Tamaqua’s Carson Schoener has had his share of strong scores on the golf course.

In fact, this past season, the Blue Raider finished in 13th place at the District 11 Golf Championships at Schuylkill Country Club. That result also happened to be the best showing of any golfer in the Times News area this past fall season.For that performance, among plenty others throughout his sophomore campaign, Carson Schoener is the 2015 Times News Golfer of the Year.“I wasn’t expecting it, to be honest,” Schoener said. “It was definitely a neat surprise, though.”In a sport where perfection is rarely attained, the Blue Raider knows there are several facets of his golf game that can thrive with some hard work.“Definitely my short game could improve,” he said. “There’s always room to learn more when it comes to chipping and putting for me. Typically, from 75 yards in, that’s the area that would determine whether or not I would have a good round.“My coach, Bill Kaczmarczyk, definitely helped me a lot with my game and we’ll continue to work on it in the offseason.”Kaczmarczyk added, “Everyone in scholastic golf can pretty much drive the ball well. But the game is won or lost on the green and its surrounding approach shots. That is going to be the key factor in determining how much he is capable of improving.“He’s a good kid and he works hard at the sport, and at that age he’s learning to control the ball in the fairways. It will take a little time to develop into the best golfer he can be.”Schoener, who finished in fourth place as a freshman at the Schuylkill League Meet, enjoys the game for several reasons, but mostly because, “You’ll never hit the same shot twice. In other sports, you can play the same position, or score the same goal, but in golf, there’s so much variety that usually you won’t hit the same shot more than once.”No stranger to pressure, Schoener has been the Blue Raiders’ No. 1 golfer for his freshman and sophomore seasons, and according to him, it is not a factor.“The pressure doesn’t really bother me too much,” he said. “You take what you can get and in golf, you take one shot at a time. I just tune people out and focus on the game.”His hardest decision was opting between his 60-degree wedge and his eight-iron as his favorite club in his bag.“My eight-iron is my comfortable club because I’m pretty accurate with it, but with the wedge, I can hit different types of shots. I can hit lower, flatter shots with it, or I can hit higher, more abrupt shots that stop easier,” he said.If given the chance to play a round with his “dream foursome,” Schoener opts for Jordan Spieth, Lexi Thompson and Daniel Schoener, his father. Spieth and Thompson are two professionals at the top of the American golf game; Dan Schoener, however, is somewhat a sentimental favorite.“He’s always been there for me,” Carson said. “He taught me pretty much everything I know about the game of golf and I wouldn’t be where I am or playing golf without him and the things he has done for me.”In the offseason, Carson plans to put in the work that perhaps wasn’t there in years past.“This year, I’m definitely going to be lifting and training the key golf muscles like the core and the legs,” Schoener said.Kaczmarczyk expects to see Schoener continue to develop and improve his game.“Most kids his age tend to focus more on the bad shots they have,” Kaczmarczyk said. “Carson has changed his mental attitude so much and he has become more positive and he just keeps taking that next step forward.”Schoener, who first started hitting a golf ball at the age of four, and began competitive golf around the age of 8, has shone bright so far, with hopes of an even brighter future.