Michigan State University Athletics
Spartan Men's Golf Blog from The Topy Cup
9/8/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
The Michigan State men's golf team begins its 2009-10 season in Tanagura, Japan at the 2009 Topy Cup. While in Japan, the Spartan golfers will be checking back in with msuspartans.com about their experiences.
Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2009
Senior Jack Newman
Go Green!
Welcome ladies and gentlemen, and all sportsfans of MSU athletics....especially golf fans! We are over here in Japan, and this is an experience of a lifetime! I have almost gotten over the fact that I am unbelievably tired at 8:30 p.m. and am ready to start the day by 5 a.m., so my body clock is a little messed up but it's funny at the same time. All five of us are staying in the same room as that's how every teams sleeping arrangments are configured. We wake up every morning laughing at how crazy it is to be this awake each day that early. Anyways I can't wait to go to Tokyo Thursday night and spend all day Friday touring the town. The bullet train that we are going to take to Tokyo should be something special!
On a more important note, the team had its first round of the year yesterday and it wasn't the best but there were many aspects of our games that we can feel confident in. There is also many lessons that we learned yesterday and hopefully all the young guys and even me the lone senior can take and better our games for the rest of the fall.
I shot a 76 for the first round. Took a 10 on a par 5 because I tried playing a hero on a couple shots, I can't remember the last time I made a double digit score on a hole. I was 6-over for the first 9 and brought it back to 4, so even though our sleeping habits over here are all wacked out I am still playing some decent golf besides two holes. As long as today is better than yesterday, as coach says, we will be just fine! James our Froshy had a pretty good round to lead the team yesterday and a pretty good first collegiate round, so congrates to him!!! He is from Scotland, so if you ever run into him, ask him about William..... William Wallace of Scotland!!! hahah love it.
Go White!
Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2009
Sophomore Jimmy Dewling
This is my first time going across the United States border besides going to Canada as a child. It is a real culture shock being in another place were English is not the dominant language. Today our team was paired with two Japanese schools. It was different to say the least. Conversation was at a minimum and the hand signals were at a high. The course is very tight because of the sudden drop offs and dense woods that is marked as out of bounds. In the U.S. these areas are usually marked as hazard which makes it a little easier on the player. I look forward to competing and being apart of the Japanese culture the rest of the week. Go Green!
Sophomore Dan Ellis
Greetings from Tanagura, Japan! Japan is a lot different than the good old U.S.A. The roads, and cars, are half as wide as ours. There are trees right on the side of the road. Every car is square here. The food is also different. We had grilled octopus in two different forms for lunch during the practice round. It must be an acquired taste. The bathrooms are different, specifically the "showers". We are in a hotel room with five double beds in it also. Everything just seems to have its own special little twist to it. Coke comes in glass bottles. Water has flavor to it, which is quite good might I add. They drive on the left side of the road around here also, which was a weird thing to adjust to in itself. Even golf is different. Everyone has to carry a sand bag around and fill in their divots with it. There are jungle-like areas on the course that have snakes and spiders and all sorts of wildlife in them. Overall it is an experience of a lifetime, no matter the result in the Topy Cup.
Go Green, Go White
Freshman James Ross
Greetings from Tanagura, Japan. After a 12 hour flight from Chicago, the team arrived in Tokyo a "wee bit" jet-lagged but full of enthusiasm for the week ahead. All the guys went straight to bed on Sunday to rest for the practice round early Monday morning. The Japanese culture hit us all hard at breakfast when we were faced with sushi and rice at 7 a.m. - slightly different from the pancakes and waffles we are used to in the dorms! However nobody complained as the view looking over the course with the mountains in the background was stunning and made everyone all the more excited to play the course.
We all had a great time playing our practice round together, trying to work out the best ways to tackle this tricky layout. I had never played a course before with grain on the greens so straight away it was a different experience. One of the highlights of the day had to be seeing the look on Jack's face when he almost stepped on a 4 foot long snake in the woods - he got some fright!! The welcome dinner at night was another good experience and a great opportunity to meet other teams and have photoshoots with the Japanese girls!
I was really looking forward to my first round of college golf and the fact that it was in Japan made it all the more special. I hit the ball solidly enough but made a few too many silly errors - I'm sure everybody could say the same thing. Hopefully as a team we can eradicate them for the next two rounds and post a good finish in this fantastic tournament.
