• The KillerFrogs

The Vanderbilt Golf House

for one, USC uses Rolling Hills Country Club
We’re kind of caught up in semantics with this one. They have a dedicated area on the range there to practice, but no dedicated clubhouse or locker room. They have memberships to Rolling Hills, so they have access to dedicated tee times every day, even on weekends. As members, I guess they can use the locker rooms and other facilities to rest, just like they would if they had their own practice facility — it’s just not exclusive to them. All in all, they’ve created a good situation in a state where real estate prices likely prevent them doing more.
 

JogginFrog

Active Member
Links to past discussion and media on the practice facility at Colonial.

Is it just a small student lounge/locker room plus some tech-equipped bays and a putting/chipping area? Probably. But it's our small student lounge/locker room with some tech-equipped bays and a putting/chipping area. At least when school is in session. And that's far better than what they've had.

The delay in completion may have cost the coaching staff a recruiting cycle, which could hurt. It will be interesting to see what shows up on signing day. The program needs some momentum.
 
Winning a few national titles in golf probably helped…
GPat tried to get it at Shady. ADJD & Co. said no. Probably because of no funding.

We need to subject ourselves that being competitive in Olympic Sports (including baseball), much less, majors like football is going to be a challenge.

Hop over to Dallas and take a look at their facilities. Look at their financials. With ADJD driving off all the old money, and also them moving on, we are relying on a going concern.

That tennis facility of ours, go look at SMU's. The difference is we have trees.
 
GPat tried to get it at Shady. ADJD & Co. said no. Probably because of no funding.

We need to subject ourselves that being competitive in Olympic Sports (including baseball), much less, majors like football is going to be a challenge.

Hop over to Dallas and take a look at their facilities. Look at their financials. With ADJD driving off all the old money, and also them moving on, we are relying on a going concern.

That tennis facility of ours, go look at SMU's. The difference is we have trees.
I really don't buy that money was the barrier. We have a lot of wealthy donors who are golfers and would probably support the program if called upon to do so specifically. I also don't think Montigel was the right guy to raise the funds -- it never got done during his tenure, despite numerous iterations of it being brought forward. Then, towards the end of this tenure, he alienated some of the prominent golf alums who might have been willing to take the lead. That brings us to CDC and Donati (and even their predecessors), and my guess is that they prioritized other projects (football, basketball, baseball). Reality started to hit home when it became inevitable that Montigel was going to retire, and there was no way to attract a decent head coach without the promise of a dedicated practice facility.

There were other unique variables along the way, too, so understand it was a complicated project to get done. Members at Mira Vista, Colonial and Shady Oaks had their say about what they wanted, or didn't want, on their property.

The facility at Colonial is a win. It may not be the big win that Vandy built, but it was much needed to keep the program relevant.
 
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