Despite a two hour rain delay, the first round of the Iowa Conference Men's Golf Tournament wrapped up at about 7:45 pm.  It was a good start for our guys as we finished the day tied for first with Central after shooting a very good 308.  Conditions were extremely difficult but we were great mentally and it allowed us to have a good day.  Now we need to be able to come back and have the same mental approach tomorrow.  Like I said in my previous blog these guys have come a long way and it was great to see them play well and have fun today.

 Following the round we headed to Texas Roadhouse for a late dinner.  In all honesty, this was the best part of the day.  This is a great group of guys and they just really enjoying being around each other. A lot of laughs and some good conversation as we enjoyed a very good meal.

 I'm not usually a guy who follows the NFL draft very closely but I have to at least mention the fact that my Broncos made the most controversial pick in a long time by taking Tim Tebow.  Personally I like the pick.  I mean, anytime you can draft a guy that is closer to Greek God than he is human you've got to do it.  Plus, I love the fact that Ticknor has to at least start giving the Broncos a little love since they now have his boy on their roster.  As a Chiefs fan I think he is going to have a hard time with this situation and I love it.

Looking forward to another great day tomorrow.  Thanks for following Beaver golf!

Today marks the beginning of the 2010 Men's Iowa Conference Golf Tournament.  The first two rounds are played at the University of Iowa's Finkbine Golf Course with the final two rounds being held at Centennial Oaks Golf Course in Waverly next weekend.  We had a great practice round at Finkbine last night and the guys really feel ready to go out and play later this morning.  Rain is in the forecast for the majority of the day but it doesn't appear that it will be enough to keep us from playing today.

So far we have had a very good spring.  Following our final tournament of the fall it was clear that we had some work to do to become better players and a better team.  I feel like the guys have really worked hard, improved, and have put themselves in position to have a great weekend.  As a team, we have been fairly consistent this spring.  Our play has not been championship caliber yet, but we have put ourselves into a situation where each guy has confidence that they can go out and play well. We are due to have a few guys put it together on the same day anytime now.  I've felt all along that with as young as we are if we could just stay confident and keep the big picture in mind that we would continue to improve and we have done that.  It is amazing the amount of confidence the guys seem to have right now.  I'm excited to get to the course today to see them play.  It should be a fun weekend!

Wednesday in Arizona we played in our one day tournament at Toka Sticks Golf Club.  The teams that were there were St. Thomas and Chandler-Gilbert Community College.  The day began with a breakfast at the Village Inn and then proceeded to the golf course to prepare for the tournament.  The weather was not bad for the first nine but then began to get windy.  The wind gusts got up to 35-40 mph, which made it tough conditions for the final groups.  Although there were some scores in the 70's, our lowest rounds were 80 between Greg and Mitch.  After the tournament we went to Buffalo Wild Wings to eat, which is a tradition for the BV golf team.  We then went back to the hotel and got to relax after a long day on the course.

On Thursday we learned something about how to finish a round.  We played at Leisure World Golf Course in the morning and in the afternoon we played an extra 18 holes at Superstition Springs.  The first 18 holes went well for some but struggles came for others.  The low round for that round was Coach with a 74 and then Greg with a 79.  All others finished in the low 80's.  Following the round, we went to Bob and Marge Willadsen's house to eat a quick lunch.  We then went over to Superstition Springs Golf Course to play our second 18 of the day.  This was the first time anyone has played this course so it was very interesting to say the least.  As the final round in Arizona, we all decided to have a good time in our groups.  This brought the trip to Arizona to a great close for us as a golf team.  Throughout the trip, we learned a lot about what each individual needs to work on in order to prepare for our season.  We all had a great time, enjoyed the weather, and are looking forward to a great spring season.

 Mitch, Jaron, and Troy

The third day of the Arizona trip took place at Talking Stick Golf Club.  We played 36 holes at Talking Stick, 18 on the North Course and 18 on the South Course.  Talking Stick is the nicest golf course I have ever played at and the entire day was a lot of fun. Our first tee time was at 8:00 A.M. on Tuesday morning and we did not get done golfing until six that night.  There were a lot of improvements in everyone's scores on Tuesday as we are all starting to find our swings and figuring out the greens here in Arizona.  Jaron Smool fired a couple rounds in the 70's and Mitch Brunick and Troy Ticknor each fired one.  I was close with an 81 and Matt Linquist and Kyle Auffert are right there too.  In between rounds we had an amazing meal at the club with Jim Haahr, who is on the Board of Trustees at BVU.  After our second round we were able to go to Jim's house and were treated to some amazing steaks and conversation with Jim.  We were even able to hear the story of Jim meeting Y.E. Yang after the PGA Championship and we got to see pictures also.  Overall it was a great day of golf and everyone is improving with each round which is the most important.  Wednesday we have a tournament at Toka Sticks where we played on Monday and we are looking forward to getting back into competing against other schools.  

 Greg Hiemstra

Well, its day two here in Arizona and we are loving every minute of it. The past two days have been great for playing golf and we hope that the next few days we are here are just as perfect. Today we had an early morning tee time at Toka Sticks Golf Course in Mesa. We arrived at the course around 7:20 and got some practice in before our tee time at 8:00. Coach made us walk all 18 holes while he was livin it up in a cart, but i guess older guys need that privilege.We played pretty good for it being our 2nd time out on the golf course, and I think we realized how important a thing called sunscreen is. After a long day in the Arizona sun we went back to the hotel and just took it easy, went to the pool for a while and just laid in the air conditioning. For supper coach took us out to eat at Applebees and then we went to bed early because we have 36 holes at Talking Stick Golf Club on Tuesday.

Matt Linquist

Well...It was a long first day of our Spring Break trip to Phoenix, Arizona. We woke up at roughly 4:45 AM to catch our 7:00 AM flight to Phoenix. We arrived in Phoenix at 7:30 AM Pacific time to start off a long day under the Arizona sun. After a quick visit to the Brunick home, we were off to our first course, Copper Canyon. Since this is my first trip to Arizona, only one word can describe what I thought of the first course I saw...B-E-A-uuutiful. We started with a morning session of practice: range, chipping, and putting. It was an interesting start considering it was our first swings outside since October. We practiced for nearly 3 hours before taking a lunch break at the course. Had a great lunch and watched the end of the Michigan State/Tennessee game before heading back out for a tune up before our 1:30 tee time. We couldn't have asked for a better day, 80 degrees and a slight breeze made perfect weather for our first round of the year. We all had a great time and played pretty well for the first round of the year. Oh..and we are all very sunburned after a very long day under the sun from roughly 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Now we're back at the hotel, all dead tired and looking forward to another great day of golf tomorrow. This is just the first of our blogs from all the golfers on the trip so look for an update tomorrow. 

 -Kyle Auffert

Well, it has been an entire winter since my last blog.  It has been an extremely tough winter with far more snow than I can ever remember.  However, all of that is behind us now, the last bit of snow is just about gone, and it is time to start focusing on the 2010 golf season.  The guys have all been working extremely hard over the last 3-4 months on our weight training program as well as working on their swings in the rec center.  As I said all fall this is a great group of guys that really gets along well and enjoys working on their games.

On Sunday, we take off for our annual spring break trip to Phoenix, Arizona.  This is always a great trip and gives our guys a full week to hang out together and work on their games.  Going on the trip this year will be sophomores Mitch Brunick, Jaron Smool, and Troy Ticknor as well as freshmen Greg Hiemstra, Kyle Auffert, and Matt Linquist.  Just like last year my dad will be tagging a long as well.  He really enjoys being around the guys and for some reason the guys seem to enjoy having him around.  We will play a total of 5 rounds in 4 days as well as spend a lot of time practicing on the range and on the practice green.  During the week we will participate in a tournament hosted by Chandler-Gilbert Community College as well as engage in some friendly competition with each other.   I will be giving each of the guys an opportunity to contribute to the blog while we are down there to keep everyone up to date on what we are up to and how things are going.  It should be a lot of fun!

Well, the weather finally cooperated for us for at least one day.  Following another hour and a half delay on Sunday we were able to get 18 holes in at the Links at Northfork in Ramsey, MN.  It was really a tough weekend for all players and teams involved in the tournament.  With frequent delays and cold weather there was a lot of uncertainty about how things would go.  However, Sunday turned out to be a decent day and the scores reflected that.

However, it was a tough day for us.  We shot 321, finishing in a tie for 19th out of 21 teams.  One bright spot on the day was the play of Andy Soper who shot 72 and finished in a tie for 10th individually.  As a team, we have a lot of work to do as we move into the spring season.  We have the ability to play really good golf, but there is something missing.  At this point we are just not prepared to play well consistently.  I'm not sure yet if it is simply a lack of toughness, a lack of preparation, a lack of confidence, or a combination of all three, but something has got to change.  It is too often that we have days like this where we are just not competitive.  I know it is not due to a lack of skill, effort, desire, or interest but like I said there is something missing.  As a coach I'm frustrated with myself because there is nothing that I hate more than inconsistency and I am determined to get to the bottom of it.  Our scores this fall when we have had our varsity together have gone 334, 313, 316, 294, 321.  That's a roller coaster ride that I really don't enjoy.  Even if you go back to last spring you can see that we ended the conference tournament shooting 301 followed by a 325 on the same exact course in the same exact conditions.  It cost us two spots in the conference standings and is something that hasn't sat well with me since.  So, we'll get to work over the winter and figure out how to fix this problem.  We've got some good kids who can play the game and want to be a good team, so its my job to figure out how to get the most out of them. 

However, I can still say that I've really enjoyed this fall season.  Like I've said a number of times we've got some great guys in this program and they have been a pleasure to be around.  The new guys have adapted well and really fit in good with the team.  We've worked hard at our games, had some promising moments, and had a lot of fun.  I'll continue to blog througout the winter and update you on what we're working on and how the guys are doing.  Look for a much improved team once the spring rolls around.

Go Beavers!