VU Trailblazer Golf tees off fall season at Fall Preview in West Frankfort, IL
It will be an experimental fall season for the Vincennes University Golf Team.
For the first time in Coach Dennis Chattin’s tenure with the program, the Trailblazers were hit by graduation of several golfers from the previous year’s team and will feature an entirely new top five players this fall. That team from last spring was edged out by Cincinnati State, 909-914, for the NJCAA Div. III Region XII Men’s Golf Tournament crown.
This year, six of eight Trailblazer golfers are first-year competitors. One of the two sophomores, Stephen Perkey, was a redshirt last year after formerly playing at Anderson University. The other sophomore is Ben Gearhart.
Gearhart, Perkey and freshmen Mike Molt, Walker Smith, Ryan Spangler, Shelby Stewart, Colton Reed and Ryan Reedy teed off on the Fall 2011 season today when they traveled to the Franklin County Country Club in West Frankfort, IL, Friday to participate in the Fall Preview.
Chattin is watching closely as the freshmen make the step from prep play to the collegiate level.
“It’s a real transition moving from high school to college,” he said. “They’re going to be playing 36- and 54-hole tournaments when they’re used to playing nine and sometimes 18 holes. On top of that, they’ll be playing on the road all the time with the travel and college is just a new experience in general that they have to get used to.”
Unlike most other sports, the playing surface can impact improvement and learning in golf in a huge way.
“The goals aren’t 10 feet high everywhere you play, like in basketball,” Chattin joked. “The bases aren’t 90 feet apart like in baseball.”
But the progress has been positive. Chattin said the team’s practice scores have gotten “steadily better” as the Trailblazers worked in play on courses at the Country Club of Old Vincennes, Vincennes Golf Course and Country Oaks Golf Course in Montgomery.
He said the team will continue to play as late into the fall season as permitted by weather. VU will also likely utilize nets to get more swings in over the winter to continue preparation for the spring season.
The Trailblazers will host the VU Invitational on Sept. 11 and 12 at Country Oaks Golf Course in Montgomery. The remainder of the fall season is:
· Sept. 23: The Brescia Invitational at the Ben Hawes State Park Golf Course in Owensboro, KY,
· Sept. 25 and 26: The John A. Logan Invitational at Kokopelli Golf Course in Marion, IL,
· Sept. 27: The Oakland City-Corydon Invitational at Old Capital Golf Club in Corydon,
· Oct. 1 and 2: The Danville Invitational at Turtle Run Golf Club in Danville, IL, and,
· Oct. 7: The Cooksey Cup at Greenview Golf Club.