Nashua Country Club's James Pleat will be seeking his first NH State Am title since 2021 as the tourney begins today at Dover's Cocheco Country Club. (File photo)

After the fireworks in the backyard, local fields, stadiums, etc. around New Hampshire, now the sparks move to the golf course.

Yes, starting Monday, it’s State Am Week.

The 123rd annual New Hampshire State Amateur Golf Championship will take place beginning today through next Saturday, July 11, at Cocheco Country Club in Dover.

Yes, it’s back out to the seacoast for the second straight year for the area’s top golfers among the field of 156.

Same region, but it’s clear New Hampshire golf is entering a new era. Last year’s champion at Rochester CC was then18-year old PGA tour hopeful Josiah Hakala of New Ipswich playing out of Concord’s Beaver Meadow, while the player he defeated was 20-year-old Ryan Scollins of Bald Peak Colony Club of Moultonborough.

Notice anything? Yes, youth.

“It’s tough,” said Nashua’s James Pleat, who was once a part of perhaps the last wave of young golfers. “We have a lot of great young players in New Hampshire. Obviously Josiah won it last year; he’s a great player. There’s a lot of kids in college, too, who are dangerous and could make big runs as well.”

The younger players have more time to improve their games, and that may make a big difference.

“I know when I was in college (Dartmouth), I was playing a ton, playing a lot of competitive golf,” Pleat said. “I don’t do that any more.

“I think it just comes down to being confident in what you’re doing. It’s interesting, in State Ams the first two days there’s just so many people there. It definitely can be intimidating. And when the field gets whittled down, you’re really only trying to play one guy in each match. You kind have got to put the blinders on and not worry about other people. … They’re (the young golfers) all fearless.”

And there are 10 junior golfers competing this week as well.

“I would definitely say that knowing that I won it last year gives more confidence just knowing that if I play my game I can win,” Hakala said. “Cocheco is definitely a place you need a look at. I think it sets up well for me. It’s kind of a tighter golf course, which I like.

“I think the biggest thing for the week is just one match at a time. It’s a long week and you can’t get ahead of yourself.”

Ironically the par-70, 6,210-yard Cocheco course is, what Pleat, who fell in last year’s quarterfinals, the last area player to bow out of the tourney, calls “an old school place.”

“The greens are tricky,” he said. “You have to figure out where to putt from on the greens, they can be pretty severe. They’re usually pretty fast. Overall it’s a pretty good test.”

Pleat flashed back to his days at Nashua South taking on Dover in high school matches, and the course was always in good shape. “A fair test,” he said.

Pleat feels Cocheco is fairly similar to Abenaqui (Rye) and Nashua Country Club – shorter courses with tough greens.

Pleat clearly had a home course advantage when two of the three State Am titles he’s won were at NCC. One has to wonder if that gives the seacoast golfers an advantage, although that wasn’t the case last year in Rochester. But Cocheco is in the rotation for the popular Seacoast Am, and that might make a difference.

“A lot of those guys who play out there probably play Cochecoa lot,” Pleat said. “There might be an advantage. They know the intracies of the green, some of the hidden breaks.”

For Pleat, the key will be “taking what the course gives you off the tee” with some narrow fairways, etc. “If I hit driver, will it put me way up there, or is it going to put me in the woods?” he said. “More of a risky play or do I lay back for comfortable yardage with a comfortable club. So I think strategy off the tee will play an important part.”

But with Pleat, there’s a more important key.

“With me, it’s all about putting and wedge game,” he said. “I usually hit a lot of wedges, but some of these guys are really, really good putters, have great short games, and that part is usually a little bit streaky for me. I’d love to roll in a few putts during the course of the week.”

He and a crowded field of other golfers from all over the state. One of them will sink more than any of the others.

The first two days are stroke play, the top 64 surviving for match play that begins on Wednesday. The rounds of 32 and 16 are Thursday, with the quarterfinals on Friday morning, the semis in the afternoon, and the 36-hole final next Saturday.

(NH Golf’s Kate Billings contributed to this report.)