho took the Assistant Golf Coach position with Brown, he knew that the Head Coach at the time only had a few years left before he was going to retire, and when that time came, things drastically changed in Botelho’s life.

“When the Head Coach left, they replaced him with a new coach, which I stayed with, but my hours changed and I wasn’t able to teach as much as I needed to, so we parted ways,” he said. “After not being around the college kids for ten months, I was missing it, so I started poking around.”

While looking for coaching jobs, one of the Franklin High School golfers who Botelho gave lessons to in Taunton told his father, who in turn notified Botelho, that the Panthers Coach was leaving. He quickly applied and was named the new Coach for this fall’s season. Being a Franklin resident since 2009, getting a job coaching job so close to home was perfect. 

As the new Franklin golf Coach, Botelho was looking for his team to be very competitive within the Hockomock League, and through the first 5 league contests, the Panthers are perfect. They only have one loss outside the league, and it was to St Johns of Shrewsbury, the defending State Champions. 

Franklin is top heavy with senior golfers in the top four spots. Liam Lewandowski (shooting an average of 36.75 through six matches), Caden Sullivan (36.83) and Jack Nelson (36.66) are currently battling it out for that number one position for the Panthers. Cam LaBrie (38.00) is closely behind the top three a mere stroke and a quarter back. The top three golfers all found themselves in the top five golfers for Franklin last fall with LaBrie the only one not in the top five.

While all four are relatively close to another in terms of their averages on the golf course they all seem to have a similar concept to their approach to the game. Lewandowski is more of a tactician on the course compared to the rest of his teammates.

“It’s kind of funny, I have a good beat on how they all play, and they are all very similar,” The Panther Coach said. “They are all aggressive and love to use their drivers whenever possible, sometimes to the dismay of their coach. They occasionally will pay the price, but they know the consequences.”

The Franklin golfers know what Botelho brings to the golf course and his experiences hold a lot of weight. With that knowledge, his golfers take what he tells them to heart, but they also want to use their drivers.

As a teacher, Botelho more times than not will go with a student’s thoughts if they are confident and comfortable with a specific club. However, while he allows them this privilege, he also make them understand the risk reward with their decisions.

Right outside the top 4 are two sophomores looking to bang on the door: Ben Burgess at #5 with an average score of 40.35, and behind him Tyler Perlman at 41.5. Burgess is a transfer student from a private school in Rhode Island where both golf and baseball were played in the spring. According to the Franklin Coach, Burgess wanted to be able to play both sports, and on the golf course he will be a player to watch as he develops his game. 

Perlman, like his sophomore counterpart, is a full stroke higher than the four seniors, but the Franklin Coach sees consistency with the young golfer day in and day out. 

“I challenged them both. They know that this team will be theirs in the near future,” Botelho said. “I told them to watch the big dogs in front of them and see what they are doing and what you are not: practice, take less bad shots, read your puts on both sides of the hole and be patient on the greens.”

The final two spots playing in the matches are a flip of the coin on any given day. There are many golfers fighting for those two spots, the Coach noted.

Prior to the season, Botelho’s goals were to 1) win the Hockomock League, and if they happen to go undefeated, that would be a bonus and 2) play well at the South Sectionals and move onto the State Tournament.

To capture the Hockomock League, Franklin will have to outperform neighboring King Philip. The two teams tee off twice a season, one home and one away match, and over the years, they’ve matched up very well.

“The matches against King Philip should decide who wins the league,” the Franklin Coach said. “They are a formidable team, and right now, the two teams are 1 overall stroke or .25 of a stroke per player difference. It will be an absolute battle.”

The Warriors will be in Franklin on September 25 and the Panthers will travel to King Philip on October 7 where the Hockomock Leaguer Title will most likely be decided.

Last fall, the Franklin golfers did not play well enough at the South Sectionals to advance into the State Tournament. The Coach wants his players to improve upon that performance and move into the States this season.