The Augustana women’s golf team is gearing up for their spring season. They have resumed normal practices after the off season between their fall and spring seasons, and the team is ready and excited. The women’s team had their conference in the fall season, so spring will consist of invitationals and tournaments.
Senior captain Korina Friedag is excited to start playing again and for the potential that she feels her final season has.
“I’m super excited and I think we have a lot to look forward to. We have continually been showing a lot of improvement since I came in as a freshman, so it’s really exciting when a new season starts to see how we can continue to improve,” Friedag said.
The success of the team and the constant improvement was thanks in part to individuals such as freshman Melanie Loeffler, who broke the school record last fall for the lowest scoring individual round at the Highland Classic.
“I am very excited for my spring season since my fall ended very well. I have been practicing so hard over the winter to keep my game up. I feel very confident going into the tournament this weekend,” Loeffler said.
After finishing fifth in the CCIW conference, the team had the winter season to take a break and work on skills in captains’ practices. However, this is the first year with their new indoor facility in Carver. This facility allowed the team to get real valuable practice in when they couldn’t be outside, something that was lacking in previous years.
“This year we just got a new indoor facility in Carver. Thats been really helpful and really exciting to have,” Friedag said  “[In previous years] we didn’t get to practice at all. We would come into spring season not swinging a club.”
Each team member was battling their own struggles both in the game and out, whether that be finishing up final seasons for the seniors, or transitioning into collegiate athletics for freshmen. Head coach Tom Lawrence encouraged the girls to take each match one at a time and prioritize school and wellbeing. This is something that Loeffler greatly appreciated.
“He was very encouraging with everything, school and my sport. He was very understanding. If one of my teammates or I had a big exam he would let us skip practice and study,” Loeffler said. “[Lawrence] believes that school is #1 and golf is #2 which is also why he is an amazing coach. He not only wants us to do well in golf but he wants us to do well in school and have that be first in our priorities.”
Their first tournament will be the Oakland City invitational in Montgomery, Indiana on Saturday. The team has never played on this specific course, so they are preparing more for the start of the season rather than for this tournament.
“We’ve never played this course before. With it being the first time playing this course and also  our first tournament of the season, I think we are really just preparing our games and getting back in the swing of things,” Friedag said.