In Manhattan, golf teams’ success stems from resourcefulness

Golf practice facilities are hard to come by in Manhattan, and Rich Mueller—Columbia men’s golf’s head coach—has had to be extremely resourceful in finding his team practice facilities.

Currently in his sixth year at Columbia, Mueller’s resourcefulness has led the men’s team to three consecutive Ivy League titles—a streak the Lions hope to extend at the end of this year.

The home course for the Light Blue is Saint Andrew’s Golf Club, a tough 6,670-yard course in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY. When the weather is right, the team takes a van out to the course. This van leaves at 2:40, and if anyone isn’t there on time, they miss practice for the day.

Mueller understands that the players are also getting difficult Ivy League educations, so efficiency is the key.

“Our practices are efficient. They’re well structured. …We get in, we get out,” Mueller said. “We do our business, and we get back to campus.”

When the courses are closed for the winter, the team has several options.

Randall’s Island Golf Center is a practice facility less than two miles away from Columbia’s campus, and the team utilizes the center all throughout the winter.

An example of Mueller’s ingenuity as a coach comes from the team’s use of the football field at the Baker Athletics Complex as a place to practice their short game.

“The great thing about a football field is that it has yard lines and obviously when we talk about golf, we use yards in golf too,” Mueller said. “We can hit great shots, and practice what we call the ‘scoring zone’ 100 yards and in.”

Junior Brendan Doyle had high praise for the coach for his resourcefulness, and also added that the team enjoys the time it spends uptown.

“We go out Saturday mornings every weekend, and it’s a lot of fun, we’ll set up targets out there, get our yardage down,” Doyle said.

With half of the Ivy League’s golf teams having their own golf courses, this longer commute may seem like a disadvantage for the team. Coach Mueller doesn’t see it that way.

“I actually see it as an advantage,” Mueller said. “When you have negatives like that and we’re surrounded by concrete on all four sides, you have to find a way to be positive about it.”

Mueller added that a positive to take away is the fact that the team has its own state-of-the-art indoor practice facility right here at Dodge Fitness Center, allowing the team to practice the “bare essentials” at any point in the year.

The indoor facility—a converted squash court—was built in 2001 and has steadily improved throughout the years.

“It’s been under construction since I’ve been here, and it’s gradually getting a lot nicer every year,” Doyle said. “It’s a great area for the team to hang out constantly.”

The latest installments to the golf room are new lockers, which provide members of the men and women’s teams more space to store their clubs and shoes.

Even with the indoor facility, the winters can be tough to practice, but Doyle believes that practicing during the winter months gives them a leg up against the competition. Winter practice, however, is not limited to Dodge.

“We go out to Randall’s Island in the beginning of January when it’s 20, 30 degrees out, and hit balls twice a week,” Doyle said. “We also do lessons with our coach once a week.”

Despite all of these resources, there is still one crucial aspect of golf missing during the winter months—putting.

“I think the hardest part is to not be able to have a putting green and practice our putting,” Doyle said.

Seven of the nine members of the team are from warm-weather areas (five from California, and one each from Florida and Texas), so for them winter was never a problem during high school.

With extended periods of time off from golf, the transition to cold weather golf is a difficult one.

Senior Justin Lee, from Tarzana, Calif., made note of this transition.

“All throughout high school I wasn’t used to taking the winter off, so it was a pretty big adjustment, especially the first few tournaments in the spring,” Lee said. “We go into spring break, fly out to California every year, and we have basically one round and then tournaments.”

Lee added, “You can see the freshman struggle with that this year, but next year we’ll expect them to do a little better. So it’s something you can work on, and coach also helps us with that.”

This year’s winter was especially harsh, giving golfers even less time to prepare for the second half of the season.

Even with all of these handicaps, Columbia has continued to see a steady flow of talented recruits, and much of that is to do with the quality of education, as well as the team’s recent success.

“I think our two freshmen this year are probably the best freshman we’ve ever had,” Lee said.

The indoor facility’s biggest impact may have more to do with team bonding than improvement of skills.

“We got back from our tournament Sunday at 3:30, and we all got our laptops out and watched the Masters online as a team,” Doyle said. “It definitely helps with the team chemistry.”

Coach Mueller was also sure to note the importance of team chemistry.

“Our team environment is the pillar of our success,” Mueller said. “Everybody is willing to help everybody, and when you’re under the confines that we are, you have to have that kind of cooperation and that attitude, otherwise you’re not going to be successful.”

Overcoming all these difficulties is what makes Columbia golfers so special, and these unique characteristics can be attributed to the university as a whole.

“The Columbia golfer embodies the Columbia student,” Mueller said. “They’re adaptable people, they’re willing to try different things and be creative, and think outside the box. I think to exist in New York City and be successful here not only as a student but also as a golfer, you have to have that take on that.”

The men’s golf team has just 10 days left to prepare for Ivy League Championships, hoping their versatile coach and strong work ethic can propel them to their fourth consecutive title