The golf team started the spring portion of its season with a trip down to Florida during Spring Break with hopes of shaking off the rust of a long, wintry offseason. For the first time since October, the Red was able to get out into the sunshine to hit balls and play rounds, something the team had been longing to do for months. “It was very useful,” said junior Dan Bosse. “We haven’t played in a while, so getting a chance to hit some balls in the sunshine and play everyday was really helpful. We’re not back in midseason form but it’s definitely a boost in the right direction.” Upon returning from Florida, Cornell traveled to Grasonville, Md. to compete in the Towson Invitational. The Red carried over some momentum from Florida, but was not in its full potential, due to the five-month layover since their last competitive tournament. “I think that for most of the team, the short game is what takes the longest to regain midseason form in,” said Bosse, who finished first for the Red and tied for 16th overall with a three-round total score of 224. “Chipping, pitching and putting, particularly long rage putts, are all about feel. You can’t get that back with one week of practice. We had a couple of days to play which helped, but it’s not really enough time to groove and really feel comfortable about a shot.” Senior Robert Cronheim, junior Matt Jaye, and sophomores Mark Baity and John Dean rounded at Cornell’s five-man squad, which ended up placing 14th out of 19 teams at the Invitational. For some of the players, the hardest part about coming back from such a long layoff is getting the midseason mentality back. The physical ability to carry out the shots is there, but the mental toughness to go out and be consistent shot after shot, round after round, takes time. “I hadn’t picked up a golf club in basically six months [before Florida],” Cronheim said. “After such a long time, everything is a little bit off. Getting the mindset back more than anything is most important to me. Down in Florida I was really just trying to get loose; it took me three to four days before I was even loose enough to try anything that I wanted to do.” In the coming weeks, the Red will continue to practice in addition to holding qualifying rounds to decide what rotation of players is going to move forward in the spring season.“We’re just looking to get back to playing golf and hitting good shots,” Bosse said. “We’ll definitely be focusing more on our short game early on, but once that comes back we’ll really focus on all aspects of our games and try to get better.”
Original Author: Ware Cady