Grinnell men’s golf recently broke two records, setting new scores for 36-holes. The team broke the team low record and Roger Smith `28 broke the record for individual score. Interim Head Golf Coach Connor McKay praised the team’s dedication, and said he hopes this work ethic will carry the team to be more nationally competitive.
McKay said it was impressive that the team has been playing so well so early. The team includes five first-years and one second-year. “It takes all of them to play well, so I think it’s been really cool that they’ve been able to play so well … because the team’s very young,” he said.
McKay said one of the team’s goals was to attend the Golf Week invitational. The Women’s golf team previously attended, and McKay said he hopes to get both teams out to Florida next year.
Golf Week sends out invites to the top 40 teams in the country. The men’s team hasn’t quite passed that threshold. McKay estimates the team is “somewhere around 90 in the country, which is really good. We started this season ranked about 125th,” he said.
During the Wartburg Spring Invite, the team set a new record for 36-holes with a score of 594. The previous record of 596 was set in 1964.
Roger Smith `28 said the team’s culture has been really good. “Golf’s a really individual sport, but I think our team has a really good team culture right now and we all are really supportive of each other,” he said. “It was really cool for us to come together and accomplish something as a team that we can point to and say, ‘hey, this is our accomplishment.’”
During the Forester Spring Invite, held on April 17 and 18, Smith broke the school record score for 36 holes with a score of 139. Previously, the record was set at 142 by Craig Junio `90 in 1989. After breaking the school record, Smith said he felt very blessed. “I think anytime that you have success like that, you’re just really happy, you feel blessed that you’re really top game for that one weekend,” he said.
With two school records tackled, Smith said he hopes to win the Midwest Conference tournament and go to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament. “We’re in a spot now where we can really be a competitor for winning a conference championship every year,” he said. “That’s kind of going to be a year after year goal that we’re going to go into every season knowing, our goal is to get into a spot where we can win conference and go play at nationals.”
“I think the thing that has separated this team from past teams in my opinion is their work ethic. They’re going to practice before our practice time starts. They’re staying after practice,” he said.
He said the TrackMan — an indoor golf simulator — that was installed three years ago, has helped both golf teams practice year round. McKay said TrackMan has been a great improvement to the players’ practice along with their typical drills.
McKay said he looks forward to seeing where the team goes next. “I think with this group of players that we currently have, every school record has potential to be broken on any given day, which is really fun,” he said. “I would say we’re looking to compete on more of a national scale as a team and breaking school records is just a step in that process.”
