In the Life of a College Golfer

Almost weekly we are asked; what is the typical day in the life of a college golfer?  With a few generalizations here is a typical week for a team-member.

Monday and Wednesday the day begins early with workouts (physical endurance and weight training) Yes “Weight Training” this is a very important part in today’s golf game, just look at some of our current major money leaders in the game. The day of the country club leisure wealthy golfer of the past generation is over. The trend now leans (no pun intended) towards the lean wiry and sometimes stout golfers of the early years, e.g.; Hogan, Snead, Armor, Baker, etc.    Team members will work-out under the watchful eye of an athletic trainer from 6:45-7:45 in the mornings. They work mostly core and lower body training and endurance.
After workouts the team members head off to class. Team members are encouraged to take their classes from 8:30-12:20 so that we can begin practice or qualifying at 1:30. The NCAA rules require student athletes to take have a minimum class load of 12 credit hours a quarter. After classes it is lunch time the guys grab a quick bite to eat and head to the course, note this routine is similar to that of the private golf colleges and universities. The Student Golfer’s practice and qualifying schedule is very fluid. There are weeks where Team-members practice more than they play and there are weeks where they may play more than they practice, regardless the Team members are golfing from 1:30-5:30.  NCAA rules allow the College or University hold 20 hours of organized practice a week. Typically the Team-members are back at their dorms or apartments around 6:00-6:45 in the evening. With the addition of the some private indoor Golf Center you can often find team-members spending their evenings in those facilities, mostly on campuses or near-by.  Most of the team-members spend a lot more time on their own practicing and working on their golf games than they are required to. In this game practices is the key to success, you need to have every shot in your bag even if you never have to use it and your tools of the trade are your clubs, as a rule of thumb you should practice most shots until you can hit them successfully 6 to 7 out 10 times, unit then it may not be a shot you attempt on the course.

Playing college golf is a lot of fun, but it requires hard work, high commitment levels and major dedication.