Bobby Olmsted has been coaching golf at Orcas High School for nine years now, and in November of 2008 he was awarded the prestigious National Federation of High School Athletics Coach of the Year Award 2008 for the State of Washington.

“A coach is only as good as his players are willing to play and to work,” Olmsted said. “I could never have done any of this coaching without the support of my wife and business partner, Bev Simko. As hard as it is every year to coach, we couldn’t do it without our partners.”

Olmsted started visiting golf courses at the age of eight, pulling a golf cart for his father and uncle in Massachusetts.

“They would let me hit balls, and as I got a little older and pestered them to let me go to the course, I began playing with my mother and father.”

His mother was the two-year club champion at the family’s local club. Olmsted played golf during his high school years at Spencer high school in Massachusetts, and did very well. He did not attend college but Olmsted played recreationally until he moved to Florida in the Fort Lauderdale/Boca Raton area in 1982. There, he played in men’s twilight leagues and tournaments, averaging about one tournament a month. Olmsted continued to play after he moved to Orcas. Eleven years ago, he asked himself what he could continue doing into his later years that he loved, and the answer was teaching golf.

He decided to become a professional golf teacher, and he joined the United States Golf Teachers Federation.

“We are second in membership only to the PTA. We all participated in a very intense course to correctly teach the game of golf,” Olmsted said.

Olmsted is a level three instructor. He plans to obtain the highest level, level four, which will get him a master’s level teacher’s certificate. Soon after he made this decision to teach, the coaching position for the boys’ golf team opened up at Orcas high school and Olmsted applied for that position in 1999. He has been coaching golf for nine years (he took one year off).

Cindy Elliott coached the girls from 1999 until 2003, and Olmsted began coaching the boys’ and girls’ teams at that time.

“I have been very fortunate to have both young men and women learn the game, who have worked and listened to my coaching.”

The boys are three time tri-district 1B/2B champions. The girls have won league six out of the eight years (four of these years were with Cindy Elliott). Orcas has had three fourth place finishes, a fifth place finish, and a second place finish; this means that Orcas has placed in the top five positions at state level for the last six years.

Sandi Harris, Athletic Director for Orcas High School, commented, “I can’t tell you how incredible he’s been. Bobby has set up all the tournaments, he knows all of the contact people, and best of all he really knows the rules and the etiquette of the sport. Each of his students learn all of the ins and outs of golf in class, and because of this intense training, they really stand out because they know all of the important information that matters to serious golfers. I am just thankful to have him on my coaching staff, and I am very grateful that he got this award.”