"College golf eats its young"

Gary Van Sickle looks at the best under-30 American golfers, and notes:

College golf eats its young in the U.S. Coaches aren't eager for their players to make big changes to improve -- they need a good finish at next week's tournament. And since the college season almost never ends -- September to mid-November, February to June -- there isn't time to worry about long-term goals. It's all about next week's or next month's tournament.

In Australia, regional sports institutes do just the opposite. They provide coaching -- mental and physical -- and nutrition and conditioning and competition. It's all about building better athletes. The result is, Australia is flooding golf with far more top-level players than a country of its size has any right to produce. American players need more resources and more down-time to focus on getting better for the long run.

Now, American collegiate golfers are playing quality events on decent courses, while also competing prior to those events through team qualifiers. They get free equipment. Most are following conditioning programs laid out by school trainers.

Meanwhile, international players are still populating the college ranks, with Paul Casey and to a lesser extent, Camillo Villegas having breakout years after U.S. college golf careers.

But does Van Sickle have a point about the long term approach issue? After all, this is a short term, instant gratification culture.

I still contend that the international players are more imaginative and talented all-around players because they've been exposed to a variety of designs and course setups.

Thoughts?

Golf Digest College Ranking

Golf Digest unveils their second (annual?) college golf ranking, again breaking down schools by golf and academics (spelled acadmeic twice when I checked in).

Refreshingly, there seems to be a West Coast bias to the list, at least based on my initial reading of it. That's a first! 

Lost At Prestwick

Alistair Tait says the American team of collegiate golfers appeared mystified by Prestwick and links golf, where they were trounced in the Palmer Cup.

And the NCAA Men's Title Goes To...

Oklahoma State...because they need another title like UCLA needs another basketball men's volleyball crown. And OSU redshirt freshman Jonathon Moore took the individual title too.

Final team scores are here, final individual scores here, and Ron Balicki's Golfweek.com game story is here. 

The Wacky World of College Golf

My latest Golfobserver.com column on the strange (but exciting) year in college golf, is now posted.

NCAA Men's Championships

Ryan Herrington makes his NCAA picks at GolfDigest.com, while Ron Balicki gives you the odds for every team in the field. Well, his odds.

If you want to track the scores, here's the link. While tee times can be found here.

Regionals Round Up

You could watch the stellar Golfweek TV coverage of the NCAA regionals and be reminded why writers should stick to writing and coaches to coaching, or just read the excellent game stories on each region. 

Ron Balicki reports on the west where Loyola Marymount (Layola on yesterday's GolfweekTV) pulled off the biggest upset in regional's history. Lance Ringler reports from the central and Rex Hoggard checks in from the east.

NCAA Regional Madness

Golfweek's Ron Balicki tries to explain some of the absurdities in the NCAA golf committee's tournament selection setup, namely sending Top 5 teams Florida and UCLA out of their regions (and to each others regions).

Ryan Herrington is even less forgiving in his latest Golf Digest college golf blog post.

The regionals kick off Thursday, with 54 holes played at three sites: Sand Ridge, Lake Nona and Tucson National.  

NCAA Regionals Set

For those interested in the NCAA Div. I regionals, here's the breakdown of where the committees are sending teams in the new format that attempts to offset regional imbalances.

Balicki On Coaches

Ron Balicki writes about America's finest college coaches meeting this week to bicker over rangefinders and their (still) lousy NCAA regional system.

Special Pricing!

This went out to Golf Coaches Association of America members. 

Dear GCAA Member: 
SkyGolf, a proud new Corporate Partner of the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA), is extremely pleased that the SkyCaddie has been selected as the preferred GPS rangefinder of the GCAA.  A full package of information on the SkyCaddie will be sent to you the first week in January, but we wanted to quickly provide you with some of its highlights and our special GCAA pricing program.
 
Highlights
SkyGolf is the clear leader in 21st century rangefinders. At a mere 4.8 ounces, our handheld SkyCaddie provides more essential data than any other system and does so quickly and from anywhere on the golf course. The SkyCaddie requires no aiming or line-of-sight, can be used close to the green, works under all conditions and uses a WAAS enhanced GPS system that is accurate within one meter. The SkyCaddie will provide your players with the necessary distances to bunkers, water hazards, doglegs, lay up points on par fives and the front, back and center of the greens. Proven in competition on the Adams Tight Lies Tour in 2005, the SkyCaddie provides all the distance information one would expect from a top PGA Tour caddie and will help your players with their course management and practice routine.
 
Special Pricing
We have established a special GCAA price of $299.95 per SkyCaddie unit, plus shipping, for your staff and team that includes five (5) years of unlimited access to the more than 8,000 courses worldwide that have already been professionally GPS-enabled by SkyGolf. This package has a total retail value of $649.95 per unit, plus shipping.  There is no monthly charge.
 
SkyCourses
The rapidly growing list of U.S. courses set up for full SkyCaddie use now numbers over 8,000 including 65 of Golf Digest’s 100 Greatest Public Courses, more than half the top resorts and many of the Greatest 100. A listing of these SkyCourses can be found at www.skygolfgps.com. If your home course has not been enabled for play with the SkyCaddie, we will help you obtain permission for that process, which costs the host course absolutely nothing and uses no ugly markers, reflectors or special flags.

If a particular course has not been professionally GPS-enabled by SkyGolf, a player can easily record the front, back and center of the greens on the SkyCaddie unit during their practice rounds. This simple process, which takes less than a minute per hole, will provide more information than any optical or laser rangefinder and do so instantly from anywhere on the course, even if the green is not visible.

SkyGolf Commitment
SkyGolf is strongly committed to the future of college golf and we are confident that our product and service will have an important impact on both player performance and the pace of play. We will be happy to start the process of equipping your team with SkyCaddie units.
 
Please watch for your package and should you have any questions or wish to place an immediate order for mid January or February delivery, please contact me. I have provided my contact information below. I look forward to meeting you at the GCAA annual meeting in Daytona Beach. If you are planning to attend the 2006 PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando that week, please be sure to stop by our booth - #8101.
 
With regards,
Kyle Loftis
Director of Customer Support
and Special Programs 

The prospect of forking out say, $2000 (for six devices, plus tax), may not sound like a lot. But to coaches at a majority of Division I schools, it's one more expense to add to the fundraising tab (and don't forget, in five years if SkyGolf is still uh, part of the marketplace, another bill will be coming).

It remains unclear to the coaches where exactly the NCAA stands on this for competition, but they believe the organization will allow them in NCAA events.

I'm trying to think back to the many times in college golf I waited for someone to compute a yardage. Not too often. Now, time spent waiting for someone to find a lost ball or wait for a green to clear or while someone lined up a putt?  Pretty much all of the time.

So I'm still having trouble seeing how this would speed up play when all competitors are walking and doing their own yardage work. 

Then again, I had a coach recently tell me that one of his players asked him what his yardage was from...oh about 40 yards out.   

Golf Digest College Golf Ranking

Here's the Golf Digest explanation for their first ever college golf program ranking. Both of Pepperdine's programs made the "balanced" list of programs offering both great golf and strong academics. I know you needed for me to point that out.