New Golf Facility

[spiderstudent17]

With all the renovations going on, glad to see golf getting some attention. Our men’s and women’s team teams have done a great job the past few years and this can only help with recruiting.

In terms of non-revenue sports (sports other than football and basketball) I personally feel that lacrosse and golf should get particular focus when it comes to funding and facility enhancements. Richmond can build something special with those two sports.

http://richmondspiders.com/news/201...ctice-facility-at-independence-golf-club.aspx

Photos: https://spiderathletics.exposure.co...d-practice-facility-at-independence-golf-club

 

[32counter]

Giff Breed and Tim Finchem among others have elevated the golf programs very unselfishly.Hopefully,they will continue to be benevolent benefactors to UR due to the recent bull market.

AD John Hardt,take another bow.

 

[SpideRVA]

Baseball?

 

[Wood Hall]

Golf has absolutely no revenue upside. Baseball does. Golf never plays more than one home tournament. Baseball has 25-30 home games, right on campus.

Nobody pays attention to college golf. People do pay attention to college baseball.

With the amount of academic aid we can offer to augment a 1/2, 1/3 or 1/4 baseball scholarship, our program should be a consistent NCAA-tournament team, like Wake, Vandy, Coastal or even Stetson.

Baseball is one sport where a small, rich private school has a financial advantage over a big state school when it comes to scholarship aid available to prospective players.

 

[spider fan]

Great addition to our athletic profile. No doubt UR will be more attractive for those who want to play golf at the college level.

 

[KEG97]

I would love all UR sports to be successful, but I don't recall spending any afternoons basking in the sunshine watching a golf match. Baseball and Lacrosse should be the next tier emphasis for men's sports (after football/bball)

 

[spider fan]

Not sure any schools have legions of fans following their golfers around a golf course? The fact that our golf facilities are improving is a good thing. Lacrosse has a nice venue using Robins Stadium: a dedicated lacrosse facility would be nice but is probably unlikely at this point. Agree baseball facilities upgrades would be helpful.

 

[spiderstudent17]

Let me clarify my initial post. I don’t think we should diminish funding to other sports. I want UR to try and excel in all sports. The reason I said lacrosse and golf should have more emphasis on funding isn’t because of revenue. I was thinking along the lines of which of our sports can compete on a national level and aspire to win a national championship one day. I think lacrosse and then golf could be those sports. Lacrosse is a no brainer because we have been nationally ranked over the years, Chemotti is getting strong recruits, we already play and beat the big boys, and we have a lot of local interest with fans in attending the games. Lacrosse is a sport we can very much excel in and generate more publicity for our school. I also say golf, because it doesn’t take many people to turn this program around (need 2-3 recruits) like it would with soccer, field hockey, or baseball. Plus we have had a lot more recent success in golf to build off of, then other sports. We also have strong connections with Finchem and other prominent alumni who can bolster the program. If we think only in terms of generating revenue, no sports other than basketball and football realistically can get us a profit. And even those two sports may not make us a profit some years.

At the end of the day, we’re splitting hairs. I want all our sports to be successful and to help them with funding, facilities, etc. however, we don’t have P5 money and need to allocate wisely. It’s definitely a tough job to manage but Hardt is handling it very nicely so far in his tenure.

 

[Spiders05]

In the release, they mention having coaching offices and player lounge on-site. Schematics show a single floor structure with 3 hitting bays, a single stall bathroom and putting green. Anyone know where the other items may be found? Perhaps one of the other structures already onsite is being converted?

 

[LongTimeLurkerFirstTimePoster]

Golf has absolutely no revenue upside. Baseball does. Golf never plays more than one home tournament. Baseball has 25-30 home games, right on campus.

Nobody pays attention to college golf. People do pay attention to college baseball.

With the amount of academic aid we can offer to augment a 1/2, 1/3 or 1/4 baseball scholarship, our program should be a consistent NCAA-tournament team, like Wake, Vandy, Coastal or even Stetson.

Baseball is one sport where a small, rich private school has a financial advantage over a big state school when it comes to scholarship aid available to prospective players.

it is the direct opposite. Being a private school w/ a $60k price makes it difficult for us. Supposed you give a 50% scholarship to player, still need to come up w/ another $32,500 to pay, which is higher than any state school (in state rates) before schollie. And without fully funding the team, most likely not going to happen, that is the situation you get.

Revenue upside? What are you going to charge people to open up their folding chairs in the parking lot ?

 

[Wood Hall]

It is not the direct opposite. VERY FEW pay $60K a year to attend UR. With the generous academic aid available to almost every student (not so at most public universities) and a 1/2 to 1/4 athletic scholarship, UR can compete with anyone as far as providing a financial package to a prospective recruit.

Rice, Vandy, Stanford, TCU, Bryant, Wake and other private universities have used the same approach to funding baseball scholarships and have been very successful on the national level for many years. Stetson is just the newest member of the club. Yale has an excellent program, advanced to a regional final in 2017, and the Ivies aren't cheap.

Fully-funding the program is an entirely different kettle of fish. I'm hoping the new AD will realize what a gem our program could become, and address the chronic funding issues.

And with nominal facility improvements to the main grandstand, you could easily charge admission; even $5 a ticket would offset some program costs. Most people prefer to watch baseball from infield seats, not from 350 feet away in the outfield.

 

[SpiderVol]

Baseball upgrades are part of the Elevate campaign so they are going to happen its just a matter of when. Sometimes I'm not sure if the timing is a balance of funding and Title IX. We are making a lot of upgrades for football now so there might be some Title IX requirements that force the AD to spend other money on Female Only (new turf at Crenshaw field) or COED teams (tennis court upgrades). Sequencing to deal with athletic seasons also comes into play.

The Golf upgrades were not called out as part of Elevate campaign but may have come to fruition because of agreements made with Independence. We had our own facility over by Jefferson Lakeside that was donated in the mid-2000's. The school still owns the ~25 acre property, that includes a building similar to the one they are building at Independence, that has indoor and outdoor bays. It clearly didn't have same amenities that Independence has (18 hole championship course, 9 hole par 3 course, Clubhouse) and we had to maintain it ourselves which is probably a significant cost compared to our partnership with Independence.

When the teams moved to Independence a few years ago they always had locker rooms and coaches offices there. I'm not sure if they are renovating those or repurposing space there for them. But they have a huge clubhouse and 6 building in the back of the practice areas called the Sawyer Center. I know 4 of the building are lodging that they use for kids summer camps and 1 is a recreation type building that the kids use.

 

[spiderstudent17]

Good progress is being made

 

[spiderstudent17]

 

[spiderstudent17]

Video of the new golf facility and clubhouse. Looks very nice!




Photo Gallery: https://spiderathletics.exposure.co/spiders-golf-debuts-new-clubhouse-practice-facility

 

[SpiderFan]

Great facility, hopefully this ups the ante for recruits. I can't imagine it wouldn't. I was curious, so I tried looking it up online but only about 25 D1 schools have an on campus course.

 

[WebSpinner]

did we have to make it in w&m colors? let's face it when we say that we have revenue sports, that is stretching it a bit. we have sports which charge money for tickets, so revenue but come on, the vast majority of our athletic budget comes from the school not from selling tickets. to throw small, private, schools around which are in top five conferences is not a comparison, those schools have millions and millions of dollars of revenue from football, basketball, the conference, to spend which we do not.

 

[AnnapSpider]

I wonder if the retired head of the PGA may have helped out. Hmmmm?

 

[32counter]

I wonder if the retired head of the PGA may have helped out. Hmmmm?

Just Ref #2 above from July 26th.Tim is a Trustee Emeritus and Giff Breed’s bro is on the Board.Giff is the owner/operator of Independence CC.

 

[PASpider]

Golf has absolutely no revenue upside. Baseball does. Golf never plays more than one home tournament. Baseball has 25-30 home games, right on campus.

Nobody pays attention to college golf. People do pay attention to college baseball.

With the amount of academic aid we can offer to augment a 1/2, 1/3 or 1/4 baseball scholarship, our program should be a consistent NCAA-tournament team, like Wake, Vandy, Coastal or even Stetson.

Baseball is one sport where a small, rich private school has a financial advantage over a big state school when it comes to scholarship aid available to prospective players.

Agreed. Who cares about NCAA golf? Have students ever attended a tournament as spectators?

 

[32counter]

 

[grayjustin]

I am of the same opinion that UR should try and excel in all sports. Many things. It's one of the few sports that you can play by yourself and be just a competitive as if you are playing in a full-blown tournament or a handful of your favorite buds. You aren't necessarily playing against another person all of the time, you are playing against the course itself and you are playing to beat your handicap or personal best score. I typically shoot around 90, which means on an off day I can be over 100 still. But when I start out, my goal is to shoot better than 90. Once it's clear I'm going to achieve that, now I can change my goal to shoot better than my personal best and set a new personal best. I would recommend to all golfers to look at a nice forum windtreegolf.com/ where people talk only about golf.

 

[Wood Hall]

I am of the same opinion that UR should try and excel in all sports.

As do I. This is nice for the golf program. Now do something equally as impactful and meaningful for baseball.

 

[Sanderson43]

I think golf is a great game that is worth funding. It helps to distract yourself well, as well as to relax. I think this game deserves more than it has now ...