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Dartmouth College Women's Golf Team.
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COLLEGE CORNER
By Libby Hooton
My sister and I fell madly in love with the spring pick for our college corner. This crown jewel makes green everyone’s Favorite color...
Dartmouth, a private, four-year liberal arts institution, has been at the forefront of American higher education since 1769. It is perennially ranked in the top ten of the nation’s best universities. Dartmouth College is the ninth oldest university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Located in Hanover, a town of 11,000 in western New Hampshire (bordering Vermont on the Connecticut River), Dartmouth's 269-acre main campus features a central Green (a large, square park or common) with academic buildings clustered on three sides.
Dartmouth College has an excellent undergraduate program, small enough to ensure the intimacy of a classic liberal arts education, with instruction provided by faculty members committed to undergraduate teaching. However, this program provides faculty depth and curricular breadth of a kind typically found only at larger research universities.
Nicknamed "The Big Green," Dartmouth's varsity athletic teams compete in NCAA Division 1 as well as in the eight-member Ivy League conference and the ECAC (Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference). The golf team makes its home at Hanover Country Club, host of a beautiful course is so close students either walk or ride their bikes down to it. It is Dartmouth College's oldest existing recreational and athletic facility (see sidebar). The Women’s Golf Team has a solid track record of shooting consistently in the low 80’s... and having fun doing it.
We had the amazing opportunity to spend two days on campus, speaking with four members of the golf team: Elizabeth Dupuy, Katharine Gulemi, Tory Sheppard, and Lauren Strickler as well as with Coach Gibson. They were so candid and forthcoming; read on and surely you will be “green with envy” like we were!
Libby: What is a typical day like as a member of the golf team?
Elizabeth: During the season, we usually have tournaments on the weekends. We travel on Thursdays. We play the practice round on Friday, and the tournament rounds are on Saturday and Sunday. We get back pretty late on Sunday night. So, we usually have Mondays off. It’s an NCAA rule, but we also need that for reasons of sanity. From Tuesday to Wednesday, we practice in the afternoon. We also work out in the gym twice per week and do yoga once per week.
Libby: Do you think the small town atmosphere of Hanover is conducive to a positive college experience?
Tory: I think so. The people in the community are here because of Dartmouth. It’s great to have all of that support focused on the students.
Lauren: I think so, too. I came from a large high school in a Chicago city. I wanted a smaller town experience for college. It’s been great. When you are here, it sometimes doesn’t feel like you are in a small town. There is so much to do, and we are always so busy classes, extracurricular pursuits and golf.
Katie: I’ve only been here for a month and a half, and I absolutely love it. I can’t imagine going anywhere else. Every freshman goes on a DOC. You go on all sorts of different trips or hikes with members of your class before school starts. There is hiking, rafting, and all sorts of things. For me, I wasn’t leaving home, I was going to college. There are all sorts of surprises. There is so much going on that you don’t have a chance to get home sick.
Libby: Has college improved your game or has it been more difficult to find time to practice?
Elizabeth: I think that I’ve improved my game in new areas. Mentally, I’m much better than I was. You really have to plan and prioritize your time. If you have a test tomorrow, you’re probably going to have to skip hitting balls today. When you’re in the library, you can’t goof around.
Lauren: I think what has changed is my ability to believe that I can shoot consistently good scores and knowing how to score even if I am not hitting the ball all that well. They aren’t pictures on the score card. That’s probably the biggest difference. In high school, I was always thinking that I had to do well. Now I just think, “Go out and have fun.”
Katie: Definitely. The courses are harder that what I played on in high school. I had mainly played nine-hole tournaments before coming here. These are 18 holes, and we play three rounds including the practice rounds. The length is 6,000 yards vs. 5,500 yards. Some holes you are using a five wood vs. a seven iron to get to the green. So, the mental part of my game has really improved.
Libby: With the cold weather, how do you practice?
Katie: The key is get really good under armor (laughs). Actually, our season ends pretty early in the school year. In September, I had just finished my pre-school DOC trip, and they picked me up from the lodge to come straight to practice. For those five weeks, we essentially practiced and played every day. We’ve played when it’s pretty chilly, but since this is my first year, I haven’t experienced any really cold situations yet.
Lauren: When it’s really cold, we practice inside in our field house and we play with the Cayman balls. I’m from Ohio so I’m used to not being able to play in the winter. Some of the players who come from California have had to make adjustments. We also work out with a trainer.
Libby: How do you balance the really challenging academics here with the requirements of the team?
Katie: That’s a really good question because we actually do miss some classes in the beginning. We’ve missed some Friday classes and you can’t really work on the week-ends to make up for that. We really have to stay ahead of your work and really focus on time management. I try to take advantage of meeting with the professor during his office hours. Because we are on a ten-week term, when we miss a class, we miss a lot of material. We need to be proactive. If we need help, we need to schedule time with the teacher. The classes aren’t huge, but there may be as many as 70 students in a class, so we need to go out of our way to get to know the professors or they may never really know us. We also have to focus on parts of our lives that we never did before, like doing our laundry or taking time to talk to our parents. We also have to know when to say no. I really wanted to play club volleyball, but I just couldn’t fit it in due to the time constraints.
Tory: At Dartmouth, we balance academics and athletics very well. It works out nicely because most of our season is completed by the time school starts. I have only missed two days of school this semester. I have heard that at the scholarship schools, they can miss 10 or more days per semester. That would be very hard to do here. We also have a short spring season that happens during our spring break, so we’ll only miss two or three days of classes. Right now, we are still working out together, and we still have time to focus on academics.
Libby: So, it’s academics first and sports second?
Tory: Yes, I would say so. I also spend a good deal of my time with research and other academically oriented activities. The priority for these things is also very high.
Libby: Has being on the team allowed you unique experiences to meet new friends?
Elizabeth: Oh most definitely! My best friends are my teammates. I don’t think my college experience would be nearly as good without them. I also think being on the team allows me exposure to other student athletes. There are lots of opportunities for various teams to do things together.
Tory: Yes, I am really good friends with the other members of the team. When I was a freshman, I arrived before other freshmen (since the season starts so early), and I got to know people on our team as well as members of other teams that were here. We like to hang out together and do things... like watch Grey’s Anatomy together. Everyone here seems to work well with each other.
Lauren: Yes. When I first came here, I didn’t know anyone. It was really easy to develop great friendships with my teammates. What’s also nice is that Dartmouth is the type of school that makes it easy to make good friends outside of the golf team, as well. I feel like I have a lot of different friends at Dartmouth.
Libby: What have been some of your most memorable moments with the golf team?
Tory: One of the most memorable moments was our trip to San Diego for spring break. It was amazing because we got to play all these wonderful courses for free because certain alumni had connections. We went to beach. We went running outside and generally got to hang out together during the day and night. It was a great opportunity to get to know my teammates and get away from the cold weather.
Lauren: The spring break trips have been a lot of fun. My freshman year we went to San Diego and last year we went to Florida. We are together for at least 10 days. We’re coming out of winter, and it’s great to get back out there. But sometimes, I think the van rides together are the most fun. We all get along so well.
Libby: What do you think differentiates the Dartmouth golf team from other teams?
Elizabeth: Dartmouth itself is a very special school. Academically, I think the regimen is as rigorous as any. Socially, it is a very special place because of its rural setting. It’s just a great place to go to college. It’s very safe and the town is so quaint and cute. On the golf side, we have our own course right next to the school which is really convenient. All of the girls on the team really get along well. The coach is great. He’s very supportive and helpful. When you take all of this into account, it is pretty awesome.
Tory: What makes us special is that we aren’t playing because it helps to fund our tuition. We are here because we love the game. We really enjoy our time on the course. It’s really nice that we have a golf course right on campus. We are also a relatively small team so we are very tight unit. Because we are smaller, our program allows almost everyone to compete and play in tournaments.
Coach Gibson was so open and fun to interview. It is obvious why the women on the team respect his leadership so much.
Libby: How are things going so far this year?
Coach Gibson: Well, we played five straight tournaments. The reason for that is because we are on what is called the “D” plan. We have four ten-week terms, and students are required to attend the summer term between sophomore and junior year. When that term is finished, there is a three week break so we didn’t start classes this year until September 24. So, I brought the team in on September 5th. We had three tournaments before school started and played two more during the first two weeks of school. So basically, we only missed two Fridays before mid-terms. This also allows the players to participate in some of the other aspects of the college life, such as the sorority rush.
Libby: How do you find your players?
Coach Gibson: I look a little bit at the Junior Golf Scoreboard. A lot of schools really look at programs like the AJGA, but for our purposes, experience on their tour is not critical. I look at other things. For example, I have a freshman right now who played three varsity sports in high school. I look for a good athlete and a good golfer who will fit into our program.
Libby: What are your most memorable moments as the coach of the Dartmouth Women’s Golf Team?
Coach Gibson: Well, it’s all the moments with the many great people we have on the team. I often keep in touch with many of the graduates.
Libby: Any last comments?
Coach Gibson: When you come to Dartmouth, you come here for the education. The success of the sports program is really gravy on top of that.
THE BASICS
Founded: 1769
Type: Four-year private, liberal arts
Affiliation: Ivy League
Students: Approximately 4,100 undergraduate; 1,600 graduate
Divisions: Undergraduate college with 29 departments and 10 interdisciplinary programs; Graduate Schools of Arts and Sciences, Medicine, Engineering, and Business
Motto: Vox clamantis in deserto - "A voice crying out in the wilderness"
Academic calendar: Year-round, four-term
Three-quarters of Dartmouth undergraduates participate in some form of http://dartmouthsports.com.
There are:
34 intercollegiate varsity sports - 16 women's, 16 men's,
two co-ed
17 club sports
24 intramural sports
CAYMAN BALL
A Cayman Ball flies about half the distance of a conventional golf ball and allows for a course one-third the normal size. The Cayman ball has a hard plastic shell with pimples rather than dimples. The bumps on the ball help create wind resistance. A drive will go 100-150 yards. The balls were designed by Jack Nicklaus for a resort golf course he was designing in the Cayman Islands that had limited acreage.
DARTMOUTH OUTING CLUB
The Dartmouth Outing Club is the oldest and largest collegiate outing club in the country. Anyone - member or not — may stay at their www.dartmouth.edu/~doc/cabins cabins, go on their www.dartmouth.edu/~doc/activities trips, rent their www.dartmouth.edu/~doc/rentals gear, and take their www.dartmouth.edu/~doc/classes classes!
ABOUT THE HANOVER COUNTRY CLUB
"The links is admired by everybody who plays upon it, affording a variety of hazards, sufficiently irregular ground to make progress fascinating, and an elevation which gives a bracing air and charming scenery."
-The Boston Sunday Herald, September 3, 1899
THE "BIG GREEN" NICKNAME
The first Dartmouth College intercollegiate athletic contest, a baseball game, was played in 1866. At that time, green was adopted by the students as the college color. Green has been associated with the College and its athletic teams ever since.
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