IU ready to start spring golf season

The IU women’s golf team opened its 2011–12 season with a victory at the IU Fall Kickoff but fell short throughout the rest of the fall. The squad’s only other top-five finish of the fall was at the IU Fall Invitational at Crooked Stick Golf Club in
Carmel, Ind.

IU Coach Clint Wallman said the team had plenty of work to do in the offseason but is ready to be a strong contender in the spring.

“We’re really trying to address our weakness,” Wallman said. “We have been working on getting physically and mentally in shape.”

Throughout the winter, the golfers worked toward improving their putting, Wallman said. These activities included reading the greens, aim and touch. Wallman also said offseason attention to the team’s middle game would improve scoring.

“We had too many unforced errors at trying to make a certain number,” Wallman said. “Instead of costing a shot, we are trying to avoid middle errors because that takes strokes from the field. We don’t have a specific target.”

This past year, the IU squad only played 18 holes of golf in the winter, but warmer weather this year allowed for the team to practice outside on the course in preparation for the upcoming season.

The Hoosiers will begin their spring portion with a match-play event against Wisconsin on Saturday at River Wilderness Golf Club in Parrish, Fla. After the one-day event, the team will remain in Florida to practice before its first stroke-play competition, the Central District Invitational, which is at the same course.

“We are really looking forward to this weekend,” Wallman said. “For us to get where we want to go, we have to focus on doing our stuff right now. That means trying to be as good as we can be against Wisconsin.”

The team will then have a few weeks off until the next tournament, the Lady Jaguar Classic, which will be March 16 and 17 in Augusta, Ga. The following week, the team will travel across the country to Tucson, Ariz., for the Mountain View Invitational on March 23 and 24.

Returning to Indiana for the last two tournaments of the season, the Hoosiers will provide the course for the Indiana Invitational on April 14 and 15 in Bloomington. The team will cap off its season at the Big Ten Championship at the French Lick Resort from April 27-29 in French Lick, Ind. The women played at the French Lick Resort in October when they finished sixth at the Lady Northern Intercollegiate.

Wallman said to keep an eye out for freshman Elizabeth Tong and juniors Kate Coons and Rosie Davies in the spring. Davies started the year strong with a first-place finish at the IU Fall Kickoff, posting a two-round total 144. Her strong play was also on display at the Mary Fossum Invitational in September, where she tied for fourth to put the team in seventh place.

“Everyone has had a chance to play in the offseason,” Wallman said. “We’ve had some work to do, and we need to get it done, but the girls are ready to go.”