The UW golf team concluded their spring season on May 3 with the Women’s Mountain West Golf Conference in California.
“I had a hole in one which was my first one and there were a few tournaments towards the end of the season that I played pretty well I thought. I’m happy my career ended the way it did,” said Caitlyn Skavdahl who is graduating with her masters in public administration.
Skavdahl has been around a golf course since she was three years old and began training when she was seven.
“Both of my parents were competitive and my dad played football at the University of Wyoming so I am just competitive and then I learned I could play golf competitively at UW,” Skavdahl said.
This year, the UW Golf team did not have a fall season due to COVID-19.
“We had all of our tournaments in the spring. We had a condensed schedule with seven tournaments in the spring. We are just lucky to have gotten to play,” Skavdhal said.
In a normal year there would be two seasons. The fall season would have four to five tournaments and then the spring season would have six to seven tournaments.
“It was a normal amount of spring tournaments but we did not have that fall warm up scenario,” Skavdhal said.
The men’s and women’s golf teams were able to travel for their tournaments this spring.
“With travel and weather and school it’s a part of being any athlete. The kids did a great job. We had a good solid spring and the kids are doing well academically. We had a very competitive season and I hosted a couple events. We’re the host school and have 22 and 24 teams with different tournaments,” said Joe Jensen, the director of men’s and women’s golf at UW.
In February, UW hosted a tournament in California and then hosted another event in Arizona during April.
Jensen said all teams across the nation had to work with NCAA, county and CDC guidelines for each tournament. Each tournament was allowed to have spectators as long as social distancing was present.
“The challenges we faced were no different than any other team in the country,” Jensen said. “It’s easy to say that the world is a little different and we’re doing the best we can with the changes.”
Tournament formats themselves had changes Skavdahl said.
“Typically we play in tournaments in grouping with one person from each team. This year the tournaments were different. Some were standard but some we played with our teammates which was a lot of fun,” Skavdahl said.
Skavdahl said that with classes online it was easier to stay caught up in her classes while travelling for golf.
The fall season will begin next September.
Tournaments are not held in Laramie due to whether, but athletes are able to train at the Ron Richardson Golf Performance Center located at the Jacoby Golf Course.
“In that facility they have what’s called a golf simulator. I wouldn’t call it a video game but you can pick different courses and the kids can stand in there, see a picture of the course, and swing as though they are playing a game in the simulator,” said Tim Harkins, the associate athletic director for media relations.
The facility also has bays with garage doors where athletes can still practice golfing during the winter.
