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Published October 12, 2008 12:21 am - Clay, former coach at Southern, guides golf team for NEO Ask Larry Clay his greatest experience in golf and he’ll probably tell you about his eight years as coach of the Missouri Southern State College Lions.
Clay, 56, recalls his MSSC teams from 1992 to 2000 fondly. They featured such players as Heath Holt, Kevin Walker, Todd Pefferman and Chris Mitchell. “There were so many good players,” he says, “I’m afraid I’m going to leave off someone’s name. But it was a privilege to be their coach and to watch them develop.” Now Clay is coaching again, this time at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College in Miami. Clay, who is golf shop manager at Miami Country Club, is trying to rebuild the college’s golf program. He is looking for players who want a place to hone their skills for competition at a higher level later. “We’re trying to get the word out that we do have a golf program,” he says. “There is a lot of opportunity here. We definitely can use players. Playing here would provide competitive experience for young golfers. And since we don’t play a large schedule, they would have more time to study and get their grades up before transferring to a four-year school.” This year’s team, he says, has been struggling. Still there have been some bright spots: Calvin Becker has a 75.75 stroke average and Nolan Couch is averaging 76 strokes per round. Both, says Clay, have the talent to be legitimate Division II players. Southern had some excellent teams during Clay’s tenure, but they always had difficulty reaching the regional tournament level because of the size of the regional field and the way teams were selected. “We were lumped in with the South Central and Texas conferences,” he said. “There would be four or five good teams in our conference, but because of the selection process only two would get to go.” Larry got the job as Southern coach because he asked. “I’ve known Jim Frazier (former Southern football coach and athletic director) for years as a teacher and a friend,” Clay said. “They had an opening and I asked about it.” He got it. Larry grew up around golf. His father, who was in the Air Force, was a good player and young Clay played a lot of military courses. He was working on a farm in western Kansas and playing golf for Pratt Junior College in 1976 when the school dropped the golf program. “I started looking for a place to play,” he said. He found Missouri Southern and played two years of golf there before graduating. From 1980 to 1986, he worked for pro Don Atchison at Miami Country Club as an assistant. In the early 2000s, Clay hardly touched a golf club. Now he tries to play several times a week with his NEO team. As for his greatest personal thrill on the golf course, Larry recalls the pressure-cooker spot he found himself in during the final match of the 1990 Horton Smith matches at Twin Oaks Country Club in Springfield. 
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