For many UNC students, summer is consumed by internships, vacations and maybe a summer course or two.
But for those on the North Carolina men’s and women’s golf teams, summer is an opportunity to improve their games through practice and tournament participation.
“Historically in college golf, you see players make leaps and bounds over the summer because it’s when they don’t have to concentrate on academics,” said men’s head coach Andrew Sapp.
“They’ve learned a lot from the previous year in terms of what they really need to focus on and are able to pretty much go at it full-time,” he said. “It’s when we try to encourage them to make the best use of their time so that when they return in the fall, they’re ready to go and are clicking on all cylinders.”
Following the men’s team’s disappointing seventh-place finish in the 2012 ACC Championship, three of Sapp’s current golfers competed in the 112th U.S. Amateur Championship last week, including sophomore Brandon Dalinka.
Dalinka, who finished in a tie for 32nd place at the ACC Championship last spring, also played in five other tournaments this summer — carding top-ten finishes in each of them.
He used the summer to primarily improve his play from the bunker.
“My bunker play was borderline terrible last year. It cost us like a shot or two each time I was there,” he said. “After this summer, I wouldn’t say it’s a strength of my game — but definitely not a weakness anymore.”
For women’s golfer Casey Grice, production this offseason did not come through tournament play but rather the time she spent working on her swing.
