Golf starts training for spring season

With spring sports on the horizon many students will be taking on a heavier workload very soon.  Between practices and the never-ending grind of classes, these student athletes have to show a special kind of focus.  

This focus is not unlike the type that Southerns’ men’s golf team has to display on the course.  

These athletes, along with anyone who has ever stepped foot on a fairway, can tell you that golf is not an easy game.  It’s not as physical as other sports, but golf takes a toll on the player’s psyche.    

When asked how difficult it can be to juggle school, practice and tournaments, junior member of the team Andrew Maier, said, “It’s a little difficult.  You really want to just focus on golf all the time because we go to a tournament and as soon as we get back we are ready for the next one.  We’ve done a pretty good job of staying up on things while on the road.”  

Even  with all the possible distractions and demands put on these young men they still hold on to high expectations.  

After a fall with a lot of good golf played and a best finish of third, the team is looking to move his way up the leader board.  

“I expect big things,” said Maier.  “We have a solid young team and everybody is excited to get started.  

“We had some success in the fall but we are looking to build on that and have more success in the spring.”

With solid players like Ryan Buerk, junior, and Ben Starkey, freshman, on the roster, that is not a difficult concept to imagine.

A team with big aspirations for the spring, the Lions golf team wants to put its stamp on Missouri Southern’s year in athletics.  With wins against the schools that mean the most, and anyone else in their path, Maier sticks to the idea that all wins are important.  

“We really want to beat Central Missouri every tournament and of course Pitt, but we just try to play our games and that usually works out,” he said.

The Southern golf team gets back under way March 11 at Arkansas Tech University for the David Falconer Memorial Classic.  

This will be their first tournament since Oct. 16, but Maier and the other members of the team are prepared and ready to make the second half of its season count.