While the sixth-place Albion College men’s golf team has had a disappointing season, the Britons remain optimistic about the future of the program.
The Britons finished their season with a fourth-place showing at their home tournament, one of the team’s better finishes of the year. While the Brits may be disappointed with their sixth-place conference finish, players and coaches agree that the team has a lot to build on.
“I was very impressed with the depth throughout the year,” said Coach Jordan Rich.
Rich frequently rotated his golfers, and each tournament’s five-man rotation was different. Rich views this as a positive.
“Deciding which five men to play on any given day was probably my biggest struggle as a coach,” Rich said. “It’s a good problem for a coach to have.”
The team believes that depth and rotation will give the younger golfers experience and motivation to improve over the course of the offseason.
Taylor Margolis, Ann Arbor senior, was one of the Briton’s best golfers this season, averaging 78.6 strokes per round. He believes that the team didn’t live up to its potential this season.
“We were set up to succeed,” Margolis said. “We just didn’t capitalize on our opportunities.”
Though Margolis is a senior, he agrees that the rotation of players was one of the team’s strong points this year.
“With the consistently changing lineups that we had, it was good to see a number of different people step up at different times of the year,” Margolis said. “It just showed that everyone is capable of posting a low score.”
Margolis pointed at the success of the younger players in the rotation and believes that the future for Albion golf is bright.
“Its just a matter of having everyone play well at the same time for a consistent period of time,” Margolis said. “I see that happening in the future.”
Despite the team falling short of qualifying for the MIAA spring tournament, the Britons will have a robust non-conference spring schedule. Coach Rich expects his players will improve over the offseason.
“I expect them to stay true to their conditioning,” Rich said. “They need to work out. They need to try to make themselves better physically.”
The team is up to the challenge, as many players have plans to train this winter.
“Over the next couple months, my plan to improve is to practice my game a lot and work out more so I’m ready for the spring season,” said Drew White, Auburn Hills freshman.
If the team gets its work done in the offseason, Rich says that Briton fans should expect a strong spring, and, ultimately, a strong Fall of 2013.
“I think having guys who only played one or two tournaments but have some experience should give us a leg up on the competition,” Rich said.
That leg could be just the boost that Albion needs.
Photo courtesy of Jordan Rich
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