Golf Question

[RE Tycoon]

Watching the Byron this weekend, and all the talk about the amatuer Scheffler, HP kid, and a few years ago Spieth, also an HP kid, why aren't we getting these kids to come to SMU? If there ever was a sport that was made for SMU to dominate, it is golf...

Admittedly, I know very little about our program. I read a few threads on here before posting, looks like we won conference, made the NCAA's, our coach is conference coach of the year, we're ranked 30-something.

So why aren't we elite? Why aren't the best players in the state coming here, especially the local ones? I realize we will always have the kids that want to leave the bubble for college, and I completely understand that, but we should be holding on to our fair share of local studs and we should be cherry picking from the rest of the state, CA and Fla. What is that going to take?

How will the new course and facility help us? I would imagine having a tournament course as your home course has to be a huge carrot to these kids. All reports are the course will be in the upper echelon and AT&T will be chasing big events to showcase their baby. I won't be shocked if its the Jerryworld equivalent in the golf world.

Thoughts? Would love some insight from those that know far more than me about the program.

[smusic 00]

Need our own course like UT, ASU, etc.; preferably on campus. Wouldn't hurt to play in a P5 conference either.

Golf is expensive and there are only a few full scholly's available.

[lwjr]

University of Texas Golf Club is a very nice course. Everything about it is first class, as you would expect. It is a pretty good hike from the UT campus but that is obviously not a problem. UT, ASU have history and facilities. It appears SMU is on the right path and with their new home course coming in a couple of years, hopefully. Also, the team going to the NCAA championship is pretty young. That should be a sign of good things to come in the future. Hopefully that will help draw top HS talent to the hilltop.

[gostangs]

We are drawing top national talent now - as of two years ago - only two years of them are on campus. Scheffler committed to UT a long time ago - i think his soph year.

we will eclipse UT's program in 2 yrs.

[buckwheat]

SMU did recruit both Scheffler and Spieth, and as was said earlier they both committed very early to UT. SMU is a top 20 Golf school and that should be a source of great pride for the pony community.
SMU has recruited all top talent in the last 10+ years and the recruiting game is just as competitive in golf as is in football and basketball.
The new AT&T Trinity Forest home golf course will be huge for the program as well.
With all Div 1 Mens golf having 4.5 scholarships to divide up amongst the entire team does make it a challenge sometimes.
Coach Gregory & Enloe are constantly out recruiting and bringing in the best talent in the country for official visits, having a school like SMU to recruit to with all of the great courses, resources available is a huge advantage. Pony golf will continue to get better and better.

[Treadway21]

With coach Gregory's history of success at Augusta State beating bigger programs I am confident we will going for National Championships sooner than later.

UT has a super nice home course and I believe Crenshaw is real active as well.

We have a lot of success to sell with our Am and Pub links championships, now we need for it to translate to team success.

[redpony]

I am curious what the status of the Payne Stewart center at DACC is and how the new course will affect our situation there.

[EastStang]

We've had two US Amateur Champions in the last decade. Not sure how many UT has had, but we're in an elite group with two in a decade. You don't need a P5 Conference to compete for great golfers. Augusta State did it. UH has done it in the past. We have done it. TCU did it before they joined the Big 11. We just have to push our assets and we'll continue to be a solid golf school in Men's and Women's golf.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

The 4.5 scholarships really should not affect our ability to compete at the highest level.

A quick look at some of the other teams who finished high in the San Antonio region shows roster sizes around 10-12 at most competitive schools.

We are currently at 7, but carried 10-12 under the previous coach so I would attribute the short roster to the turnover deemed necessary for the program by Coach Gregory (note our current 7 include 4 sophomores and 2 freshmen!)

It is always more difficult for a school with the cost of SMU to compete in sports where you need at least some walk-ons to field a competitive team, but fortunately for the majority of the talent pool in a sport like golf the cost of the school is not nearly as prohibitive.

[Digetydog]

Watching the Byron this weekend, and all the talk about the amatuer Scheffler, HP kid, and a few years ago Spieth, also an HP kid, why aren't we getting these kids to come to SMU? If there ever was a sport that was made for SMU to dominate, it is golf...

Admittedly, I know very little about our program. I read a few threads on here before posting, looks like we won conference, made the NCAA's, our coach is conference coach of the year, we're ranked 30-something.

So why aren't we elite? Why aren't the best players in the state coming here, especially the local ones? I realize we will always have the kids that want to leave the bubble for college, and I completely understand that, but we should be holding on to our fair share of local studs and we should be cherry picking from the rest of the state, CA and Fla. What is that going to take?

How will the new course and facility help us? I would imagine having a tournament course as your home course has to be a huge carrot to these kids. All reports are the course will be in the upper echelon and AT&T will be chasing big events to showcase their baby. I won't be shocked if its the Jerryworld equivalent in the golf world.

Thoughts? Would love some insight from those that know far more than me about the program.

While some kids want to stay in Dallas, others want to go "away" to school. Plus, from a golf perspective, the weather in Austin is slightly better than Dallas (I have degrees from both schools).

We have a great coach who is bringing in elite talent. Our golf program (Men's) is in good hands.

EDIT:

Finally, I don't think that having our "own" course is necessary to becoming a great program. First, we are never going to have an on-campus course. Second, there are a lot of good courses in the Dallas area. The DAC has hosted a Major Championship. (Frankly, the only reason that Dallas hasn't hosted a major in decades is summer heat.) With proper practice facilities, I can't see how it (and other Dallas area courses) couldn't meet our needs.

Once our new course is completed, it will be interesting to see if it really "helps." Given the economics in Golf, I hope that we aren't contributing much towards its construction cost.

Construction Link on the New Course: http://dallastrinitytrails.blogspot.com ... ction.html