Play strong or go home
Jesus Arce, Staff Writer
The North Greenville University golf program, led by coach Bud Tate, has high expectations for this season. According to Tate, this year the program has the deepest roster since he took over in 2021. This has generated confidence among the coaching staff, therefore transmitting it to the golfers.
“We have a great top-to-bottom squat. So, I believe this is the most we’ve ever had on a team as far as men and women, so we have 17 on the men’s side and we have 13 women, so we have a large team. The beauty of it is we have a team that can play at a high level from top to bottom, they push each other, they help each other,” Tate said.
Tate’s work is reflected in the team’s results, but this is also due to his extensive experience as a player and coach. With more than 20 years of coaching experience, and as a professional, Tate played in more than 50 events in the South Florida Mini.
“I played 60-something tour events on the South Florida mini tour and three PGA tour events. I won six events on the South Florida mini-tour, so yeah, lots of experience. The women’s team keeps breaking record after record, you know, 18 rounds of holes, 54 rounds of holes a year, 36 holes, I mean, record after record falling. So, expectations are extremely high,” Tate said.
Makena Witt, a Redshirt senior, is making this year a little different from past years. This being her last year, she has decided to enjoy one last ride. In her words, we could see her emotions going into court one last time.
“My mindset is that I just want to get into the season no matter what, because are you going to remember your score in a month? No. But they’re going to remember how you were shooting your best game. I want to go in just to enjoy the experience and take the last moments in,” Witt said.
For Tate, Witt is an important leadership role for the team since, in her words, they are an example to follow. Not only as athletes but as people.
“We have seniors on the team, such as Makena Wit and Nicole Kramer, who are great examples of not only good people, but also good golfers. They help their teammates, push them, and they hold on to hold them accountable. They’re doing the hard work that it takes to win a conference championship,” Tate said.
Tate wanted to close by giving a message to the students and staff members.
“Don’t forget about golf. It seems like that’s the one sport that always gets forgotten about because we’re not on campus, not in a bad way they don’t mean to. It would be nice to have some support to see some people come out at the one or two home tournaments we have and support our athletes and show them support”, Tate said.
