Aug. 9, 2007
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame women’s golf team has received some high marks in the September 2007 issue of Golf Digest magazine. The Irish are slotted 11th in the golf balanced rankings and 21st in the golf first rankings.
The article ranks colleges and universities in four significant ways differing from playing polls:
1. The Golf Digest rankings examine the entire school and the opportunity it affords a student-athlete.
2. They measure beyond an individual season.
3. They are designed to make student-athletes better aware of the choices available when researching schools.
4. They place all three NCAA divisions on equal footing because most students research colleges in multiple divisions.
The system of mathematical computation designed by Golf Digest believes that their rankings (golf first and balanced) will help golfers in the future make decisions to attend schools that best fit them as a student and golfer.
After laying out this foundation of the rankings, Golf Digest uses five critical areas to focus on for the ranking system: (1) team adjusted scoring average (2) player growth (3) academics (4) climate (5) facilities/coaches.
In the golf first rankings and the golf balanced rankings, Notre Dame finished in the top-10 percent in the categories of academics & facilities/coaches. In addition, the Irish finished in the top-20 percent in team adjusted scoring averages.
The Irish enjoy some of the top facilities in the nation. In September of 2006, Notre Dame opened the state-of-the-art Robert and Marilyn Rolfs Family All-Season Varsity Golf Facility. The facility houses both the men’s and women’s coaching staffs and has separate locker rooms for both squads. It features a 5,000-square foot indoor short game area, that includes a putting green, chip and pitch area along with a practice bunker that allows the student-athletes the ability to practice their short game year-round on campus.
One of the nicest elements of the facility are the six hitting stations that are located within the building that lead out to the Warren Golf Course driving range, allowing players to work on their swings in all weather conditions. Incorporated within the stations is state-of-the-art video equipment to give players and coaches instant feedback on players’ swing techniques.
The Warren Golf Course, which is located just north of the Notre Dame campus, serves as the home course for the Irish and is rated among the top college and public golf courses nationally. Notre Dame has reaped the benefits of these fine facilities as the Irish established a program-record stroke average of 305.46 during the 2006-07 season under first-year head coach Susan Holt.
To review the Golf Digest rankings in more detail here is the web address: http://www.golfdigest.com/rankings/2007/collegeguide
–ND–