UD Men’s Golf on the cusp of the A-10 Title

Pictured is UD’s Men’s Golf team. Photo courtesy of @DaytonMGolf on X.

Ethan Snyder | Contributing Writer

University of Dayton men’s golf could be on the brink of history as it chases the program’s first ever A10 title in late April. 

The team hasn’t had the best of starts to the spring season, but the UD golfers are ready to put it back on the right track with two events remaining before their championship. 

The seven players and their Coach, Gary “Gip” Hoagland, have been honing their craft for almost nine months to be at their peak in late April. The players practice three hours every day, except Wednesday, and work out two to three times a week. The majority of the players go above and beyond those limits to help bring pride to the university. The team will have competed in 10 events before the final, traveling from Wisconsin to Orlando over the course of the year. 

While the team’s best finish is sixth at the Joe Feaganes Invitational, the team believes its work is going to pay off. Ben Cors, a junior, describes the season up to this point. 

“I would describe our season as having some ups and downs. We have been through a number of growing pains, but I do believe that these growing pains will make us a lot better as we head toward the conference championship. We have a lot of young guys with a lot of talent, and at the same time we have a lot of upperclassmen to pass down knowledge and lead the way. I think we are all excited to see what the rest of the spring season has to hold!” 

When talking to some of the team members, they rave about the facilities they are able to use such as an indoor facility they share with NCR Country Club and the courses at the club as well. The university’s men’s and women’s programs raised money to get the teams to share two bays inside the 8,000-square-foot building. The building is equipped with top of the line technology, such as trackman, and a massive chipping and putting area to hone in their short games. 

Junior Colin O’Rourke describes what the Player Development Center means to the golf team.

“The Player Development Center has allowed us to have better preparation going into our spring season. Prior, southern universities were at an advantage, having the ability to be outside practicing year-round. This facility has leveled that factor and puts us in a much better position come the A10 Championship in April.” 

The Flyers will head down to Orlando, FL. on April 24, where they will compete in the event with the 12 other A10 teams. The team was voted to finish fifth in the championship by the other coaches in the conference as of the preseason poll. VCU and Davidson are early favorites to bring home the title. 

The championship test Dayton will face is at the Evermore resort. Evermore will once again host the A10 tournament where it will use a combination of the 36 holes available for the event. The two courses are styled as a links and a resort course, meaning one nine will have little water and little trees the other nine will be completely opposite with an abundance of water and trees. 

Hoagland talked about how Evermore has hosted the A10 championship in the past and said it is an adequate test to become champions. The UD coach also talks about the preparation these men will need heading into the tournament. 

“Just need to keep building on the successful rounds that we have had. We played really well in the last round of the Surf Club Invitational in Myrtle Beach, which is starting to play up to our expectations. What we did well there was to minimize our mistakes, we didn’t make a lot of doubles, we kept the ball in play and by doing that gave us a lot more opportunities at birdie. If we continue to do that we should be in good shape.” 

The men in this group are more motivated than ever to finish off the regular season strong and bring a title back to Dayton. With the community and university investing heavily into the program the last couple years through the practice center, it makes the players and coaches desire even higher. 

Through the sacrifices these players have made the last nine months, UD hopes to be the most prepared team there and have a chance to go into the record books as the first Dayton team to win the A10.

For more updates on UD’s Men’s Golf Team make sure to check out our sports page here.