Men's Golf News
Golf Teams Complete Winter Training in Orlando, Florida
The men's and women's golf team at Centre College recently completed a training trip at three premier courses in Orlando, Florida, between winter and spring terms. This is the fourth year the team's have traveled to Florida as guests of Centre alumnus Jim English ('64) in preparation for the spring season.
English is picture below with senior men's captains Derek Tingle (Louisville, Ky.) and Rus Whalen (Georgetown, Ky.).
 Coming off superb finishes from the fall campaign, both Centre's men's and women's golf teams take their national rankings into the spring season with high hopes for SCAC and NCAA play. The men's team is ranked in the top 15 and while the women's team is ranked among the nation's top 30 NCAA Division III teams.
Both Colonel teams, accompanied by Director of Golf Brian Chafin and PGA Professional Bruce Brown, traveled to the Orlando area and played five days at premier courses Isleworth Golf & Country Club (home of PGA Professionals Tiger Woods, Mark O'Meara, J.B. Holmes, and Arnold Palmer), Alaqua Country Club, and Heathrow Country Club. Alumnus English, the namesake of the Colonels' Fall Invitational, has been instrumental in making this trip a possibility for the student-athletes and the Centre players are certainly thankful for his assistance and friendship. 
Men's captains Tingle and Whalen commented about the qualities of this trip. Said Tingle, "Jim is a great guy and really takes care of us while we're down there. He even rides the entire 18 holes with us at Isleworth to share his local knowledge of the course and help us improve." Whalen agrees, "This trip certainly wets the golfing whistle and we all appreciate Jim and our coaches for making it possible. And it very quickly lets us know where we need to focus coming into the spring season."
Women's captain, senior Melanie Goff (Bowling Green, Ky.), was the only woman on the team her freshman year. Since then, she has seen the team grow in numbers and talent and credits this annual training trip as a reason. "Our winter practice in Florida allows us to see which areas of our game need focus. From there, we can organize our practices so that every player strengthens their weaknesses to better achieve our goals."
Both teams have lofty goals this season. The men hope to win an SCAC title and earn a trip to their first NCAA tournament in over a decade. That is not an easy goal however, considering the SCAC is the nation's strongest conference among NCAA Division III institutions. Oglethorpe University is currently ranked #1 nationally and Rhodes College is ranked 4th. The Colonels are ranked #14.
The women's team is seeking to continue its meteoric rise in both the conference and nationally, as they work to close the gap between themselves and conference foes DePauw University and Southwestern University - both of which finished in the top four at the 2006-07 NCAA Championships.
 With their training trip complete now, the Colonels are excited to get onto their two practices courses in Danville and start competing. The first event for both teams occurs over Spring Break at the Hard Labor Golf Club in Rutledge, Georgia. The March 17-18 event is hosted by Piedmont College.
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