Some Minor Improvements...

To our 16 dear followers and any other readers of the Mac Golf Blog:

As you may have noticed from your daily perusing of the blog, there have been some aesthetic changes to the blog lately. Please, ignore the dust, because the site is still under construction. Here is an abbreviated summary of the recent changes to the blog:

•  The Menu Bar - we now have a brand new menu bar with links to numerous different pages on the Mac Golf Blog site. Among some of the new pages are 'About Mac Golf,' 'About Macalester,' 'Mac Athletics,' and 'The Players,' which we will get to in just a moment...
• "The Players" Page - this new page allows you, our readers, to become more acquainted with the team and their interests. Right now, however, the page is still under construction. Don't worry, we have more than 5 people on the team!
• Flickr Photostream - the right hand navigation bar is now equipped with a Flickr Photostream which serves somewhat as a photo roster for the team. Just click on the thumbnail to see an enlarged image

These are only a few of the changes that will be happening on the Mac Golf Blog in the coming weeks! As we begin to compete this season, expect more anecdotes from the course, photographs of the team, and ravings from our very own head writer, Tyler 'Bear' Hanck. So don't forget to check back for updates periodically!

- Lora

Spring break a success

Sun Bear and Coach Sarah

 With bags packed and houses cleaned, it's time to leave Jekyll Island for another year.  Today's last tournament round is in the books...some good scores, lots of good shots, and lots of big things learned on the elusive mental side of playing tournament golf.  Coach Sarah was a hit and a natural in her coaching debut...we are so lucky to have her as a part of Macalester golf! 

Missing a couple of our men meant the guys here were relegated to playing the not-so-lovely Oleander GC for their third round.  We really missed the rest of the team and we're looking forward to them rejoining us for the rest of the spring season.

Sarah and I are looking forward to continuing the work we did down here and hoping for melted snow and open golf courses at home so we can keep everyone moving in the right direction...imagine a week of 80 degrees and sun, then back indoors hitting into buckets in the fieldhouse...melt snow, melt!

Coach Nause 

Pictures from Jekyll

Women's team getting ready for practice day 1

 

Caitlin practicing day 2

Sun Bear on 18 tee, practice day 2

Maddie running from gator- "sorry sir"

 

Now what do I do with it?  Turtle feeling pretty safe for the moment

 The past 4 days have been action-packed with more than you can imagine...lots and lots of golf, fantastic weather, terrific dinners with the team...keeping us very busy!

  The first day of competition today was understandably up and down given our 2 week indoor practice leading up to this week and our last competition was mid-Oct.  Despite only practicing indoors, I am happy with the  improvements everyone is making so far this spring...unfortunately it doesn't automatically translate into super low scores right now, but it will...that's why we're here!

That's it for now~

  Coach Nause

getting ready for Jekyll

Don't back up!  The gators of Jekyll await!

Hello all Mac golf fans!

As I'm sure you know if you've been following the blog, time is ticking down to our annual spring trip to Jekyll Island.  As the coach that means there's lots to do and lots of balls to hit.  With one week of practice behind us the team is working hard to be as prepared as possible in our snowy wonderland.  It's a little disheartening waking up to more snow these days, but we'll do what we can to get ready.  Everyone is working hard on their respective swing mechanics, getting re-familiarized with the clubs, how they feel and what they can do with them.  We've set up our indoor practice areas with all sorts of ways to prepare, however chipping across the fieldhouse floor would be better preparation for Oakmont than Jekyll, I'm sure!  Wish I'd ventured up there last summer as I got ready for the Women's US Open!  At any rate, a stroke is a stroke is a stroke and as my mentor and teaching guru Manuel de la Torre says, your surroundings shouldn't have any affect on you making the best swing/stroke you can make since that's what you're supposed to be paying attention to.  So with that said and with snow forecast the next few days, it's back to indoor practice!  Maybe the tracksters running past as we're trying to practice putting will help our focus practice, or at least the wind from them zooming by will feel like an ocean breeze at Jekyll?  Run fast tracksters!   

We can only dream!

18th tee Pine Lakes GC, Jekyll Island, GA

Coach Nause

Hooray for Modernity!

Hello blog-lovers, Lora here, the techie side of the Macalester Golf blog. Although Bear may be the one with the witticisms and clever golf insights, I happen to be the one with the technological skills needed to design this blog.

As you may have noticed, Mac Golf '11 has a new layout! Now this is real exciting stuff, indeed. Keep in mind, however, this change is not permanent; there are still many things that I would like to edit in terms of the visual aspects of the blog. So, if any of you out in blog world would like to put your two cents in, I would love to hear your feedback! Think we need less green? Then say so! Pondering the possibility of more pages? Let us know! After all, the blog is just as much for you, our loving fans, as it is for us!

A last "hat's off"

I would be remiss to not extend my profuse thanks to my assistant coach Angie Ause for her incredible work all week.  With the two groups on different courses she did a great job managing the "Oleander group" while I had the guys team on our course.  I have to extend a huge thanks to Angie for all she brings to the Macalester golf program, from her expertise in teaching golf, her enthusiasm to help, and her great sense of humor.  We are lucky to have Angie be a part of what we're doing at Mac!

 

Thanks Angie!

Last day of competition

So the week ends with a day of rain and bugs.  I had intended on taking more pictures today to add to the blog but with the crumby weather that didn't happen so today's only picture is the last group photo below.  It was a tough day to be on the golf course today.  With the tournament field so big the round ended up taking close to 6 hours with the guys having to wait 40 minutes at the turn...it's very hard to maintain much momentum, or gain any for that matter, when you're standing around for so long instead of playing golf.  I really feel for the team that they have to play in those kinds of conditions.  They hung in there well in the rain amid the ferocious and persistent bugs.  Scores for the week were a mixed bag...some decent ones, some disappointing ones but lots of good stuff happened throughout the week.  For the group of players who spent the week on the Oleander course (the women's team and Tyler aka "Chase" and Matt C, they played the entire week on mostly mud "fairways" so their scores are in large part a reflection of poor conditions of the course.  For all the First Year golfers, they all worked their way through some major swing mechanic changes fromthe fall season, which is not an easy thing to do in competition so I am very happy that they were able to mostly hold their swing changes this week.  

 

The best part of what was accomplished this week was a great "mental game" from everyone.  Golf is an incredibly frustrating and tough game and we've been working very hard to learn those tools to stay in the game, regardless of the situation.  The team did a great job on that aspect of the competition.  I am very proud of how they held their heads up no matter what was going on with their game and proud to have each and every one of them be a part of Mac golf!