Golf is a sport that relies on what weather permits. Playing the sport in Indiana can create problems and limitations, especially when being outdoors is necessary.
Those who live in the Midwest know the weather can be as erratic as a hormonal teenager. Ball State women’s golf coach Katherine Mowat knows it’s something the team just has to push through.
“We don’t necessarily think of the disadvantages of being inside all winter, we just work with what we have and continue to move forward,” Mowat said.
Mowat said her team takes advantage of indoor facilities similar to baseball to practice in the offseason.
“We spend our afternoons at MD’s Golf Academy, which is right here in Muncie,” Mowat said.
Practicing indoors isn’t the same as being out on an actual course, but Mowat said she is a big proponent of the team taking advantage of what they have and not worrying about anything else.
“MD’s has heated cells in their driving range,” Mowat said. “They also have artificial greens where the team can work on their chipping, putting and bump-and-run’s. Anything bigger than those shots and we move to the indoor range.”
While being able to practice the same way they would outside is a definite thing to be happy about, Ball State is aware of the fact that there are other teams they will compete against who have been able to be outside all winter long.
“About half the teams we’ll face, in the coming weeks, are from the Midwest,” Mowat said. “So they’ve been dealing with the same conditions as us.”
Ball State will play in the Jim West Challenge, their first competition since October, Feb. 17 and 18 at Texas State.
“There isn’t a team more eager to get back out on actual course than mine,” Mowat said. “That eagerness to get back out there and play on something other than an artificial surface is going to drive this team to succeed against those teams that may not have had to practice indoors.”
