December 8, 2009
Maryville Adds On-Campus Golf Facility
Members of the women's golf team practice on the new golf facility on Maryville's campus.
"We are excited about the commitment Maryville has made to the golf programs," said head men's coach, Glenn Paulus. "The most important benefit of having this on-campus practice pad is to benefit the student-athletes, especially in the fact that they will save upwards of an hour in travel time on practice days. There will also be on ongoing cost savings as we will be able to schedule some of our practices on campus and eliminate the cost of paying for practice time elsewhere.
"An additional benefit would be in the recruitment process as most of our conference and other NCAA Division II competitors already have on-campus facilities or access to very nearby facilities," he continued.
The new facility is located by the soccer and baseball fields and will allow the coaches to work with the golfers on their full swing motion and better observe ball-flight. "Hitting shots in the batting cage does not allow us to observe ball flight," stated Paulus. "More importantly, by placing targets at various locations from 20 to 100 yards, we can become more accurate at these distances which are considered scoring shots."
There is a variety of playing surfaces available for the teams to practice on: two strips of grass (zoysia and bluegrass) and mats that resemble the putting greens.
"The concrete portion will have turf mats which we'll use when the ground is frozen or very wet," said Paulus." The Zoysia strip will be used primarily in the late spring and during the fall season before it goes dormant. Zoysia is the predominant fairway grass on golf courses in this part of the country and has different playing characteristics from bluegrass and fescue.
"The other strip is bluegrass and is the predominant grass in the rough areas and green surrounds on most courses," he continued. "This strip can be used all year and will be in play primarily when the Zoysia is dormant."
Contact: KatieJo Kuhens, SID (kkuhens@maryville.edu)
