The Gustavus Women’s Golf team is off to a great start, placing 1st at the Eau Claire Invite and 3rd at the Saint Benedict Invite. This past weekend, the ladies finished 5th out of 17 teams at the Carleton Invitational.
Sophomore McKenzie Swenson, a Health Fitness major, deserves much praise for her excellent performances the past three tournaments. Swenson took medalist honors scoring 156 in Eau Claire.
Swenson is from Buffalo, Minnesota. She attended Benilde-St. Margaret’s School in Saint Louis Park. She started golf when she was eight years old, and has since then fallen in love with the sport.
“Golf is just different from any other sport. I played hockey when I was three up until senior year of high school, but I chose golf because it just felt right and I could play golf all my life. I feel like I can always better myself,” Swenson said.
Swenson averaged around the mid 160s last season, and this season so far has improved consistently at 10 points less.
“McKenzie [Swenson] has been off to a great start, she made some nice changes over the summer to help her be more consistent,” Coach Scott Moe said.
Swenson believes her skills have improved because of her mental game.
“I’ve been working on my mental game. It’s good for when you get down and you’re not doing well—you gotta get back up, play well, and don’t give up. I’ve been doing a good job with that this year,” Swenson said.
Since the Drenttel Golf Facility opened back in December, it has improved the team physically, and team-bonding and chemistry building has enhanced.
“Golf is just different from any other sport. I played hockey when I was three up until senior year of high school, but I chose golf because it just felt right and I could play golf all my life. I feel like I can always better myself.”
—McKenzie Swenson
“As a team, we are more connected. We have definitely been putting more time in practices. We just work on the little things,” Swenson said.
The golf team gets an upper hand with the Drenttel Golf Facility. It being indoors; they get to use it when Minnesota’s unpredictable weather doesn’t cooperate. This facility avoids canceling practices, and allows for year round practicing.
“The addition of the Drenttel Golf Facility has made a big difference in our performance, but is also a great recruiting tool. There is not another facility like it in Division III,” Moe said.
A first-year student who has been taking advantage of the golf facility is Ellie Brandt. Brandt plans on majoring in Economics and Management, and is involved in Gustavus Women in Leadership.
She’s from Medina, Minnesota, and attended Wayzata High School.
Her first tournament held at Saint Benedict, she ranked 9 of 75, scoring 158. Her talent cannot go unrecognized, she’s only a first-year showing promising skills.
“Practice is the best thing if you want to be consistent and successful. Also, being patient on the course and not letting one bad shot turn into more is really important if you want to put a good score together. Golf has been something that I have been working on for a long time and found really rewarding,” Brandt said.
Brandt goes by the saying, “If you never try, you’ll never know.” It’s probably why she has been open-minded in improving her skills.
“She’s a talented freshman, and could put up good numbers,” Coach Moe said.
“I’m really glad to see Ellie doing well and fitting in with the team well, the first-years are showing excellent potential,” Swenson said.
This season the Women’s golf team is fairly young, filled with mostly sophomores and first-years. This is an advantage, along with the Drenttel Golf Facility being open for the golfers.
“The players are great ambassadors of Gustavus, great student athletes, and just to be around them everyday and watching them improve and have the desire to improve is what I enjoy the most,” Coach Moe said.
It’s an exciting start of a season for the Women’s Golf team. The next tournament is this weekend, Sept. 26-27 held in Hastings, MN. Good luck to the ladies, and support your fellow Gusties!