Men's Golf Ready for 2017 Spring Season
IRVING, Texas – In about a week and a half, the University of Dallas men's golf team begins its 2017 spring schedule. After an improved fall semester that featured the Crusaders breaking the 18-hole round twice and 36-hole round (two rounds) once; first-year head coach Garrett Smith is seeking more steps forward for his squad.
This slate features five two-day tournaments with a trio in March during consecutive meets. The spring portion of the campaign concludes April 17-18 with the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) hosted in Blanco, Texas, for the 3rd consecutive year.
"This spring season will obviously be very big for us this year, Coach Smith stated. "We took a big step forward as a program last fall, and we need to continue to build momentum to really swing this program in the right direction. We are trying a little bit different practice regiment, with more targeted individual work this spring in hopes that we can all get better as individuals and therefore collectively as a team."
"Last fall our biggest downfalls were our tendency to make big numbers, and then compounding that by playing the par 5's poorly," Coach Smith reflected. "If we eliminate those big mistakes and get to where we are playing the par 5's at par or better, we would shoot right in to being one of the top teams in the conference."
On March 13-14, UD makes a trip East on Interstate 20 to Longview, Texas, for the LeTourneau Spring Classic. This is a new tournament for the Crusaders and will kickoff the spring season. After that, Dallas heads to Shreveport, Louisiana, on Mar. 20-21 for a matchup with SCAC foe Centenary College hosting. Finally the month concludes on Mar. 25-26 locally in Allen, Texas, for the Texas Cup. University of Texas at Dallas will put on that event.
The start of April marks the 4th straight week for the Crusaders to be shooting on the links. A rematch with Hendrix College will take place Apr. 1-2 in Conway, Arkansas. Finally after a few weeks away from the competitive field, Dallas heads to the SCAC Championships.
"We get started in 2 weeks on March 13 at LeTourneau's event in Longview, Coach Smith Anticipated. "This will be our first time to this event, and admittedly I do not know much about the course. The field is loaded with both conference and regional teams, so it will be nice to see where we stack up right off the bat in the spring."
"After that, we travel to Shreveport for Centenary's event. Both Tommy and Ollie played this course last year, and it was the first event that I was able to attend as coach. Hopefully, with having some experience at this course. We will be able to put up some good scores, against a good field. After Centenary, we will be in the metroplex for UTD's event. This field is loaded as well with some of the top Division 3 teams in the country. I think this will be a great opportunity to not only see where we are against them, but to learn from how the best teams and players in the country go about things as far as preparation and in competition."
"After UTD will be on the road again, this time Hendrix for our bi-annual duel with them. In the fall we went 1-1 with them, without anywhere close to our best stuff. Hendrix is a good team, but I would like to see us perform well to build some momentum for our conference tournament shortly thereafter."
"We will conclude our spring season with the SCAC Championship at Valeer Creek in Blanco, TX. Again, both Ollie and Tommy saw this course last year as well as myself. Tommy should have good memories there after, what was then, a career low (75 +3) in the final round last year. I believe that this course should fit us fairly well. If we can get off the tee safely, and take advantage of the par 5s there, I like our chances to really compete with the other conference teams, Coach Smith concluded."
The Dallas roster features five golfers from last fall. Thomas Schuberg (Camarillo, Calif.) anchors the top sport having posted SCAC-lows in three weeks of the fall semester. This helped the sophomore claim two SCAC Golfers of the Week. In eight rounds, his average score was 76.63 and he broke a career-low single round scored (72) at The Classic at the Tribute. Schuberg also won individually at the Hendrix #2 dual tournament with a 76 in 18 holes.
Erik Hamm (Brentwood, Tenn.) showed flashes of good rounds in his first collegiate season. Overall he averaged 77.25 over eight rounds. His season-low single round scored was 73 at UMHB Fall Invitational. In his college debut, Hamm tied 3rd (152) over the two rounds at the Louisiana College Fall Invite.
Matthew Nickel (Wichita, Kan.) and Oliver Rivers (Horsham West Sussex, England) are the veterans on the squad as juniors. Jacob Wade (Magnolia, Texas) rounds out the quintet on the roster and is the other freshman besides Hamm. Every player accomplished shooting a personal low score in the fall under Smith's tutelage.
"Individually, I am very excited to watch the guys progress this spring," Coach Smith set up to explain. "Matt had a career low his last round of the fall. He has had some good practice already this spring, and looks to be a different player than he was last year. Hopefully, he can continue to get better and build off of his good results this spring."
"Ollie has looked solid so far this spring as well. He started to implement some changes to his golf swing last year. Like anything in this game, changes take some time. In the fall, we started to see some glimpses of what can be with these changes. He has the ability to drive the ball incredibly straight and far, and he can give himself a rare advantage that not many other players can get with his distance."
"Jake had quite a few ups and downs over the fall. He showed, at times, the ability to be an incredibly solid player. He can hit it unreal good, but occasionally struggles with consistency. We hope to see him get a bit more consistent this spring, and to sure up that short game a bit so he can show how good of a player he really is."
"I am excited to see what this spring has in store for Erik as well. Both he and Tommy were our workhorses last fall. He has taken the initiative to implement some swing changes as well this spring. Already, it looks as though his long game has improved drastically. Picking up some yardage and a bit more reliable ball flight. When he sures up the iron play a bit, with his short game he will be able to shoot some very low scores."
"Last but not least is Tommy. Tommy took off last fall. He is a hard worker with a great attitude. He has showed the ability to learn, and to learn fast. The only thing that kept Tommy from having an even better fall was that he didn't quite convert enough of his chances. Since his ball striking is so good, we have really stressed being a bit more aggressive on his midrange putting in hopes that a few more of those will fall each round. I think Tommy will continue to get more and more confident, and once he tackles the mental hurdles of this game expect him to do great things."
"Overall, I think that we were all pleased to see the direction that the program was heading last fall. However, I think we all know that we left some strokes out there in every tournament. While we had some good individual rounds last year, we didn't put it completely together as a team. I am excited to see what this team is capable of when that happens, to show everyone that we are good enough to compete. The ball is heading in the right direction for UD Golf and can't wait to see what the spring has in store for us."