March 2, 2010
As the saying goes, there is strength in numbers. However, with just eight players on the active roster, the Vanderbilt men’s golf team is finding fortitude in more of a minimalist approach.
The spring season is officially under way. Competing February 19-21, the team placed fourth in the 2010 Mobile Bay Intercollegiate, despite training limitations created by the recent winter weather in Nashville.
A little snow is no big deterrent to Coach Tom Shaw, however. After all, he was coaching at Tulane when Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans. With his facilities underwater, Shaw was forced to relocate his team to Southern Methodist University for the Fall 2005 semester. Classes were already three weeks in session when he flew to Dallas and personally enrolled his players in classes. Tulane ultimately dropped the sport the following spring, due to budget constraints.
But opportunity came knocking at Vanderbilt, and Shaw brought his hard work mentality to the Nashville campus. Since taking the helm in 2006, Shaw has implemented a winter training regimen to ready his players for a heavy spring schedule. It is just part of the new mindset he has been building.
“The average golfer–even the average college student–has a pretty privileged life,” says Shaw. “We try to emphasize to our guys that we don’t have a sense of entitlement. Golf is a very good sport for that. It can be very humbling. You never quite master it.”
Between practice and tournaments, the team finds time for charity work. They are hoping to get involved with Habitat for Humanity this season.
As a two-time NCAA Academic All-American at Georgia Tech, Shaw has also placed a heavy emphasis on academics. He believes a change to the overall team culture starts with the recruitment of high character student-athletes. Many of the current Commodores received scholastic honors in high school. Junior Ryan Haselden, for example, was salutatorian of Stratford Senior High in Houston, and has the potential this season to follow in his coach’s footsteps as an Academic All-American.
Of course, Shaw wouldn’t be a coach if he didn’t focus on the game itself. His mantra of discipline stresses the importance of certain intangibles.
“Golf is more about mental toughness,” he says. “Skill is a key component, for sure. But the most successful golfers have a burning desire not to lose. They find a way to get the job done when things aren’t going well.”
Current seniors Hudson Johnson and Chris Rockwell have been part of the four-year progression with Shaw.
Johnson is the team’s leader on the course, having already won two individual tournament championships in his Vanderbilt career – the 2008 Kauai Collegiate Cup and the 2008 Hummingbird Intercollegiate. He and sophomore Trey DelGreco both placed in the Top 10 of the recent Mobile Intercollegiate.
The Commodores are bolstered by freshmen Will Snipes (Dalton, Ga.) and Ryan Thornton (Chattanooga), along with redshirt sophomore Charlie Grace (Windermere, Fla.), a transfer from the University of Florida.
The team competes next in the Samford Intercollegiate tournament, March 8-9 in Oneonta, Ala. The resolve of this undermanned squad was demonstrated by their strong showing last weekend in Mobile. And their coach is taking note.
“We’re anticipating a great season,” says Shaw. “Team chemistry is at an all-time high. We’re a smaller team. One of our players is out with a wrist injury [junior Adam Hofmann], but we’re having other guys step up.”