The university golf season came to an end over the weekend. This year, even with the addition of four first-year students, the St. Thomas University team had a roster of six golfers.
Golf season only lasts two weeks, which makes it difficult to attract new players.
“We would like to have more, but six is plenty for this year,” said head coach Ed Jeffrey.
Team tournaments require teams to have at least five players. Unlike other university coaches, Jeffrey does not recruit the athletes.
“People just come to St. Thomas and then they decide that they want to play golf. We give them a tryout and if they can make the team, they make the team,” said Jeffrey.
“It is a two-week season, so it is hard to recruit and say, ‘Come to university to play a sport for two weeks.’”
Jeffrey does not believe lack of advertising is why the turnout was so small.
“If you are a golfer and you want to play college golf, you would find out if the school has a golf team before you come to school. And then, if you want to play golf, it is easy, you just got to get a hold of me.”
There were no female golfers were on this year’s team.
“It would be nice to have some girls, [but] I do not have to do anything. They just have to come out,” said Jeffrey.
“It was on the website when we were going to be holding tryouts and [no female golfers] came out.”
STU might not have a big golf team, but many universities and colleges in Atlantic Canada don’t have one at all. Only the University of New Brunswick and Holland College have golf teams.
This year, the three teams faced each other in three tournaments. The schedule included a tournament at Mactaquac and another one at Kingswood.
“We did alright. Team wise, we were not as good as we could have been,” said Jeffrey.
The season ended with the team finishing third in Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association Championships last weekend at Crowbush Cove in Morell, Prince Edward Island.
Prior to the final tournament, Jeffrey said he believed his team had more “potential” this year than it did last year.
