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Seton Hall Athletics[/caption]
It may be getting colder outside, but the men’s and women’s golf players at Seton Hall can still get all the practice they need.
This is thanks to a brand new golf lab, which is the most recent of the various construction projects taking place in the Richie Raegan Recreation Center.
The teams previously used a smaller facility, but the brand new state of the art lab has already proved to be useful and a crowd favorite among both Seton Hall teams.
“We used to have a room in the basement about a third the size of this. It was great for what we had and needed at the time but the fact that we have our own space where we can stay focused and have a place that is home is really special,” women’s head coach Sara Doell said.
The lab, which is 2,760-square- feet, features hitting stalls with a Trackman portable simulator with a projection screen. The lab gives the teams the chance to have the golf experience without having to go outdoors or leave campus. It creates this experience with the help of different chipping areas, a putting lab and a simulated sand trap.
“The great thing about this room is we have so many situations to make our game better,” Doell said. “There’s a huge putting green, so you can do short putts or really long putts. There’s different types of grass that you can chip from.”
Having the different types of grass is key in preparing the teams for different courses they will play at in the upcoming season.
“Some grass is like Bermuda grass which is a southern style grass and there’s another area that’s bent grass which is more like what we see in the northeast,” Doell said. “In the spring we’re competing in the south a lot, but we’re also competing at Georgetown where they’ll have more bent grass. So the opportunity to work on different types of grass is amazing.”
With both the men’s and women’s seasons approaching, the lab has allowed for both teams to get ample practice time in since they cannot practice outside much.
McKenzie Cutter, a graduate student on the team, appreciates that the new facility is there for them when they cannot be out on the links.
“We still like to be outside when we can, but being here and having our own space is so much better for us. We feel like we can focus a lot better,” she said.
With the second half of their season’s right around the corner, both teams have worked on establishing schedules to allow for everyone to get a chance to use the lab.
“We do a pretty good job scheduling, we work around each other and have a scheduling system where you can kind of claim your hour on whatever it is you want to use,” senior men’s golfer Ryan Snouffer said.
Both teams begin their spring seasons in February on the west coast with the women in Arizona for the Rio Verde Intercollegiate and the men in Santee, California for the Carlton Oaks WIU Invitational.
“Having the lab is going to make a big difference; the technology really helps,” Snouffer
said. “As a school up north when it gets cold we’re kind of at a disadvantage to a lot of the schools we play against. It’s as close as it gets to playing golf in the winter,” Snouffer said.
Olivia Mulvihill can be reached at olivia.mulvihill@student.shu.edu or on twitter @OliviaMulvihill.
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