Wolf Pack golfers will be teeing up closer to home this year, as they make use of the new golf simulator room located on the lower level of the Danna Center.
The simulator room is the first on-campus practice space for the men’s and women’s golf teams. It hosts an ES Tour Plus Launch monitor that utilizes The Golf Club, a golf simulation software, to project courses onto a large screen. The software provides the athlete with access to over 100,000 courses.
Men’s and Women’s Golf Head Coach Drew Goff told Wolf Pack Athletics that the team is “very fortunate to have access to several practice facilities in the city, but having a place to practice a few steps from the residence halls is a wonderful addition.”
The monitor tracks the course of each hit and provides the golfer with feedback about the club average, shot dispersion, shot shape, and individual shot statistics, all of which Goff said “makes for a pretty special area for our players.”
Accounting junior Chase Venn, a member of the men’s golf team, said that indoor space gives the team “the chance to get extra practice at night and on rainy days when those are times we can’t usually practice.”
Similar to Venn, mass communication junior Emma Smithers makes use of the simulator room outside of the teams’ normal practice times. “So far, I’ve loved having a simulator room on campus because it gives me time to get some practice in between my in-person classes,” Smithers said.
According to Smithers, the room is also “a great place to study before tests and to get homework done on campus.”
The practice space is a welcomed addition for senior Alejandra Bedoya Tobar, a double major in accounting and international business.
“During my four years on the team, I have seen the program grow and improve so much, and being able to see projects like the simulator come through makes me very happy,” Tobar said.
Practice is currently underway for both teams as they prepare for the new season. The women’s team is set to play at the Carey Collegiate Classic Sept. 13 and 14, and both teams will play at the Innis Invite Sept. 27 and 28.