The Williams Men's Golf Team is one of the most successful Division III golf programs in the country. The team has made the 23-team NCAA Tournament field 9 of the last 11 years, with its best finish a 10th place showing in 1999. Roster size generally ranges from 10-14 players whose golf games range from scratch to 3 or 4 handicaps. Certainly one of the best perks of making the team is enjoying unlimited playing and practicing privileges at the beautiful Taconic Golf Club.
Recent Notable Events:
"The 289": Playing in the season-ending District Shootout event at Taconic in late April, 2005, the Ephs needed a great finish to ensure an invitation to the NCAA field. After a score of 304 on Saturday to put them in 3rd place, on Sunday the team lapped the field with the best single-round score in Williams Golf history - a 289. Leading the way was junior captain Matt Slovitt, who ran off a string of birdies, including four straight culminating on the 11th hole where he found himself 6-under par. Matt finished the day at 1-under par 70. Sophomore Kevin Kellert finished the front nine with a 33, and was shocked to hear that 3-under wasn't even good enough to be best on the team at that point! Kevin finished with an even-par 71. Freshman phenom Nick Ryder played a consistent round of golf, ending with a birdie on 18 for an even-par 71 to share tournament medalist honors with Slovitt. Junior Will Sirignano rounded out the scoring with a solid 77, making the team total an eye-popping 289 and cementing Williams a spot in Orlando at Nationals.
"The 13-putt": The headline of the article following the tournament was "Ephs Fall Victim to Bizarre Course Set-up @ ECAC Championship." However, it was certainly freshman Alex Mallory that bore the brunt of the bizarre course set-up. The 10th hole at Saratoga Spa golf course is an short, overly narrow par four that ends with the most severe green on the course - a two-tiered surface pitching sharply from back to front. In an ridiculous and controversial decision, on this day the pin was cut almost right into the tier, making it virtually impossible to keep any ball near the hole. With many players struggling to find the elusive hole, backups on the tee reached 5 group waits. After hitting the green in regulation 2 strokes, Alex proceeded to 13-putt the green for a 15 on the hole. The remaining members of the team four and five-putted, as 3 foot missed putts ended up 30 or more feet away. Certain that this unfair situation would be turned into an automatic 2-putt (as the fourth green was on this day), Alex went on to post a fine 1-over par performance for the other 17 of his holes. However, the tournament director apparently did not see a big enough issue and chose to let the scores stand. Enraged Williams coach Rick Pohle refused to stay for the tournament conclusion and wrote numerous official complaint letters to throw the tournament results out. The effort went unrewarded, and the team's drop from 2nd or 3rd to 9th place in the ECAC championship because of the hole location was a large factor in missing Nationals at the end of the year.
The varsity men's golf team is a collection of individuals who were good at golf in high school and now are relatively better at drinking than golf, with the obvious exception of Kevin Kellert '07 - until his display of funneling beers on October 29, 2005. The team enjoys weekly trips to the Old Forge Restaurant, Bob Seger, and Lapdog. The team practices on the wonderful Taconic Golf Course. Every Spring Break, the golf team goes to Florida to improve their golf and beirut skills. Detailed statistics for golf (fairways, greens in regulation, putts, sand saves, and penalty strokes) and beirut (cups hit, wal-marts, quotes) are recorded. Golf skill and beirut skill do not tend to overlap. As one increases the other, as sad as it may be, declines. An inverse relationship per se, or whatever.