App State Golf Looking to the Future
Jack Cullinan-
No matter the weather in Boone this weekend, On March 25th, the Mountaineers golf team will look to place at Kingsmill intercollegiate tournament in Williamsburg, Virginia.
Since Placing 1st at the Patriot intercollege tournament in September, the Mountaineers golf team has looked decent at times and bad at other times. But now, coming off of their winter break, as well as 4th place at the cape fear national intercollegiate, App looks to continue to try and improve. During the winter it can be difficult to practice due to the conditions in Boone, but the Golf team makes it by just fine. Due to the conditions in the winter, the team utilizes a state of the art virtual reality program that allows them to continue to train in the winter. While this has had it challenges as some younger players may not be as adjusted to the system, it is very accurate in depicting players swings.
Younger players have made an impact on this year’s team, following a trend with other App state sport teams in the past few seasons. With 4 freshmen on the team this year, its clear that an attempt at a youth movement is being made. On the subject of recruiting younger players, Coach Bo Redman stated, “The hardest aspect of recruiting for us is the weather obviously, but it can be a blessing and a curse.”. Coach Redman elaborated saying that “the weather leads to some positives, as some guys love to do much more than golf.”. Most young players are interested in App regardless of the weather though for the chance to play for a D1 school.
The most anticipated upcoming tournament of the second half of the season is the stitch tournament, as it allows players to face off against top schools and test their talent. In addition, a win at this tournament would be huge for the team, as it is very difficult to progress through the rankings in NCAA golf. This tournament takes place in Cary NC and is the major tournament on Apps schedule. The school is currently doing what it can to organize more tournaments with bigger teams though to continue and get itself on the map. After this tournament is completed April 13th-15th, the mountaineers will close out their season at the sunbelt championship. These last few weeks will be very important in shaping the team heading into the next season.