DWU MEN'S GOLF

Phase 1 Complete...Time for Phase 2...

Sorry that it has been so long that I have had the time to write anything new on here for you guys to read...but here are just some thoughts and input that I have about the past couple of days...

As most of you know, at least the devout followers to the DWU Tiger golf program will know, we just came off a large victory at the GPAC Conference tournament beating defending champion Nebraska Wesleyan as well as Dordt College by 11 strokes. We fired a 305 in some pretty crappy conditions and then rebounded with a 297 that was good enough to be the low for the second day in a row. That is phase 1...more about phase 2 after you keep reading...

The sad part about all of that is this...we really didn't play that well. Our 305 had to count an 80 and a 78 and for our 297, we probably still left 2-3 shots out there each. However, we have had the chance to work on our games even more to get ready for the Region tournament that is coming up here on Monday and Tuesday at the Elmwood Golf Club in Sioux Falls. Also, to add to that, Elmwood is the site where we fired our school record (289, +1 as a team!!) so we are pretty excited to get back there on a course we are familar with and have had good experiences at. Also to note, we won a tournament there in the Fall shooting a 312 which was good enough to win by 8 or 9 strokes I believe in some just nasty, awful, horrible conditions. It was a pretty wicked day, so hopefully we can build on that. I believe in my own round that was an 83, I had three triples and two doubles...so, yeah, scoring was awfully difficult , but we're ready...we're ready.

As I had mentioned before, phase 1 is complete. Our goal was to get through Conference and qualify for the regionals and not only did we do that, but we were able to WIN the conference tournament pulling off a "worst to first" scenario and get our chance to qualify for the NAIA National Tournament. We have been prearing all spring to get our chance, and we finally got it. Our competition will include the likes of Dordt College, Hastings College, Midland Lutheran College, and the University of Sioux Falls are from the GPAC (including us, your DWU Tigers!!!!) and from the North we have Dickinson State and Minot State. It's going to be a great chance for us to prove our dominance in Region 3 play and bring home the trophy and the gold medal and punch our ticket to the National tournament. With that said, we always remind ourselves that we are NOT THERE...YET. We still have a LOT of work to do to get ready for the tournament. We are going to have to play VERY well and the other teams will not roll over and play dead for us...we are going to have to buckle down and get on our A game. It's going to be tough.

So, as I had said before Conference...I will say it again...

Get prepared for something big...very big...

Wish us luck.

Preparing for the GPAC Conference Tournament

It has been a little while since I have had the chance to write here, but we really haven't been doing much in the way of golf since the recent snowfall so it has been a little difficult for me to really write about anything too productive.

We just had our tournament in Fremont, Nebraska for the Midland Lutheran Invite and I really have nothing to say about the day. We all played horrible, except for Tommy who finished in a tie for 2nd place, but he felt like he gave the tournament away, so he feels he played terrible. Now, all I can say for him is that shooting a 74 on that day, given the course, and everything else, it's a pretty good number. Coach Anderson has told us that he does not want any reflection on the round, so this is the reflection that you're going to get from me...absolutely nothing. Sorry! :-)

However, our top 5 of Tommy, Gater, Evey, Pritchy and I are spending the entire week getting ready for the Conference tournament. We are finally going to get the chance to practice outside and work on our games rather than hitting balls inside because we just got 9" of snow the day before. Today was a pretty nice day, except for the 35mph wind. We actually got to be outside and practice, see our ball fly further than length of the gym, and get some much needed practice on our short game. Fortunately for us, the weather appears to be fairly cooperative for us for the next week, so we are going to get the chance to be outside and work on everything and just PRACTICE. I don't think that you have any idea how much fun it is for me to say that, actually. Whoever gets excited about just getting the chance to practice must be crazy, but not us! We are actually going to do that. Like I have already told my parents, we are going to be an entirely different team when the conference tournament comes around because we are going to be in peak shape and condition and we're going to be just rollin'...so, all I can say is this, get prepared for something big.

Grand View College Tournament: Round 2

After having a 1 stroke lead on the first day, we were unable to hold onto that and we ended up losing the tournament by 1 stroke to the host school, Grand View. We had a bit of a struggle on the second day with all of us except Tommy and Evey shooting a higher score than our first round.

We started off the day playing in about 20* (with the wind chill) temperatures and, as I mentioned before, the wind, was blowing about 10-15 mph, pretty soft for around here, but it was bitter cold for about 13 or 14 holes of the day which made scoring pretty difficult. Tommy had the low round of the day for all competitors (I believe) with a score of 72 to shoot a two total of 148 which tied with me (who shot 75 in the second round) for 10th place. Evey was our low finisher who finished T-3rd with 146 (shooting 73 his second round) and Pritchy and Gater both fired 78 on the second day. We thought that it would be a good day considering the pins had not changed and the tee boxes had actually been moved forward on some holes, but I guess that wasn't good enough to help us out.

So, we rode the "deafeated bus" home and it took us the usual hour or so to come out of our sorry shells and start acting like our normal selves again...it's always a tough thing to endure, even when you think about it, losing by one just plain out sucks, that's all there is to it. However, we have something new to mention...WE SET A NEW SCHOOL SCORING RECORD BY SHOOTING A 591!!!!!!!!!!!! We beat our old record of 592 by ...1 stroke (how poetic!!!) One thing we are definitely noticing...IMPROVEMENT! LOTS OF IT! We are getting much better as a functioning and working unit and we can definitely start to see that the trip down to Oklahoma and Kansas is really paying off because we are starting to put together MUCH better rounds and getting respect from all over the place. We are definitely a team to be reckoned with this year and one person from another GPAC team (USF) said that we are "striking fear into opponents just by showing up...it's a cool feeling though!"

So, with that...I will leave you waiting for our next tournament's results from Freemont, Nebraska...our last tournament before the GPAC Conference Playdowns...

Wish us luck!!!

Grand View College Tournament: Round 1

On the way to the tournament this morning, there are a few things that I was really unsure of. One, whether or not I was even going to get to play or not, and two, whether or not I was going to be able to play. Okay, so that's the exact same thing twice over, but I literally looked like death warmed over this morning. Thanks to Jill Hoek (Tommy's mommy!!) she was able to get me some stuff and got me through the round so I was able to help my team shoot a decent score!!

With that said, we put up a season low 293 today and we are leading the tournament by 1 over Grand View (the host school) and Kirkwood Community College (from what I've heard, one of the best JuCo's in the entire nation...so we're in pretty good company!)

Big Canada posted up a 73 that was tied with Evey's 73 but still one behind Pritchy's 72. Gater shot 75 and Tommy rounded out our team scoring with a 76. Individually, Pritchy is tied for 4th and Big Canada and Evey are tied for 6th and Gater and Tommy are not too far behind us there. Traveling with us today was our #6 man, Adam Golesh, who posted an 82 playing as an individual.

The course...was, well...a bit odd in most spots. There were a lot of very goofy holes on the course and ones that you have to be very careful on because they can come up and get you when you least expect it. One being hole 18 where the fairway, at it's widest point is about 20 yards wide...it happens, I guess?

Some of the highlights today...Tommy holes out for eagle on the 9th hole from about 80 yards. Recalls that it bounced twice and just spilled into the hole for the very rare 2 on a par 4, nonetheless, it was still a good one!

We are looking forward to tomorrow because it's supposed to be a little cooler and the weather isn't as nice, which seems to suit our team quite nicely, so hopefully we can take that into our hands and make something nice out of it. Wish us luck!