Season-to-season turnover is inevitable in high school sports. All programs experience it.
Student-athletes leave, whether by graduation or by transfer. Others join as early as ninth grade or transfer in at some point.
Turnover, though, doesn’t impact all programs equally. It hit Sarasota High boys golf harder than most entering this season.
The Sailors lost three of their top-four golfers after tying for sixth place as a team at the FHSAA Class 3A state championship. Jake MacDonald, Evan Booth and Jayden Potter all graduated.
MacDonald carded their finest individual finish at the state championship, placing T-19th with an 8-over-par 152. Booth shot 153 for T-24th place and Potter shot 158 to earn T-44th.
Each of them are gone. Sarasota is left with no choice but to build back from what it lost.
“We do have some good freshmen that came in, and we’re building the team from that,” said senior Blake DeJongh. “It’s definitely hard, but we’re definitely working through it.”
Blake DeJongh, like Jacob Menard, has stepped into a position of leadership for Sarasota boys golf as a senior. It’s leaders, he said, who have helped the program work through roster turnover in seasons past.
Photo by Jack Nelson
Braden Fernandez de Castro has been the highlight of those freshmen thus far — an “exceptional” addition, according to coach Barry Cheesman.
The newcomer fired an even-par 72 in his 18-hole debut as a Sailor at the John Ryan Invitational, hosted by Capri Isles Golf Club in Venice, on Aug. 17
Cheesman, who’s in his third year guiding the program, has managed season-to-season turnover before. He understands how valuable new talent can be during those periods of transition.
It’s always a bonus if that talent is young, and will be around Sarasota for years to come.
“You’ve just got to hope that you keep getting some good young kids,” Cheesman said. “They don’t have to become Jacob Menard. They don’t have to become Jake MacDonald. They just have to (score) somewhere in the mid-70s, and we’ll do just fine.”
The aforementioned Menard — a senior — is the team’s No. 1 golfer this fall. He tied for 29th place at last year’s state championship with a 10-over-par 154, and in 2024, finished at T-20th by carding a 151. Both scores came at the Mission Resort and Club in Howey-in-the-Hills.
At the end of last season, he suffered a stress fracture in his back, and had to step away from golf for a couple months. Much of his offseason was spent in strength and conditioning training.
Barry Cheesman, now in his third year as the Sailors’ coach, played golf professionally for 20 years. He earned over $1.2 million on the PGA Tour and won twice on the Korn Ferry Tour.
Photo by Jack Nelson
Not working on his game off the tee or on the fairways, simply because of his inability to swing fully, forced Menard to focus on his short game. The senior also said he came out of the rehab process mentally stronger — more confident in his ability to figure out any given course.
On a team that looks dramatically different from a season ago, he represents continuity.
“My bad rounds, I’m able to keep them around par,” Menard said. “My good rounds, I could go pretty deep, just haven’t fully had it yet. But (I’m) putting the pieces together.”
His younger brother, sophomore Jude Menard, is right behind him in the Sailors’ lineup. He owns the No. 2 spot moving forward.
In 2025, he was the new talent which helped steady Sarasota after what it lost from 2024. His freshman season concluded with an 18-over-par 162 and T-54th place at the state championship.
From playing around with plastic clubs in their backyard to battling some of Florida’s most challenging courses, Jacob and Jude have continued to compete. It’s they who will lead this team through a season of change.
“I asked Jude before the season started, ‘Are you going to beat your brother out for No. 1?’” Cheesman said. “I put a gauntlet up there for him, and he’s done well. They’ve actually been pretty close to each other most of the time.”
Jude Menard — as a sophomore — is the No. 2 golfer in Sarasota’s lineup this season. After his brother, Jacob Menard, graduates next spring, he’ll be in position to take the team’s No. 1 spot.
Photo by Jack Nelson
Buoyed by sibling strength and new talent, the Sailors earned winning results early.
They shot a 1-under-par 287 to win the John Ryan Invitational. On Aug. 24, they took first place again, carding a 10-over-par 298 in the Port Charlotte Invitational at Riverwood Golf Club.
But Sarasota also lost a dual match to Saint Stephen’s Epsicopal, 278-308, later that week at Bradenton Country Club. It finished fourth in the John Sprague Invitational, held at Misty Creek Country Club on Aug. 31, with a 21-over-par 309.
“My plan with these guys is, ‘Let’s just get a little better each day,’” Cheesman said. “It’s not the beginning of the year that makes your season. It’s how you finish.”
Results aren’t always positive for teams recovering from season-to-season turnover, and the Sailors have lost more than most.
MacDonald, Booth and Potter are “hard to replace” in Cheesman’s eyes. All three contributed not only to 2025’s tied-for-sixth finish at the state championship, but also to fifth place in 2024.
The process of building back is just that — a process.
“(It will take) a little bit of time before we get to the point where, as a team, we can reach our full potential and play really well,” Jacob Menard said. “The good news is it’s just the start of the season.”