KINGSTON, N.Y. — It has been a short break for the Kingston High boys golf team. Just months after completing the 2025 campaign with a successful spring season, the Tigers are back at it again with a late summer start versus Goshen on Wednesday, Sept. 2 at the Stony Ford Golf Course at Campbell Hall.

The Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association (OCIAA) transitioned high school boys golf from a spring sport to a fall sport starting this season. Kingston is a longtime OCIAA member.

Kingston High coach Juan Weissenberg feels his players will benefit from the change.

“A lot of the guys who’ve been on the team played all summer,” Weissenberg said. “Mind you they played in the winter in the indoor simulators prior to the spring season. But it’s definitely an advantage to have this nice weather to start the season.”

Another benefit to the change in schedule is Kingston can now schedule Mid-Hudson Athletic League (MHAL) teams who play in the fall.

The Tigers will host MHAL schools Saugerties and Rondout Valley on Friday, Sept. 4 at the Wiltwyck Golf Club in a triangular match. Ty Monroe of Saugerties and Hokai Liu of Rondout Valley both qualified for the New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) Boys High School Championship in 2025. Monroe finished in a tie for 14th.

The only disadvantage to the fall change is that the courses the OCIAA teams will now compete on are still finishing up leagues and outings, Weissenberg said. And the courses figure to also still have a lot of play from paying customers or members of clubs due to the good weather.

“It’s made scheduling matches a little more difficult,” Weissenberg said. “But we’ll figure that stuff out. I’m just happy the guys feel comfortable with their games to start the season.”

The OCIAA change was made because cold weather often delayed the start of the season for couple of weeks.

Kingston’s Austin Hand and Andre Miller, who are both left-handed golfers, both hope they can qualify for the state championship for the first time in their senior seasons.

Weissenberg is confident they will have a good opportunity to do so. The top nine golfers in the Section 9 tournament will qualify for the states in June 2027. The sectional tournament will be held on the Monster Golf Club at the Resorts World Catskills in Monticello.

“They’ve both been on the golf team for four years,” Weissenberg said. “Austin (Hand) made it to day two of sectionals last year and only missed it (states) by five strokes. He finished 13th last year, so with graduates and getting a little bit better I think he has a real chance. I think he’s ready. Andre (Miller) also made it to sectionals, but missed day two. But he’s just as solid as it comes and he keeps getting better and better. I hope he can keep it together and get to day two because I think he has a shot and has the game to finish in the top nine.”

Hand likes that the Tigers will be playing fall golf this season.

“I think it’s an advantage by getting many rounds in over the summer before the season starts instead of playing indoors before the (spring) season,” Hand said.

Miller knows this is his last chance to qualify for states.

“I’ve been chasing that one for four years now,” Miller said. “It was a bit of a letdown last year that I didn’t make it, but I just want to play solid all year to give myself the best chance.”

Sophomore Jameson Beesmer is Kingston’s other returning golfer from the squad that had an 11-3 dual meet record. He feels fortunate to be able to learn certain things about the game from Hand and Miller.

“I want to follow their lead and keep hitting it further and shooting lower scores,” Beesmer said.

“He’s also been on the team for four years,” Weissenberg said of Beesmer. “He’s been on the team since the seventh grade. He feels like he’s a senior since he came in at the same time as Austin and Andre. He made it to the OCIAAs the last couple of years, so I’m hoping he can get to sectionals by kind of riding on these guys’ coattails, seeing how they practice and competing against them.”

Weissenberg said he has five other players who all have a shot to join Hand, Miller and Beesmer in the starting lineup.

“We’re early in the season and we’ve only had a few rounds in, but they’re pretty close to the same,” Weissenberg said. “It’ll be fun to see who kind of emerges. We’ll probably be rotating players in and out to see what we have. Some guys step up under pressure, while some guys still need a little more time.”

Although the Tigers lost Antonio Cecelia, Mark Lekaj and Sean Woolsey to graduation, Weissenberg thinks Kingston can still be competitive in the OCIAA.

“We had three rounds last year where all six players shot in the 40s,” Weissenberg said. “I think that’s behind us this year. But we have three solid players and if we can get the other guys to shoot in the low 50s, you can pretty much compete with anybody.”

The OCIAA Championship will be held Oct. 13 at the Powelton Club at Newburgh and the two-day Section 9 Championship will follow Oct. 20 and 21 at the Monster Golf Club.