A Message from Coach Krapfl

Chip-N Club Members, 

Playing in Puerto Rico was a great experience on many levels. Being able to experience another culture is always enlightening. The weather was wonderful and the level of competition was excellent. Are we satisfied with a 14th-place finish: No. But we did determine that we are not that far off.

That feeling helps provide extra motivation to continue to work hard and see how much ground we can make up. One player who had no trouble coming out of the winter was senior Maddie Sheils. With rounds of 72-76-72 Maddie placed eighth and defeated 14 players ranked among the top 100 in the country. Her only losses were to players ranked ahead of her. A very impressive showing, but not surprising considering how hard she has worked in the offseason.  It is great to see a player with such a passion for the game. Her work ethic, mental toughness and preparation are inspiring to watch. 

A tournament always pinpoints areas that need improvement. I think we have a good feel on what we need to work on, both physically and mentally. Our wedge play really cost us a lot of shots, and we need to be a little more aggressive in our approach to birdie putts. The other area we had a few players struggling with was alignment. When you are hitting in the bays, it is really easy to get set up square, but out on the course you are coming in from different angles and we didn't always get set up correctly.

All these are easy to work on, and we have over a week to make the necessary adjustments and be ready to compete in Peoria, Ariz., in a tournament hosted by the University of Wisconsin at the Westbrook Village Golf Club.

The 12-team field includes five Big Ten teams, two from the Big 12, and Washington State from the Pac 12. I think this tournament has the potential to really get our season rolling. We love playing golf in Arizona. I think we will have a lot of fans cheering us on. We are excited and looking forward to competing for the championship.

Go Big Red!

Robin