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.

March Madness has inspired a new qualifying structure for the Spring 2013 NCCGA National Championship. With nine Regions, over 100 college golf clubs from Boston to Los Angeles, and thousands of members, NCCGA's wildcard system ranks all of the club teams which competed in the NCCGA Spring Regionals. Previously, only teams which finished first or second in their Region qualified for nationals; with the new changes, fourteen teams will now travel to Purdue University to compete on the Kampen Course on April 27th and 28th.

The stage was set for a great weekend at Shady Valley Golf Club in Arlington, Texas. Three college golf club teams (SMU, Texas A&M, and Baylor) all arrived with legitimate hopes of qualifying for the 2013 NCCGA National Championship. The par 70, 6500 yard course had an old school feel, called for straight drives, and demanding precision with mid irons.

One week after the completion of their first regional the Midwest region was back on the course at Riverby Hills Golf Club in Bowling Green, Ohio. Staring down an awful Saturday forecast the event still featured a 67-player field. Regional 1 champion Ohio State was back, along with The University of Michigan, Ohio State’s alternate team, and Dayton were all back fighting for crucial points to qualify for college golf club NCCGA Nationals.

The first NCCGA New England regional tournament of the Spring 2013 semester took place at Bayberry Hills Golf Course in West Yarmouth, MA. The New Hampshire club golf team walked away with a 23-stroke victory. Providence College finished in second, and Boston College finished in third. Leading the way for New Hampshire was CJ Konkowski. We interview Konkowski about the big victory:

The second event of the Spring 2013 NCCGA New England regional season was held April 13-14 at Stow Acres CC in Stow, MA. Saturday’s round was contested on the South course, while Sunday was played on the storied North course, home to a Monday qualifier for the PGA Tour Playoffs Deutsche Bank Championship and the 70^th US Amateur Public Links Championship.

The Spring 2013 NCCGA New England season began on April 6 in West Yarmouth, MA at Bayberry Hills Golf Course. Club golf Players experienced the Links (3,345 yards, 74.2/130) and Red (3,576 yards, 75.3/132) nines under notable harsh conditions. The exposed Links nine was built atop reclaimed land that formerly housed a town dump, and featured some of the windiest conditions many had ever seen. The Red nine was tightly lined with trees, and seemed particularly narrow after the treeless Links.

The golf gods were looking over the North Carolina Region as we enjoyed beautiful weather for our second regional at Cutter Creek, a nice change from our first regional tournament. Cutter Creek is a difficult course and the back tees measure almost 7300 yards. We played the tees at 6800. Unfortunately, the spring semester provides conflicts for many schools with students looking to play college golf. Although no teams were on spring break only 5 schools were able to field full rosters. ECU, UNC Wilmington, NC State, UNC Charlotte, and High Point University played in the tournament.