Junior Cristina Galban (left) watches junior Catherine Flores practice her swing Tuesday morning at the McAllen Country Club. Angel Ballesteros/THE RIDER
The UTRGV Women’s Golf Team began its spring season Feb. 5 in preparation for the Islander Classic scheduled Tuesday and Wednesday at the Corpus Christi Country Club.
Last year, the team finished second out of 15 in the Islander Classic and hopes to do well this year, too.
Head coach Bryan Novoa said the team has been working on its mentality.
“Getting really committed and getting more disciplined with our training, you know, creating better habits,” Novoa said.
Women’s golf junior Madi Ozuna said the team is familiar with the course.
“We played it last year,” Ozuna said. “The course, it’s really nice. It’s in Corpus, obviously. … We did play there last year at this tournament, so we are a bit familiar. I think creating a good strategy before we get there is going to be a key point to playing well for us.”
Asked how the team stays motivated, Ozuna replied Novoa is good at encouraging it.
“He always motivates us by identifying what we can improve on,” she said. “We try our best to not put ourselves down.”
Ozuna said the team loves the new 4,200-square-foot Vaqueros Golf Center at Champion Lakes Golf Course in McAllen.
The facility, which opened Jan. 24, includes locker rooms, office space, a study lounge, hitting bays and a nutrition station.
“We love our facility,” Ozuna said. “We just got hitting bays … our two bays towards the range. So, we’ve been utilizing those. We’ve been utilizing the space we have there for drills, meetings. The locker rooms are obviously a big plus being able to have our own stuff there.”
She said part of the technology is a device called a FlightScope.
“It, basically, is behind the ball and it allows us to track, like, our statistics, so our yardage, our swing speed, our club speed, spin rate and basically a bunch of other stuff that involves our swing,” Ozuna said.
Novoa said the team feels happy with the new facility.
“They have a home now, and they feel at home,” he said. “I believe we’re going to get a lot of great work done there and also, you know, build opportunities for the future of success for the program.”
Novoa said the hitting bays and technology is “incredible.”
Women’s golf senior Mercedes Vega said the new facility is great and that the new technology helps them be more competitive.
Vega said being a competitive person keeps her motivated.
“Just the fact that we get to compete with big schools,” she said. “I think that’s just a motivation for myself because I get to compete against big schools and great players.”
The senior said the course at the Islander Classic might be easier this year.
“I think it’s going to be in a different condition because last year, the course was a little bit tough because they renewed the course a year before,” Vega said. “So, I think this year is going to be, maybe, easier for us.”
Asked what goals he has, Novoa replied beyond trophies and winning, developing the players as humans is a major one.
“Creating a winning mindset to their own personal standards … having such a great perseverance and competitive mentality that there’s no option but succeeding and feeling accomplished through their own journey of competition,” he said. “Human growth is always the goal.”
