A young and excited squad, with only one veteran graduating last season and no seniors on this year’s roster, the golf team is revving up for its fall season. Where other teams might show up in dull uniforms pressed by their coach, these guys keep it real­—“We just have fun, there’s not too much pressure,” laughed sophomore Matt Neeley. There actually aren’t any goals this season, other than to keep the team chemistry high and do their best everyday.
Erik Thomas, a transfer from SUNY Delhi, is the team’s top performer and will be in the hunt for the individual medalist for the best score at every tournament.
By playing at a Division III level, Thomas has potentially gained extra years of eligibility by transferring and is a talent to watch through this year and beyond. He is a true role model for the team; “He’s the number one guy … he’s turning into a coach,” explained junior Steven Petsche. Captains haven’t been announced yet, but he is on the A-list this season.
The real coach is Miles Nolan, a local in his fourth year as a coach for Rensselaer. Nolan is in an interesting situation in that he’s the only coach that is not a full time RPI employee.
The fall session is the longer of the two-part season, along with the tournament-heavy spring session where they compete in five tournaments during two hurried weeks at the end of the semester with everything turning up. “It was ridiculous” said Petsche. During those weeks they travel anywhere from Saratoga to Middlebury and it is not uncommon for the players to miss class time and tests, but they all agree that the road trips are the highlight of the season. In the off-season, the team calls the Troy Country Club home.
Although the team doesn’t have much recruitment luck going for them, they are able to grind it out and play with the rest of the league. “We’re middle-of-the road, we’re not horrible,” declared Neeley. Their average score, around 310, makes for a good day and does not place them in dead last; par is 280. A disappointing Liberty League finish was only a minor blemish on their run-of-the-mill season.
The matches are scored by adding the best four scores of each day together to find the total score for the entire team during the tournament. Then, there are the individual medalists for each tournament—which the team is hoping will include Thomas in the near future.
The first tournament, the Skidmore Invitational in Saratoga Springs, will be held on Sunday and Monday. To participate, they will have to miss one weekday, but that will be it for this fall. The first part of the year finishes with The Violet Classic at NYU in Larchmont on October 14-15.
Going at the game one stroke at a time, the team remembers it isn’t all about the free golf balls.
