Sawyer Strelnieks – Staff Writer

Photo from Dordt Athletics

Spring is in the air, and the golf teams hit the courses this past week after being cooped up all winter due to the Iowa arctic freeze. However, with such a quick thaw this spring, the teams had a chance to take a few swings outside on the local course before their first tournament.

The men’s team played last Monday and Tuesday at the Midland Spring Invite in Fremont, Nebraska, where they placed 5th out of the 14 teams at the meet. Senior Kyle Colyn and sophomore Ryan Feauto led the Dordt team with scores of 75 and 76, respectively.

The women’s team played last Thursday in the Bulldog Invite in Lincoln, Nebraska, where they placed 8th out of 10 teams. Alyssa Fedders and Molly Banks took the lead with 84 strokes and 87 strokes, respectively. What was initially intended to be a two-day tournament for the women’s team turned into a one-day competition due to inclement weather on the following day.

Canceled tournaments are very typical of the spring golf season, with winter trying to stick around as long as it can. With Sioux Center’s harsh winters and no large area to hit balls indoors, the teams can go months without hitting a single ball.

“I can’t think of another sport where you are expected to not be able to play or practice for five months at a time and then one day show up to the course and compete,” sophomore Ryan Feauto said. “Really, the only way to get any practice in during the winter is to head south.”

Over spring break, some players from the men’s and women’s teams traveled with Coach Christians to Arizona to play some rounds in the warm sun after being stuck in the frozen tundra of Iowa for months.

“I’d also say that fall season is different, too, because we come in after playing all summer and the consistency of play is better,” junior Molly Banks said. “I am looking forward to being with the team again and getting in as much golf as we can before the year ends.”

Having the chance for players to dust off their clubs and head south to Arizona helped build up that consistency again before the start of the spring season.

“It’s always fun to see how we can improve as a team from the first meet to the last,” junior Alyssa Fedder said.

So far, this spring has been fairly mild for Dordt, letting the teams get in some local practice before their tournament. This wasn’t possible last year, thanks to late snow making a short season with no practices outside until the GPAC tournament, which takes place around late April.
The men’s next tournament is the Midland tournament this coming Saturday at the Wild Rivers golf course in Blair, Nebraska. The women’s team plays next in the Kaitlyn Erickson Invitational. This tournament will take place at the Wilderness Ridge Golf Course in Lincoln, Nebraska.