As the Gophers Men’s Golf team wrapped up play at the Isleworth Collegiate, in Windermere, Fla, they finished out their 2021 fall season, one that they want to build on as they prepare for their return to competition in the spring.

Minnesota took 14th place at the Isleworth Collegiate, with sophomore Ben Warian placing the highest out of Minnesota’s golfers. Warian tied for 22nd, shooting 73-73-73–219. When looking back on the fall season overall, head coach Justin Smith said the team could have been more consistent.

“A little inconsistent….in every event, there are stretches we played as good as any team in the field, and then some stretches that we really got hurt by,” Smith said.

While the Gophers had an up-and-down run, Warian and senior Lincoln Johnson were consistent cornerstones for the team, leading Gophers in scoring in almost every tournament.

Johnson felt as though he and his team were building on the experiences of the fall season. “I felt like I constantly got better over the course of the four tournaments that I played, but always looking to improve, and that’s what is exciting about the spring season,” he said.

For a team looking to leave some of their struggles behind them and build on the young talented squad that gained valuable experience this fall, the Gophers quickly jump into their winter training.

Smith said that just a week after the season ended, the team would begin a strength and conditioning phase of winter training, focused on adding muscle, which Smith emphasized as a key for the Gophers’ hopes in adding distance off the tee.

“We’re a team that’s not the longest [driving] team in the country, and we’re not the straightest team in the country, we’re going to try to address those two areas, and we have our strength and conditioning program set up to highlight those,” Smith said.

Johnson agreed with the sentiment, saying that he was hoping to add more distance to his drives, in hopes of simply, “making the courses shorter.”

Throughout the winter offseason, Coach Smith is focusing on getting his team ready to be in contention late in golf tournaments, highlighting the importance of those opportunities.

“Lincoln Johnson, for example, was in contention with nine holes to go at Isleworth, one of the best tournaments in the country…those are huge learning experiences” Smith said. Those opportunities, Smith hopes, will lead to higher finishes for a young team eager to bounce back after an inconsistent season.

“That builds the belief, that when we get there, more and more times that we’re going to succeed, and we’re going to follow through and come out on top where we work so hard to get to,” Smith said.

The team will return to competitive play in February with two days of Big Ten Match Play scheduled for Feb. 4 and Feb. 5, 2022.