Sarah Good
The men’s golf club will become an official team during the 2013-14 academic year.
For the first time in the history of Eastern Nazarene College, students were sent to represent our school in the sport of golf. Yes … golf.
Nobody was expecting the next NCAA golf champions out of this group of men. Regarding the level of success the team saw, freshman Drew Sansing (Marshfield, Maine) said, “We improved each time we went out,” which is usually the goal of any new team starting from scratch.
The squad was composed of five guys, with each class being represented at least once. The first ever ENC men’s golf team consisted of senior and Student Body President Payne Ford (Perryville, Md.), junior Josh Whitney (Twinsburg, Ohio), sophomore Jake Johnson (Mount Bethel, Pa.), freshman Will Campbell (Anchorage, Alaska), and Sansing. The team was coached by head men’s basketball coach Jim Aller for the spring, but Dan Visser, who is also the men’s soccer coach, will take over when the club becomes an actual team next year.
The team competed in three tournaments during this inaugural season. They played at the Hampton Inn Invitational hosted by UMass-Dartmouth, the Western New England Invitational, and the Rick Korzec Memorial Invitational at Worcester State University.
After spending the year in club status, golf will become a varsity sport beginning next season. Coach Visser plans to add to the team by recruiting one or two more players.