ANDOVER – On each of Terradyne Country Club’s greens late Thursday afternoon, Hutchinson golf coach Charlie Pierce drops his keys. With a notebook in hand, he exits his cart and marches with Salthawk state qualifiers Megan Mullins and Ashley Werth toward the front of each of the course’s often undulated greens. He counts his paces all the way to the very back edge of the green and jots the number down. Then, just as he measures the green vertically, he does the same horizontally. He explores the greens and charts them like Lewis and Clark did the West. After surveying each green’s specific slope, he places the aforementioned keys, including the key of the van he drove his players to the site in ahead of today’s 6A state golf tournament, at a certain well-thought out spot. Pierce instructs the two with putters in hand to putt at the keys. Yes, there is an actual hole on the green with a flag. But that wouldn’t be futile, thinks Pierce. The man has marshaled some of the biggest tournaments in the country for the USGA on some of the most challenging courses. Through this, he’s followed around some of the guys who’ve set up the pin locations. He’s probed their minds and has done the same with Rusty Hilst, who sets up so many tournaments in Kansas. Who knows if Pierce will be Nostradamus and perfectly predict Monday’s pin locations. But on each green, he envisioned where he’d think the pin most likely would be spotted for a high school girls state tournament. He handicaps each of the factors they’d probably consider and comes to his conclusion. He does this on every hole. And to think, some people view golf coaches as merely glorified van drivers? I followed Pierce and his pupils around the back nine at Terradyne on Thursday for a piece on golfers preparing for state. But also, I tagged along because I like to pick Pierce’s brain on the golf course. I learn a lot about golf from him and could use a few refreshers in course management tactics. As a sportswriter while dealing with many various athletes and coaches, I often feel like the little boy in Shel Silverstein’s “The Giving Tree” because they constantly give us stories and knowledge about their respective sports. Many high school coaches like Pierce are like the tree in that classic children’s book. They pass on their knowledge of the game to people and really don’t ask for anything in return. They are just happy to see a younger generation compete and enjoy the sport they love. Hardly are they doing it for some huge salary. Even when their careers are done, like how the tree turns into a stump, they are always often still happy to help. Thursday was a perfect example of this. Werth and Mullins are quite unfamiliar with this tough course and today will be their first appearances at state. Terradyne is long, challenging and has tons of gunch surrounding many of its fairways like Prairie Dunes. But like Pocahontas, Pierce guided them through the lay of the land and told them how to properly attack the course. Besides his work on the putting surfaces, Pierce studied every fairway from the tee box. He seemed to look down every angle. He showed them where they should aim tee shots and pointed out some sort of tree, structure or bunker as a target line. He told them places to land, keeping in mind how they strike the ball and what kind of shot shape they play. Throughout the course, he finds troublesome spots and tells them to avoid them at all costs. He tells Werth and Mullins which hazards he thinks could very likely come into play for them. He answers all of their questions. There were some pretty inquisitive ones that never would have entered my mind while playing that course. My favorite, though, was after leaving the No. 11 teebox. Werth, an honors student, pondered why there is a mailbox built there. He tells Werth that it’s to store scorecards because some people may forget to grab one at the clubhouse. While looking over at me, he laughs and said he is glad he’s able to answer all the tough questions. Later, on 17, a shortish par 5 that requires a decent poke off the tee to carry a water hazard, the two wonder if they’ll be able to do it. Pierce assures them that they can easily accomplish it with just a normal swing. Although Mullins and Werth just chipped and putted and didn’t play a full round, they had tons of confidence afterwards. “It’s really helpful, I appreciate it a lot,” Werth said of Pierce’s tour. “It’s going to be helpful on Monday, definitely.” Mullins agreed that her coach’s pointers gives them an edge. “It looked kind of tough,” Mullins said. “It looked really pretty, which means it’s really tough. But after he explained everything, it kind of eases your mind.” Before today, Pierce will turn all of his thoughts on Terradyne into a spark notes type of manual narrowly tailored to a standard high school girls golfers’ game. He does this for every course for state and regionals where he knows both his boys and girls gol