With no home field, the golf team faces obstacles and rewards when traveling to each tournament.

The team generally leaves the day before practice rounds on Saturday for possibly a six to seven hour drive and returns Tuesday after competition.

Kristofer Kerr, a sophomore golfer, shared his experience being on a traveling team.

“It’s actually a lot of fun,” said Kerr. “We do have some pretty far tournaments up to seven hours or so, which is kind of long, but we’re all together. We’re cracking jokes, and we’re a really close team. It makes the van rides a lot shorter than what it is, so it’s actually a lot of fun. It makes us a lot closer.”

Kerr discussed preparation like packing to leave for a tournament.

“We usually bring our golf clubs, and we’re mostly gone between three to four days,” stated Kerr. “So, you have to pack a good bit of clothes, and we also bring our book sacks and stuff, so it’s a good load we bring. We somehow find a way to cram it all in the van.”

While managing schoolwork can be difficult, Kerr tries to finish his work before leaving for tournaments.

“We play two rounds in one day, and we walk 36 holes, which makes us really tired, and the last thing we want to do is go to the hotel and stay up and do homework for two and a half hours,” explained Kerr. “So, we try to get that done before we travel, and sometimes it’s piled up so big at times you have to do it, and it’s just something you have to get through. It’s part of being a student-athlete, but it’s not terrible. It’s definitely not easy.”

Miller Maestri, a sophomore golfer, does not experience much trouble with travel interfering with his school.

“If you communicate with your teachers, every teacher I’ve had has been very understanding that I’ll be missing class twice a week, so they understand it, but it’s not that big of an issue,” expressed Maestri.

According to Jake Narro, head coach of golf, the drive back from competition is tougher than the ride there.

“When we get to golf tournaments, we’re up for daybreak and home at dark,” said Narro. “It’s a long day, and then a lot of times, the guys have to do homework or things of that nature. So, when we get in the van on Tuesday afternoon at 3:00 after traveling and then three straight days of competition, that’s the tough ride home.”

For Kerr, the travel allows for communication to perform better at tournaments.

“We talk about what we’re gonna do before the tournament on some holes, and on the way back, we talk about what we can do better,” shared Kerr. “If there’s anything that makes us better for the next tournament, we talk about. It actually really helps strategic wise if you all know and you all come up with an answer, feel pretty confident going into it, and it helps you execute a little better.”

Despite the negative aspects of constantly traveling, Narro described the rides as tremendous team bonding.

“We joke with each other,” stated Narro. “We talk about sports. We talk about girls. We talk about school. We talk about life, and we get to know each other a lot better, and that positive outweighs any of the negatives that go along with traveling.”