The University of Calgary’s golf team is gearing up for another season on the green. The men’s and women’s Dinos club team is looking to improve from last season and have been training over the winter by hitting balls at the Fox Hollow golf dome to stay in shape. The team is in its 10th year as a Dinos club team and is concentrating on staying focused in order to be successful this year.
The team’s captain Katie Avram said that because the team doesn’t have varsity status, they constantly struggle with funding.
“I hope we gain varsity status and we can get some funding from the school and outside sources,” said Avram. “It’s hard to schedule tournaments because we don’t know what kind of funding we are going to get for travel.”
The team works with the athletic department for travel funding, but Avram said most of the money comes from their own pockets.
The team provides a great opportunity to meet other golfers, and team member Allison Seto said the team has been very supportive of each other.
“Everyone is really great and I like golfing, so it’s nice to have a club that motivates you to go out,” said Seto, who has swung the club since she was seven.
Seto hopes to continue improving throughout the season. “I would like to play better and change my mentality about golf and start focusing on how I play rather than the score,” she said.
The U of C golf team is a great opportunity for students who hope to continue with golf while in school. Currently, the men’s team has seven players and the women’s team has six. In order to make the team, players had to attend tryouts before the fall semester which consisted of two rounds of golf — handicaps had to be no higher than four for the men and 15 for the women.
“The U of C always had a good golf team and, being born and raised in Calgary, and the U of C being a good school, it all fit together,” said Steven Scheidt, a third-year business major. “I like the challenge of being outside and every shot and round is different. I’m getting better each year.”
Scheidt said his experiences at tournaments with the team have been unforgettable.
“The thing that stands out was playing at nationals in Toronto. It was a challenge, but fun times on the golf course,” said Scheidt.
The team’s season runs from September to October and from February to May. During the Golden Bears and Pandas Invitational on Sept. 18-19, Dino Katie Avram ranked second overall with a score of 165. Connor Matzelle was the top Dino for the men with 150 and scored sixth place overall. The team is looking forward to having a strong start in the winter semester.