By Herb Page

Head Coach

We had a great Thursday here in Georgia on the eve of today's start of the United States Collegiate Championship.

During our practice round, I kept looking around at the other teams who are here and took some time to reminisce about where this program was 25 years ago. And now here where are playing in the U.S. Collegiate Championship, which is an invitation-only event with teams selected by a committee that looks at your past record and what you bring to the table.

We are the 19th ranked team in the nation and that means we are only the ninth best team here. But when I sit back and look at all of these teams, I'm very proud of what our program has become.

On Thursday we had a college-am and team practice round on the Lakeside Course. 

After that was the USCC College-Am and Team Dinner where the guest speakers were Stewart Cink and former Atlanta Braves pitcher John Smoltz, who is an avid golfer.

It was great to talk to Stewart Cink, who is an Open champion just like Ben Curtis. He is also a Georgia Tech guy, and Georgia Tech is hosting this great event.

Smoltz was particularly impressive. Here's a guy who has over 200 wins and 200 saves and he is talking about being a "wannabe golf pro" a second career. He was invited to play in the Nationwide last year and got very humbled, and it was interesting hearing him talk about that.

That's just more of the reward for having a program worthy of being included in the U.S. Collegiate Championship, and sometimes it means more than even the competition.

Thursday was a fabulous day, but now it is Friday and the excitement starts.

We are off to the course right now and we'll see if we can put together three good rounds and get into contention.

Short-game work before heading to Tennessee

By Herb Page

Head Coach

We have played well this season and put ourselves in position to win. We haven't been able to finish off a win yet, and our collective short games are part of the reason.

We've been trying to get our guys to take ownership of what they work on in practice. Everyone is working on something different. Our guys are not all alike, but they need to take ownership of the changes they need to make.

For example, Nick Scott needs to hit his wedges lower, flight them down and take that no-hand shot. Kyle Kmiecik has to continue to work on his posture and setup. Kyle and Josh Whalen are both working on their chipping. They are good chippers now, but they can be much better.

We have practices like every team where we work with our players, but a little unlike other sports, it is up to our players to come out the next day and do it on their own for an hour. We don't blow a whistle and everyone lines up for a drill. We work on different things with everyone.

Working on the short game is important for this team. I like this group, but they are all ball-strikers. They are bombers. We have to do a better job of getting up and down. Golf is still a game about getting your ball into the hole. 

We've done a better job this week in practice with our short games, and we'll see if it pays off this weekend at the Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate.

We'll be taking six golfers with us to Tennessee. Freshman Josh Whalen will jump back into the lineup and Jack Troyer will play as an individual.

After playing and finishing second two weeks ago despite an elbow injury, Taylor Pendrith is feeling much better. He has been getting treatment and he says he feels literally no pain whatsoever. But after getting a fourth and a second with a bad elbow, I'm thinking maybe we need more players with bad elbows.

Family Affair at the Schooner Classic

Greg Robertson,
Head Coach, Women's Golf

Head Coach Greg Robertson previews the weekend ahead at the Schooner Fall Classic, the final event of the women's fall schedule.

It’s going to be a great tournament with a lot of quality teams.  It is going to be a unique event.  The tournament is run by the Toby Keith Foundation, and they say there is going to be some surprises there.  We don’t know what that means but we’re hoping it might mean a little concert.

There will be a College-Am on Friday after the practice round.  Jennifer Ha is going to be representing Kent State.  Juli Inkster is going to play, as well as a couple of other LPGA players.

It’s going to be good experience for the players and it’s going to be a well-run tournament.  The field is the toughest by far that we’ve played in, so it will be a good chance to see where we are, especially as we get into the offseason and before the spring.  We will know what we need to do to improve and get a good gauge as to what we have this year.

My parents, in-laws and sister will all be at the event this weekend.  My sister is the coach for Texas Tech and we both played for Oklahoma State, who is also in the tournament, so it will be like a family reunion for me.

The Schooner Classic Website