Miami University first-year Will Osterfeld hits a practice chip before teeing off on Saturdaywith the club golf team.
The Miami University club golf team will be making its first appearance at the National Collegiate Club Golf Association (NCCGA) Championship Nov. 15-16 at Cannon Ridge Golf Club in Fredericksburg, Va.
Miami's team is advancing to the championship with only 8 other teams nationwide.
"This isn't the first time Miami's club golf team has competed, it's the first time they have been successful," said Jim Stearns, the team's faculty adviser. "Previous clubs have competed in various competitions, but this is really the first time they have competed as a real club team in a higher level of competition."
Tryouts for Miami's 2008-09 team were held in September with more than 30 students trying out for 13 spots. However this year, senior member Mike Roth said the club decided to take a new team-oriented approach.
"The president and vice president revamped the whole program this year," Roth said. "In the past, it was just for fun and you would join for $60 and play all you wanted, this year, (the president and vice president) made it more of an actual golf team."
Stearns said the team wanted to take a more hands-on approach this year in the way the team is run.
"The members determine how they want to approach it," Stearns said. "Different groups have different priorities, and this group is more on the competitive side. They don't really have a coach and they have to do everything themselves, like making arrangements and scheduling. It is wonderful that they have done it, and through their own initiative that this has happened."
Captain Zak Frognowski said he's happy with this year's success, but still wants to take the program to new places-turning the team around to make it more competitive.
"We have a very good golf team, but unfortunately for us the varsity team doesn't hold walk on tryouts," Frognowski said. "A couple of us have played NCAA golf, and two or three more of our guys probably should be playing varsity somewhere. That's why we have modeled our program after a varsity team, it's because we have the ability to play at that level that makes the guys want to be a part of this."
Miami's club team is a member of the governing body of the NCCGA. Currently, more than 30 teams are active in the association.
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According to the NCCGA Web site, all the teams are divided into conferences and divisions. The top teams that qualify in the division tournaments advance to a conference tournament, and the teams that place in the top of the conference tournament are invited to the national championship.
NCCGA rules also dictate that each team plays eight players, with the top five scores from round one added to the top five scores from round two to determine to total team score.
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