The University men’s golf team has had the past three weeks off to practice, condition and rest in order to prepare for the Marshall Tournament in West Virginia this weekend.

The team played over spring break and finished 16th at the USF Invitational in Tampa, Fla. and seventh in the Birkdale Collegiate Classic Tournament. In these last few weeks and because of Bowling Green’s weather, the team has been able to practice on their course at Stone Ridge a few times but have done other things to prepare as well.

“We’ve been doing whatever we can do,” Coach Garry Winger said. “Unfortunately, our practice is based upon the weather. If the weather is good then we practice; if not, then we’ve been concentrating on our conditioning.”

Being in shape physically helps the team mentally when they have to be on a course for around 11 hours in a day, Winger added. “If you’re in better shape, the better you’ll finish.”

Because of the weather, the team has been running a lot to get into shape as part of their conditioning workouts. Winger also said that keeping in good shape physically is one of the only things that the team has control over because of the weather.

One of the sophomores on the team, Jace Walker, said that for the past few weeks everyone has been practicing what they need to in order to prepare for the upcoming tournaments. Walker added that he thinks the team will do well in the Marshall Tournament.

“Our seniors have played there three times now, so they have a lot of experience there,” Walker said. “I think we are fairly confident on [the course] and I think we should do really well this week.”

The individuals on the team have grown more confident when they play than they have in the last couple of weeks, Walker said.

Winger said that since golf is a sport that’s completely “individually driven,” the members of the team need to know what they have to practice to be able to improve.

Along with all the practice Walker and the team have done these last few weeks, they also look forward to seeing how the competing schools will do in the tournament.

“There’s a lot of good schools that normally go and it’s a chance for us to play well against some good competition,” Walker said.

Winger commented that Walker has improved a lot over the year and expects him to do well. He also expects the team will do well this weekend as they are also looking for the top five players to compete for the last few weeks of the season.

“Our goal is to have the same line up going into the MAC tournament,” Winger said. “The guys are going to get an opportunity here and if they play well, then they’ll continue to play. It they don’t, then they won’t play.”

He added, “You dance with who you bring and we’ve got our five guys this week and we’ll go from there.”