Dear Alumni and Friends,
By the time you are reading this, the team will be competing in our first tournament of the fall portion of our season in Pawleys Island, SC at The GolfWeek Fall Challenge. We have four new Bears on our roster this season joining five returners.
The start of the semester has been a busy one so far with the opening of the new Golf Performance Building on campus. The new building houses offices for golf and tennis, plus a golf performance wing that includes two simulator bays, along with a Puttview putting green, player lounge and a club repair room.
We have just finished a 108 hole qualifying tournament to determine our lineup for the Golfweek Fall Challenge at True Blue Golf Club. Making the five man lineup for the trip are; Seniors - Cole Hanson and Nathan Trodd, Junior - Connor Holcroft, Sophomore - Henry Robards and Freshman - Phillips Swift.
We have four events on our schedule this fall with three of those being in South Carolina. One of those events is the inaugural Bryan Brothers Collegiate at Solina Golf Club where we will also be playing the SoCon championship in April. During the spring we compete in the state of Georgia twice – the Linger Longer Invitational at Lake Oconee (Great Waters GC) and the Southern Intercollegiate in Athens (Athens C.C.). You can see our complete schedule in this newsletter.
We have a ribbon cutting celebration for the new building on Saturday September 13th at 4:00 before the kickoff of the football game against Wofford. If you plan to attend the game, we would love to have you at the ceremony. No need to RSVP.
We are also planning to have a cocktail gathering in late October for Alumni and Friends. You will receive an invitation to attend.
Most importantly, I want to thank you for your support of the program.
GO BEARS!
Coach Jason Payne
478-951-7110
Welcome Coach Ariza
Coach Matt Ariza is joining the Bears after a two-year coaching stint with Eastern Kentucky. During his time with the Colonels, Ariza saw seven total top-five finishes, 13 total top-ten finishes, a pair of second-place finishes and hoisted the 2024 Colonel Shootout Trophy (EKU's first win since 2018).
Before transitioning to coaching, Ariza had a five-year playing career where he spent time at Piedmont and Lamar. While at Piedmont, Ariza helped lead the Lions to a second-place finish in the 2023 NCAA DIII Championship.
Swinging Toby Decals!
As a way to show your support of Mercer Men's Golf, we now have Swinging Toby Decals. We would love to send you a few if you would like some. Just email us with your address and we will mail them to you so you can put them on your car, golf cart, cooler....
To get yours, send an email to Coach Ariza at Matthew.Ariza@live.mercer.edu and include your address. Please put Swinging Toby Decals in the subject of the email so we make sure we see your email. Go Bears!
Save the date of Friday November 7th for the playing of The Roddy - our annual gathering of Golf Alums. We are planning to play Brickyard again this year with a dinner following play. This is not a home football weekend, so there will not a tailgate the following day. More info and invites to come your way.
Alumni Golf Bag
The above is a special edition golf bag from Ping that is a special color that will be exclusively for past lettermen of the golf team. Each bag will be $500 and you can order yours by emailing Coach Payne at payne_jc@mercer.edu.