Most Ohio teams don’t have very far to go when it comes to getting to practice. For the men and women’s golf teams, it is just a bit farther.
The golfers spend most of their time at the Ohio University driving range and the Athens Country Club, both off-campus facilities. The main reason is because the driving range is detached from the golf course and the OU golf course is not sufficient enough to meet the team’s needs.
The on-campus course is a nine-hole course. The Athens Country Club is also a nine-hole golf course, but can simulate situations better for the team while playing in future tournaments.
Golf course architect Donald Ross, who designed more than 400 courses including Pinehurst No. 2, helped renovate the Athens course design. The team plays the course for a number of reasons, said Bob Cooley, Ohio’s men’s golf coach. The course’s design and shape are two big factors that contribute to why the Bobcats play there. It also helps with recruiting.
“That and it’s more of the conditioning of the course,” he said. “It had bent grass fairways and tees and greens and that’s the type of courses we play on all year long.”
More than 100 U.S. national championships have been played on Ross’s designs. The fact that the course was designed by Ross is a plus to recruits and the country club offers a very nice setup, Cooley said.
Ohio is the only program that doesn’t have an 18-hole golf course as their home course. Other Mid-American Conference schools use that to steer recruits away from Ohio because parents do not want their child to only play on a nine-hole course, Cooley said.
The Ohio course is a great resource to have for the players to practice.
Despite the fact Ohio only has two nine-hole courses, other schools in the MAC have to travel far to get to their home course, said Kelly Ovington, Ohio women’s golf coach.
Another beneficial aspect about the Ohio course is that the putting green is larger than the country club, which allows the whole team to practice at one time to work on drills for putting and chipping, as well as individual players at their leisure, Ovington said.
“The OU course has been fantastic,” Ovington said. “It’s filled a purpose for us, its very convenient that they (the players) can go out there on their own time and practice what they need to.”
mk277809@ohiou.edu
