'The sky's the limit:' New facility for MU golfers allows them to practice no matter the weather
MILWAUKEE -- Winter is usually still in full effect in March, with cold and snow. Marquette University's golf team is now able to say -- bring it on, thanks to the Athletic and Human Performance Research Center.
Inside that building, it always feels like a summer day.
"Breathtaking! Wanting to get in here right away," said Austin Kendziorski, senior golfer.
The space is the home of the Golden Eagles golf team.
"We obviously wanted to be on par with some of the top level Midwest programs," said Steve Bailey, Marquette University men's golf coach.
Players can putt, chip and swing away at any time.
"So it doesn't look like there will be a golf course open any time soon, and that's the weather here, so having a facility like this is massive," said Oliver Farrell, senior golfer.
"Really, really cool just to have this entire facility now -- and it's awesome from what we just came from," said Kendziorski.
The team used to practice in an old wrestling room that was converted into a gym in the basement.
"We tell our guys we want to keep those blue collar roots," said Bailey.
"Old gym was quite a bit smaller than this. Maybe like a fifth of the size of this," said Kendziorski.
Old MU golf facility
"It's probably three, four times the size of what we had before," said Farrell.
The players said the upgraded space helps with making them feel more like a team.
"Over here, we can get all nine guys in here practicing at once, whereas at the other place, it was three people and it was crowded, so to have everyone practicing at once is going to be massive for team practice," Farrell said.
Just to have more opportunities for our guys and the competitive environment that we create in here. We can now have all eight of our players playing the simulator at the same time," said Bailey.
The building brought the team new challenges that should lead to lower scores.
"There is so many shots you can hit in here that, really, being outside, like obviously, there's an advantage to being on grass, but there really is no excuse for us any more being inside. We have access to any shots you're going to hit outside," Kendziorski said.
"It's been a long time coming and really thankful for everyone who had a vision to build something like this and our guys couldn't be more excited," said Bailey.
"Having this now, I think the sky is kind of the limit," said Kendziorski.
