Golf Is No Game at Santa Margarita

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA —  Let’s see, which course should we play today?

Coto de Caza?

Dove Canyon?

Tijeras Creek?

It’s not as simple as that, but the Santa Margarita High School golf team does have access to three of the finest courses in Orange County.

“Even the moms and dads of the kids that play are jealous,” Santa Margarita Coach David Duran said.

So are Santa Margarita’s rivals. Duran, the only golf coach Santa Margarita has had, is probably the most envied high school golf coach in Orange County. In the six seasons of the program’s existence, the Eagles are 124-14-1, including a 53-1 record since 1991.

Santa Margarita finished third in the Southern Section and fourth in Southern California last season, and is a favorite to improve on those numbers this year.

Duran, however, deflects credit as a dynasty builder; he says he was simply in the right place at the right time.

“Demographics have a lot to do with it,” Duran said. “I’m very fortunate. It would sound great to say, ‘I’ve built a strong program.’ But it’s not building, the kids are here.”

Duran isn’t a typical prep golf coach. He doesn’t coach football or any other sport for the high school.

Duran is a golf professional, an assistant pro at El Niguel Country Club in Laguna Niguel.

It’s a rarity for a high school coach to make his or her living teaching the game.

“One of the biggest things that contributes to golf pros not being available is their ‘real jobs,’ ” Duran said.

Duran, who has been at El Niguel for 13 years, has enough flexibility at his job to pull it off.

Duran figures he has given between 16,000 and 17,000 lessons in his career, which would seem to be quite an advantage for a coach. However, he doesn’t have to get too basic because there are no beginners on the team.

At this level of play, he must mold minds.

“We really work hard on where good shots come from--mentally,” Duran said. “The golf swing is not made; it’s felt. It’s experienced. It sounds kind of weird and off the wall, but it’s true.

“At this level of play, there’s not too much in the way of mechanics that need orchestrating. The kids already have a swing that will be with them the rest of their lives.

“It’s just a matter of helping them get used to it.”

Duran recently helped a struggling player by having him hit balls on the range with his eyes closed. The player hit them solidly.

“He was surprised that the swing could be so easy, if we allow ourselves to repeat a past experience,” Duran said.

Duran’s own career was helped by high school golf. He grew up in Santa Ana but attended Cantwell High in Montebello, where he played four years on the varsity.

“With a coach named Brother Eagle it was hard to lose,” Duran said.

After graduating in 1972, he played at Santa Ana College and played on a satellite tour in Arizona, before taking his first job as a pro at Anaheim Municipal, which is now Dad Miller.

Nearly 20 years later, Duran is coaching his son, Nick, a freshman on the Santa Margarita junior varsity. After Nick graduates, Duran says he might pursue a college coaching position.

Meanwhile, interest in his team is burgeoning at Santa Margarita. Forty-seven tried out for 20 spots on two squads. He offers free lessons to those who don’t make it.

“When people work at this game, they fail, and that’s a very hard concept for people to understand,” Duran said.

“It takes us a season for the players to believe, ‘Hey, this game can be easy. The other guys can work at it. We don’t have to.’ ”