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Photo by: Eric Miller
Winter Work Has Gophers Set Up for Success in Spring
2/5/2020 1:17:00 PM | Men's Golf
After 14 weeks off from competition, the Minnesota men's golf team is back in action this weekend at the Big Ten Match Play event in Florida. Before the team departs, head coach Justin Smith spoke with GopherSports.com. After talking about the team's performance in the fall in part one, Coach Smith discusses the team's preparation this winter and looks ahead to the spring schedule in part two today.
Gophersports.com: Coming off a strong team performance in the fall, what were some of the priorities going into the winter?
Head Coach Justin Smith: "There were three things that we highlighted with our team that if we do these things at this level we're going to play very deep into May and we're going to be an NCAA Finals team. Once you get to that point, you let them go and see where we go. Some of the teams I was on back in the day you can get in that environment and then cool things can really happen.
"But short putting -- putting within five feet -- was an area we highlighted; we've got a goal for a percentage each tournament we play. Then driving accuracy is something we emphasized; we were second-ranked in driving accuracy in the country for the stats we use. If we continue on that track we're going to be great. Then we emphasize embracing all the things you don't want to do: early morning workouts, standing there and working on your putting for an hour, two hours, three hours, being indoors consistently here, just being really disciplined with decisions. Things that aren't fun things to work on are the ones that really matter. The cool thing is we had men's basketball coach [Richard] Pitino come to practice last week, and we're going to have some other really influential people come to practice and really reiterate what their teams do and what the best athletes do in any sport. Our guys really learn from that. It's not all about driving the ball 310 [yards], although that helps. It's the little things we're really focusing on a lot. Just wanting to see our guys being really disciplined to keep going, jotting down notes, or really taking one day at a time and learning as much as we can. Then trusting the results will take care of themselves."
GS: Have you noticed anyone in particular putting in a lot of work for the spring?
JS: "All of them. It was a great testament to who they are, what their goals are, what they're chasing. I think it was the first winter in a long time where we had half our team out playing tournaments over winter break. There are a lot of amateur tournaments down south in California, Florida, wherever and they're all south working on their games at a time where I technically can't encourage them or set it up for them to do that. There's a sense of urgency because when I talk about this team being deep I think you're going to see some names in the lineup this spring who really worked their tails off and gotten better and there may be a little changing of the guard if some individuals are not paying attention to it a little bit. That alone is really going to hold them, some kids that have played pretty consistently over the course of their career, accountable. You get a Harrison Arnold, a Will Grevlos, a Gus Minkin who are doing some amazing things right now where these guys have been in and out of the lineup a little bit and then all of a sudden one of them gets hot and starts really putting it together. There are still only five spots, and we've got 10 guys. It's gonna be kind of competitive; it's going to be fun to see."
GS: Describe the strength and conditioning work the team has done.
JS: "We'll do three days a week, and one of those days is yoga. When you get into the season with practicing and competitions those hours shrink pretty quickly. Normally in the offseason, we do five to six hours, which is what we're allowed to do. When we're in season, which is now, we're at three [hours] but it's just a matter of working with a nutritionist. We're doing some things with Leadership U, and getting our team really understanding that these little things that really make a big difference in the end. You start putting them altogether some cool things are really going to happen. But strength and conditioning are always going to be a prominent part of our program. [Strength coach] Kristin Zdanczewicz does an amazing job; she connects well with our guys and they work hard."
GS: Do guys do things on their own, too?
JS: "I overheard at practice today that they had a workout this morning, or some of them did, but that's on their own. That's the level we're getting to. I don't know what that means for our ranking at the end of the year, but the fact of the matter is that this stuff has to happen for our ranking to get where we want to go. If we want to be a top-10 program in the country we've got to act like one and it's across the board. I tell these guys that's the way we recruit, so it's fun when you get that identity taking over your program it's a lot of fun."
GS: Moving on to the spring, what do you think of the schedule?
JS: "After we compete in the Big Ten Match Play, we have a pretty big break but we're going to do a training trip in between. February 20-23 we're going to go down to Arizona and spend some time down there doing what we have to do. Then we have spring break where we'll go back down there. That big chunk in the middle is always a big part of being focused, being driven. The way [assistant coach] Matt [Rachey] and I have set things of making sure these guys are going to be sharp with their games, we're ready for that break.
"Once we hit spring break, it's go time. We want to set our guys up in familiar situations as best we can when we don't have golf holes to play this time of year. We're going to Arizona's event, we're very familiar with the golf, the type of grasses down there. Then we go to Stanford's event, the same type of courses that are here in Minnesota. Then we start working back up here. We go to Purdue the second week [of April], the same type of courses. Iowa, we know that course very well. It should be very familiar. We obviously have a lot of work to do, a lot of challenges to make sure their game is ready to go and that's the thing as a coach you love as much as anything. We have some great fields, some great challenging golf courses; we'll be ready."
GS: Are you looking to anyone to perform at a big level this spring?
JS: "We were going through how our Big Ten Match Play lineups might shake out and I was saying I'd put our top six, seven guys up against anyone in our conference. I think we've got the best player in the conference [Angus Flanagan] and he's done a lot to prove that. We've got guys from two until seven that have the ability to beat anyone and prove themselves at that level. It's really fun to look at, especially with a match play lineup. It's the fun thing about competition and how these guys are going to continue to improve so they might not fall back to much.
"As far as who, a name who I've seen at practice is Harrison Arnold, he's someone to watch. A freshman from England, he's worked his tail off and he did a lot of good things in the fall. He played some individual events, he won that individual event over in Wisconsin, shot some great scores to do it. His drive, his passion to be great is so high, it's just a matter of time where once he gets in there he's not going to turn back from the lineup. That's what I've always thought of this year's freshman class. These two kids are very talented, very driven, they're great to be around, and it's going to help our team get better all the way top to bottom. It's going to push some of our other guys. I think it's consistency. If the Thomas Longbellas, the Evan Longs, I think Connor [Glynn] is the same way, Lincoln [Johnson], if these guys find consistency, play at that level, we can be as good as we want. We've got that at different times, but it's about whether we can bring that every week as we get into May."
GS: Are there any goals for the team this spring?
JS: "We identified three goals at the beginning of the fall. One was we wanted to win the Norman Borlaug Award in Academic Achievement and we just got nominated for that again. We're up against men's basketball so I'll have to get back at Coach Pitino a little bit there, have some fun with that. Second, they wanted to be in contention every tournament they played. Sometimes that changes, but we won a tournament in the fall. Winning a tournament is going to be high on their list as a team. Then they wanted to finish as the top-ranked Big Ten team at the end of the year. Right now we're fourth in the Big Ten, 14 spots away from the top Big Ten team that's ranked 40th. We can kind of control that with the schedule we have in front of us, where we play a lot of Big Ten teams, a lot of northern teams, play against some big southern teams. But I'm really focused on today, we've got practice this afternoon and we're focusing on what we're going to do and get them better than where they were yesterday."
Gophersports.com: Coming off a strong team performance in the fall, what were some of the priorities going into the winter?
Head Coach Justin Smith: "There were three things that we highlighted with our team that if we do these things at this level we're going to play very deep into May and we're going to be an NCAA Finals team. Once you get to that point, you let them go and see where we go. Some of the teams I was on back in the day you can get in that environment and then cool things can really happen.
"But short putting -- putting within five feet -- was an area we highlighted; we've got a goal for a percentage each tournament we play. Then driving accuracy is something we emphasized; we were second-ranked in driving accuracy in the country for the stats we use. If we continue on that track we're going to be great. Then we emphasize embracing all the things you don't want to do: early morning workouts, standing there and working on your putting for an hour, two hours, three hours, being indoors consistently here, just being really disciplined with decisions. Things that aren't fun things to work on are the ones that really matter. The cool thing is we had men's basketball coach [Richard] Pitino come to practice last week, and we're going to have some other really influential people come to practice and really reiterate what their teams do and what the best athletes do in any sport. Our guys really learn from that. It's not all about driving the ball 310 [yards], although that helps. It's the little things we're really focusing on a lot. Just wanting to see our guys being really disciplined to keep going, jotting down notes, or really taking one day at a time and learning as much as we can. Then trusting the results will take care of themselves."
GS: Have you noticed anyone in particular putting in a lot of work for the spring?
JS: "All of them. It was a great testament to who they are, what their goals are, what they're chasing. I think it was the first winter in a long time where we had half our team out playing tournaments over winter break. There are a lot of amateur tournaments down south in California, Florida, wherever and they're all south working on their games at a time where I technically can't encourage them or set it up for them to do that. There's a sense of urgency because when I talk about this team being deep I think you're going to see some names in the lineup this spring who really worked their tails off and gotten better and there may be a little changing of the guard if some individuals are not paying attention to it a little bit. That alone is really going to hold them, some kids that have played pretty consistently over the course of their career, accountable. You get a Harrison Arnold, a Will Grevlos, a Gus Minkin who are doing some amazing things right now where these guys have been in and out of the lineup a little bit and then all of a sudden one of them gets hot and starts really putting it together. There are still only five spots, and we've got 10 guys. It's gonna be kind of competitive; it's going to be fun to see."
GS: Describe the strength and conditioning work the team has done.
JS: "We'll do three days a week, and one of those days is yoga. When you get into the season with practicing and competitions those hours shrink pretty quickly. Normally in the offseason, we do five to six hours, which is what we're allowed to do. When we're in season, which is now, we're at three [hours] but it's just a matter of working with a nutritionist. We're doing some things with Leadership U, and getting our team really understanding that these little things that really make a big difference in the end. You start putting them altogether some cool things are really going to happen. But strength and conditioning are always going to be a prominent part of our program. [Strength coach] Kristin Zdanczewicz does an amazing job; she connects well with our guys and they work hard."
GS: Do guys do things on their own, too?
JS: "I overheard at practice today that they had a workout this morning, or some of them did, but that's on their own. That's the level we're getting to. I don't know what that means for our ranking at the end of the year, but the fact of the matter is that this stuff has to happen for our ranking to get where we want to go. If we want to be a top-10 program in the country we've got to act like one and it's across the board. I tell these guys that's the way we recruit, so it's fun when you get that identity taking over your program it's a lot of fun."
GS: Moving on to the spring, what do you think of the schedule?
JS: "After we compete in the Big Ten Match Play, we have a pretty big break but we're going to do a training trip in between. February 20-23 we're going to go down to Arizona and spend some time down there doing what we have to do. Then we have spring break where we'll go back down there. That big chunk in the middle is always a big part of being focused, being driven. The way [assistant coach] Matt [Rachey] and I have set things of making sure these guys are going to be sharp with their games, we're ready for that break.
"Once we hit spring break, it's go time. We want to set our guys up in familiar situations as best we can when we don't have golf holes to play this time of year. We're going to Arizona's event, we're very familiar with the golf, the type of grasses down there. Then we go to Stanford's event, the same type of courses that are here in Minnesota. Then we start working back up here. We go to Purdue the second week [of April], the same type of courses. Iowa, we know that course very well. It should be very familiar. We obviously have a lot of work to do, a lot of challenges to make sure their game is ready to go and that's the thing as a coach you love as much as anything. We have some great fields, some great challenging golf courses; we'll be ready."
GS: Are you looking to anyone to perform at a big level this spring?
JS: "We were going through how our Big Ten Match Play lineups might shake out and I was saying I'd put our top six, seven guys up against anyone in our conference. I think we've got the best player in the conference [Angus Flanagan] and he's done a lot to prove that. We've got guys from two until seven that have the ability to beat anyone and prove themselves at that level. It's really fun to look at, especially with a match play lineup. It's the fun thing about competition and how these guys are going to continue to improve so they might not fall back to much.
"As far as who, a name who I've seen at practice is Harrison Arnold, he's someone to watch. A freshman from England, he's worked his tail off and he did a lot of good things in the fall. He played some individual events, he won that individual event over in Wisconsin, shot some great scores to do it. His drive, his passion to be great is so high, it's just a matter of time where once he gets in there he's not going to turn back from the lineup. That's what I've always thought of this year's freshman class. These two kids are very talented, very driven, they're great to be around, and it's going to help our team get better all the way top to bottom. It's going to push some of our other guys. I think it's consistency. If the Thomas Longbellas, the Evan Longs, I think Connor [Glynn] is the same way, Lincoln [Johnson], if these guys find consistency, play at that level, we can be as good as we want. We've got that at different times, but it's about whether we can bring that every week as we get into May."
GS: Are there any goals for the team this spring?
JS: "We identified three goals at the beginning of the fall. One was we wanted to win the Norman Borlaug Award in Academic Achievement and we just got nominated for that again. We're up against men's basketball so I'll have to get back at Coach Pitino a little bit there, have some fun with that. Second, they wanted to be in contention every tournament they played. Sometimes that changes, but we won a tournament in the fall. Winning a tournament is going to be high on their list as a team. Then they wanted to finish as the top-ranked Big Ten team at the end of the year. Right now we're fourth in the Big Ten, 14 spots away from the top Big Ten team that's ranked 40th. We can kind of control that with the schedule we have in front of us, where we play a lot of Big Ten teams, a lot of northern teams, play against some big southern teams. But I'm really focused on today, we've got practice this afternoon and we're focusing on what we're going to do and get them better than where they were yesterday."
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