Ball State men’s golf head coach Mike Fleck has been vocal about his team’s struggles throughout the early fall season.
Fleck said his team has failed to put three consecutive good rounds of golf in a tournament and Ball State has struggled with putting, resulting in less than ideal results.
Going into its two-week break, Ball State finished 10th of 16 teams at the Wolf Run Invitational, fourth of 16 teams at the EKU Intercollegiate and 13th of 13 teams at the SMU National Invitational.
However, Fleck thinks that the upcoming Crooked Stick Invitational could be the turning point within the team’s fall season.
“We’re playing a familiar golf course that we played earlier in the fall for our initial qualifying,” Fleck said. “Hopefully this is the event that jumpstarts our fall season and gets us going.”
The Cardinals used the two week break to their advantage, allowing themselves to take time off from golf to rest and catch up on personal matters. It has given the team the break from golf it has needed to help turnaround what Fleck says has been a disappointing fall season.
The team now turns its attention to preparing for this weekend’s tournament at Crooked Stick, playing practice rounds at different courses around Indiana, with emphasis on the short game.
Fleck said that playing at different golf courses allows his players to keep their visuals for the layout of the course in order to stay sharp.
While Ball State’s hopes are high for a turnaround to begin this weekend, it will not be easy. Ball State will face another tough, nationally ranked field at Crooked Stick against teams including Kentucky, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Northwestern and Purdue.
“We’ve got to be really good this weekend,” Fleck said. “All those teams are going to be ready to compete at the highest level, and we’ve got to be ready to match it to be able to have a chance at it.”
The Crooked Stick Invitational is Monday Oct. 16-17 at the Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Indiana. Group pairings and tee times are to be announced.
Contact Ben Schueren with comments at bpscheren@bsu.edu or on Twitter @NLISports_Ben.
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