NGU is up to par this year- Read all about the golf team’s road to victory this year
Casey Burton, Sports Editor
The North Greenville University’s golf teams have had a good run during their fall season. As they wrap up, the teams are already excited for the spring.
Different from other sports, the men’s and women’s golf teams have both fall and spring seasons. The teams don’t change throughout the seasons unless a senior graduates. On this rare occasion, a transfer may step in.
The spring season is longer due to the conference tournament in the spring. The conference tournament is the most important tournament of the season since the winner gets an automatic bid into the super-regional tournament.
“The experience of both teams has grown tremendously over the past year. The teams have become accustomed to how I coach, what to expect and how to conduct themselves. Practices have become much more productive due to the fact that they have been through the process for a year now. Because of this, our individual and team scores have come down tremendously. The women have broken the 18-hole school team scoring record three times this fall already and looking to improve on that in the spring. The men, compared to the same tournaments as last year, have improved their standing as well as their scores”, Head Golf coach, Bud Tate said.
After the excellent fall season the women’s team just had, the team is expected to compete for the conference championship and win. The girls are confident and hungry to win.
The men’s team is improving swiftly as the team is made up of 17 good golfers competing to make the starting five. This makes qualifying for tournaments interesting as the team pushes each other to improve. If the improvement is consistent, the team is expected to do big things in the spring season as well.
The interest in the golfing program at NGU has skyrocketed due to the success of the teams. Tate said he has 25 to 30 contacts a week from prospective student-athlete golfers wanting to come to play golf at NGU.
“I get emails, texts, phone calls and even in person visits at the course enquiring about the possible recruit openings that we have for next year and years to come”, Tate said.
NGU Golf has a mission: Faith, family, education and golf are the 4 focal points of the team; in that order. The teams pray together, play together, celebrate together and when need be, take punishments together. They hold each other accountable for abiding by the school and team rules as well as doing what it takes to become a better Christian, person, student, and athlete.
Practice like it is a real situation and when it is a real situation it will seem like practice. This is Tate’s team motto for the team and applies it to every practice.
“I try to have my golfers understand that in everything we do, it is a real situation. Concentrate on the fundamentals and do not take anything for granted”, Tate said.
