Great things lay down the fairway for the newly established UW-Platteville men’s golf team, thanks to a student’s desire to get back on the green to compete at a collegiate level.

Sean Snyder, freshman mechanical engineering major, started forming the men’s golf team, when the snow started melting this past spring.
The club will act as an extension off of the UW-P Golf Club and was formed for students to compete against other UW-P students.

“I knew a few other people on campus who were golfers, so I started talking to them about possibly finding some competition and competing as a team inter-collegiately, and they were really enthusiastic about the idea,” Snyder said.

For the past few months, Snyder has sent many e-mails communicating with different teams and potential players, and feels it’s all been well worth it. He’s very happy and appreciative of the contacts he has made through the process of getting this club started, such as Pete Reif, the Golf Pro at the Platteville Golf and Country Club.

“Right now we have 10 team members, and several others who have contacted me with interest,” Snyder said. “I have a lot of goals for the team, one being to host our own invitational down the line.”

Cody Sargent, mechanical engineering major, feels that hosting the invitational is a great goal.

“By hosting [the invitational] we will be taking further steps into solidifying our status with the other teams around the state which would open many more doors for us as a team, and would provide us with many more opportunities to play,” Sargent said.

Sargent has been playing golf since his grandfather bought him his first set of clubs when he was about 12.

“My best experience with the men’s golf team has been getting to go out and golf all the time with the great guys from the club, and a birdie on a par 5, 14th [hole] is always a good feeling,” Sargent said.

The club’s first event was April 9 at the Platteville Golf and Country Club against UW-Stevens Point. Although the team had not played competitively in quite some time, their scores competed very well with UW-SP, despite their loss at 347-387.

“Even though the match against Stevens Point didn’t end like we wanted it to, it was great to see the event happen,” freshman civil engineering student Hunter Waldschmidt said. “I think everyone was just happy to see the event take place.”

Membership for the men’s golf team is not limited in number, and both men and women are welcome to join, so students wishing to “par-take” in a fun, semi-competitive atmosphere are encouraged to contact Sean Snyder at snyderse@uwplatt.edu.