Stevenson University men’s and women’s golf teams are set to begin their spring season on March 14 at the Myrtle Beach Shootout. Both teams are coming off of a fall season filled with wins and team building. The men’s team has 14 members, with over half freshman. Senior Josh Walker said, “We have a lot of underclassmen with a lot of potential, so we’ll be looking for them to break out.”
Head coach Chris Ramer spoke highly of the work ethic coming from the women’s team: “Since the women don’t have a lot of players, they have six who work very, very hard.” The teams live by the coach’s motto that “attitude determines altitude.”
Going into this spring season, Ramer believes that the team’s biggest need as a program is to work together to lower their score averages. He said, “Each individual could work on that. Then they’ve made improvement. In golf, we putt. You might have 30 putts, but if you make 28, that is a huge improvement. How many times we get on the green in regulation is a major factor.”
Junior Emily Haas agreed with Ramer’s philosophy: “I’m trying to drop my average by at least 2 strokes from the fall. We’re hoping for our team average to be below 345.” Ramer said that on the women’s side, Eastern University and Alvernia University are their biggest rivalries, whereas the men’s team will be looking to beat Lebanon Valley College and Messiah College.
Ramer, Haas and Walker all believe that winning the conference will be their final step towards nationals.
Collegiate golf is not a sport understood by many outside the game. “There is one championship, which is in the spring, April 22-25. We do the fall season because it’s the best time to play golf. Some schools can’t do two seasons because of the weather or the cost to play both. For example, we played 17 rounds of golf in fall, while Hood played four. We can send individuals to tournaments. All six members compete in women’s, but with the men, we have enough to compete with two teams. Members can go to nationals as individuals as well,” said Ramer. Stevenson University is unique in its ability to roster a men’s and women’s team and play both the spring and fall seasons.
The Mustangs will host their Stevenson Spring Invitational April 18-19 at Piney Branch Golf Club, north of Finksburg in Carroll County.
