Starting next fall, the Hillsdale Chargers will look to dominate the NCAA’s division II golf league.
The push to reinstate a golf team at Hillsdale came in the form of an endowment. The donor, lifelong golfer Dawn Potter, is not an unfamiliar face to the college: in April 2013, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Public Service from Hillsdale.
“The college is thrilled to be able to offer a men’s golf program,” Director of Athletics Don Brubacher said. “It’s a blessing that this donor has stepped up and given us resources to offer the program to Hillsdale students.”
Chief Staff Officer Mike Harner will be the head coach of the new team and Samuel Webster, associate professor of mathematics, will be the assistant coach.
“I’m exceptionally happy about the reinstatement,” Harner said. “It’s a sport that we have competed well in in the past and to have the opportunity to do so again is a great thing.”
When Harner attended Hillsdale 30 years ago, he was a member of the golf team. By the time he came back to work for the college, the team no longer existed on campus. It was disbanded in 2004 along with other sports because of “financial pressures for the college and the athletic department,” Brubacher said.
However, Harner’s love for the game compelled him to sign on as the faculty advisor for the Hillsdale men’s golf club when it was formed two years ago. Harner also started teaching the golf classes offered on campus this year.
“Any student here with at least some interest in learning about golf should take the class in the time frame that he’s teaching it because you’ll learn an extraordinary amount about the game,” Brubacher said. “I’ve watched the work he’s done with the class and it’s really exciting.”
Harner has already started recruiting incoming freshmen for the team and said that some of the club members will transfer to the varsity team.
In terms of recruiting, Brubacher said they are “finding there are a lot of quality golfers who fit with Hillsdale’s standards.”
The team will consist of about eight to ten guys, five of whom will travel for tournaments.
President of the golf club junior Matthew Chalberg, who will play on the varsity team next year, said that the club’s goals for this year are to improve their scores and to run practices and tournaments as if they were a varsity sport to allow for an easy transition next year.
The club currently looks forward to two tournaments this fall, as well as two in the spring.
Chalberg said the best thing about the reinstatement is that it will give him and his teammates a chance to play more consistently.
“I’m really looking forward to it. Harner mentioned we are going to have something like 21 playing days between 12 tournaments,” Chalberg said.
Brubacher said he is excited to be able to provide the avid golfers on campus the opportunity to play more competitively.
Brad Monastiere, sports information director, said that he hopes golf will follow the same pattern as the women’s tennis team, which was the last sport added at the college.
“Tennis is a great template for the golf program. We brought in student-athletes that have become leaders on campus and helped us be successful in that sport,” Monastiere said. “It’ll just make the athletic department better, just as tennis has made the athletic department better.”
