Where college students go for golf

The game of golf has changed drastically over the past decade and the trend continues with the banning of anchored putting which has been legal for over 30 years. Should those playing college golf with the NCCGA follow suit?

During my four years with the NCCGA, I've met a lot of great people both on my team at the University of Dayton and fellow competitors at Regional and National Tournaments. Tom Duty of East Carolina University is at the top of the list of great people I've compete against as ECU was a perennial contender at Nationals, thanks in large part to the steady play of their former President. Tom is a blast to play as he's always in good spirits, but his decision to turn pro highlights a spectacular career as one of the most outstanding players we've had come through NCCGA in recent years.

Garnering interest for the Michigan State Club Team has never been a problem since we launched the club last spring. We knew that there was significant interest on campus to play golf, and rather than limiting ourselves to a small group of competitive players, we secured a discount rate with a local course and offered it to anyone interested in being part of the club golf team. We now have over one hundred members.

The Nextgengolf Summer Club Golf Tour got off to a hot start both literally as temperatures soared into the 90's and figuratively as a number of players scored in the mid 70's-80's in challenging windy conditions.

Starting a club golf team is not only fun, but can improve your candidacy for jobs in the future.

Many of the jobs I explored listed requirements that includes “Previous work or leadership experience required” or skills such as, “Leadership, time management, organization, hard-working, team management, innovative and a self-starter.”

As final exams are ending and the summer is imminently upon us, NextGenGolf members will be going home to rural towns or taking internships in major cities across the country. Now, the preparation for an upcoming college golf season gets underway. While some may think that the benefits of NextGenGolf are limited to our currently New-England centric course partner network, we are excited to announce that we are aggressively expanding our partner network around the country. So whether you are going home to North Dakota, Miami, Alaska, or Idaho, we want to know where you want to play! We want to help you prepare for your upcoming college golf season.

The 2013 Spring Season for the National Collegiate Club Golf Association (NCCGA), a collection of over 100 elite non-varsity college golf clubs spanning from Boston to Los Angeles, came to a close this past weekend at Purdue University’s Kampen Golf Course in West Lafayette, Indiana. A host to the 2008 NCAA Men’s College Golf Championship, Pete Dye’s fescue-laden and hazard-heavy Kampen Course--augmented with heavy winds and spitting rain--proved to be a true test at 6,874 yards.

As a game that is a luxury item to most, golf rides the economic roller coaster just like any other industry. Golf's economy is comparable to many other prominent industries; according to Golf 20/20, the total economic impact of golf in America was $176.8 billion in 2011, approximately 74 percent the size of television broadcasting, cable, and other subscription programming, and approximately 83 percent of the motion picture and video industries as well. Within the golf industry, the millennial generation, or Gen Y as we will call it, has increased spending by 27% in the past year alone, whereas all other demographics decreased by 20%.

So what should all this mean to you?

Spring is officially upon us; courses are slowly starting to open up and golfers are awakening from their long, golf-less winter hibernation. For me, it’s difficult to adjust having grown up in beautiful Monterey, California. Nonetheless, it’s a concession I knew I had to make in order to study in New England.

We sat down with club golf Medalist from Northeast Regional #2, freshman Mark Bondi from the University of Pittsburgh.

While everyone is crying out "It's Tiger's time!" or "Let's go Phil!", I am singing a different tune as the Masters approaches. Everyone loves a great underdog story (if you don't agree then go watch The Greatest Game Ever Played... it'll change your world). College golf players that make their way into the Masters and play alongside legendary professionals, especially those still in college, are the epitome of underdogs.

Following a victory at the first Northeast regional at Birdsfoot two weeks before, the University of Delaware college golf club team carried the momentum into Bedford Springs to take Regional #2 and earn an automatic bid to the college golf club Nationals. The second Regional was held at the Bedford Springs Old Course, on the property of the beautiful Omni Bedford Springs Resort in Southern Pennsylvania.

The Northeast region of the NCCGA opened the Spring 2013 college golf club semester at Birdsfoot Golf Club this past weekend, in Freeport, Pennsylvania. Having to endure cold temperatures and wet course conditions, the college golf club players were dealt a tough hand as the rolling hills of Birdsfoot left minimal opportunities to score.

Playing at the lengthy 6,703 yard setup, a slope of 134 and a rating of 72, Birdsfoot hosted the following seven college golf club teams: University of Delaware, Duquesne University, Robert Morris, Penn State, University of Pittsburgh, and SUNY Buffalo. This was the first college golf club regional tournament since the region known formerly as the Northeast divided in two, forming the New England region and the new Northeast region that consists of schools from Delaware to Western Pennsylvania.

Sean Heintzelman is a college golf club member of the Maryland team. Heintzelman won the Capitol Regional Tournament #1, and agreed to do an interview about his golf experiences this season.

Congrats on earning Medalist honors at the college club golf Capitol Regional Tournament #1 Sean. How sweet is that new trophy?

- I think it's a nice quality trophy. In the future though you should say first place, since medalist often means placed 1st-3rd. Outside of that it's great for drinking too!

You've been a strong performer in the Capitol Region for the past few seasons, what would you like to accomplish that you have not yet been able to?

The South Region kicked off the 2013 college golf club season at Crystal Lake Golf & Country Club in Hampton, Georgia. The first round took place on March 2^nd in extremely tough conditions, and carried over to the morning of March 3^rd due to darkness. The course was playing 6790 yards with a slope of 140 and a rating of 72.7. The temperature wasin the 30's with a stiff wind and snow flurries.