Ben Kleiner is a senior on the NYU men's golf team. He will share his thoughts in this space throughout the 2010-11 season.
Posted September 28
The Williams Invitational is always a great event. Taconic Golf Club is one of the best college courses in the country and makes for a very competitive test.
Our team faired okay this weekend, beating some of the teams we needed to and losing to some others. It was mostly a mixed event for us, with everyone playing well one day and bad the other. That is, except for Brandon.
Freshman Brandon Molnar has continued to impress, posting a two-round team low of 150 for the weekend. Junior captain Matt Riccio came through with a terrific round of 73 on Sunday, which came up huge in the face of poor play by the other three upperclassmen.
I think this was a turning point for the fall season, and I expect to see great play from here on out. The rest of us are just looking to build on the positives from this weekend and hopefully bring it all together next weekend in Rochester. The ECAC Championship will give us a chance to beat some of the teams we lost to earlier in the season. Hopefully, we can take advantage of this opportunity as our leeway in getting an invite to nationals is getting slimmer with each weekend.
Ben Kleiner is a senior on the NYU men's golf team. He will share his thoughts in this space throughout the 2010-11 season.
Posted September 20
This weekend was one to be forgotten for our team. It is hard to imagine a tournament going much worse for us than the one we just played. Not only were our scores some of the highest I’ve seen in my 3+ years on the NYU golf team, but we managed to lose to most of the teams we need to beat in order to make nationals. There is no question that we didn’t have our “A” game, but the tournament conditions were especially unfavorable as well.
Everyone struggled both rounds, except for Brandon Molnar who came in with a very solid 74 in round two. The first round’s high scores were mostly due to poor play on our part and a few questionable pin placements.
However, round two had many bad pin placements and a few which were blatantly unfair. In addition, the second round took over six hours to complete, making for an excruciating mental grind.
Obviously, every team had to deal with the tournament conditions, not just us. However, it really hurts us against the teams who normally would not be able to compete with us. Both of our first two events this season were on extremely short, poorly-designed golf courses. This allows marginal ball-strikers to hang in there against much better competition, as the premium on good shots is not there. Basically, we’ve been caught in putting contests with these teams, and this week many of them ended up beating us. I believe this is mainly a function of the ridiculous nature of the greens and hole-locations this week, as skillful putting was not going to be rewarded either. As a result, the conditions leveled the field and mostly penalized the better players. Skidmore, a consistent winner in Division III events and one of the best teams in the country, finished in a tie for fourth place, which I think says a lot about the tournament.
I think we are all looking forward to the Williams Invitational next week, which features a great golf course that will finally separate the men from the boys. We won’t think too much of this weekend and will focus our efforts on putting together a great finish at Williams.
Ben Kleiner is a senior on the NYU men's golf team. He will share his thoughts in this space throughout the 2010-11 season.
Posted September 15
Our first tournament of the season wasn’t bad. Brandon Molnar, in his first collegiate event, put together a great tournament which was the highlight of the weekend. His scores of 73-74 came up huge in the face of lackluster performance from some of the upperclassmen. We were able to hold it together well enough to place in the top five. However, a successful event would have been a second-place finish to the Division I Canadian team from Waterloo.
After day one we were right where we needed to be. 300 was our benchmark for this course and we were right on it. We were also in second place (first among American teams) and going into the second round with a head start against the teams we needed to beat. David Su and Brandon led the way with 72 and 73, respectively, while Scott Dow came in with a respectable 77 and I added a 78 after struggling around the greens.
In the second round, Brandon came back with another strong round of 74, while the rest of us had a tough day. David and Scott both had 78’s, I had a 79, and Matt Riccio had an 80. On a course as short and forgiving as St. Lawrence, these scores are not where our team was looking to be. As a result, we were passed by St. John Fisher College and by St. Lawrence.
Overall, it was not a bad start to the season. Brandon’s performance is certainly encouraging going forward and could be a major boost to the team. I think the rest of us built some confidence this weekend knowing that we are close to performing at our best. It’s just a matter of continuing to work hard in practice and above all being patient.
Personally, this weekend was pretty frustrating. I feel like my ball-striking is as good as it has ever been and I’ve found a lot of consistency tee to green. Especially with respect to driving accuracy, I hit the ball far too well to come in with the scores that I did. My short game really killed me as I had a tough time around the greens. It seemed to me that the greens at St. Lawrence were especially undulating and the hole locations were in very unforgiving spots. I think this made it that much harder to regain confidence on the green after a tough start. However, I won’t be taking any of those thoughts with me for the rest of the season and will focus on making putts this week in practice. Putting is especially mental and confidence is absolutely critical. I’ll spend a lot of time sinking short putts this week just to see the ball going in the hole.
Ben Kleiner is a senior on the NYU men's golf team. He will share his thoughts in this space throughout the 2010-11 season.
Posted September 3
After winning the UAA Championship last season and being overlooked for an NCAA invite, our goal this season is very well defined. Personally, the drive to play in the national tournament is stronger this year than ever as it is my last season.
We’re returning this year having lost only one player, Mike Leibfried. While most of our championship squad is back this season with more experience, Mike will be greatly missed. As evidenced by his name all over the records board in Coles, he was one of the most prolific golfers in NYU history and he leaves very large shoes to be filled.
On that note, we’re taking on a very new look with five incoming freshmen joining the team at the start of this season. It will make for a great mix of very experienced upperclassmen and first-time collegiate players. As a senior, I’m looking forward to helping out the new guys and sharing my three years of experience with them. Going away each weekend to play 36-hole tournaments is a big difference from high school and requires a lot more focus. Hopefully the upperclassmen can have a positive impact on the freshmen and get them up to speed with the routine.
We just started practice this Wednesday and it has been exciting to see what the new players can do on the course. We will definitely be relying on their contributions this season and expect a lot from them. Our returners are looking sharp so far, which isn’t always easy coming off the summer. With seven practice rounds and two range sessions as a team before our first tournament (next Saturday and Sunday at St. Lawrence), we will all have plenty of time to get in competitive shape.
Usually the biggest challenge at the start of the season is being mentally prepared for tournaments. To get ready for St. Lawrence, we will be competing amongst ourselves in practice and trying to simulate a tournament environment as much as possible.
