Tiger Woods, eat your heart out. The ETSU golf team definitely has something that even the biggest pros would be jealous of.
In 1994, the golf team lost its place to practice and had to fit its schedules into other country clubs’ and golf courses’ agendas. It was very hectic for the team not to have a place to practice on a daily basis.
When the men’s team won the 2001 NCAA regional, the plans were already in progress for a new practice range. The team’s victory brought publicity to its problem, and many donors stepped up to the tee.
One donor was so impressed by the team’s performance and the new plans for the practice range that he invested a large sum of money to help the team accomplish its dreams, only with one condition. The donor told Coach Fred Warren that he wanted to remain anonymous.
Due to many contributions from anonymous donors and the community, the range and new building are closing in on the $1.6 million mark.
After the money was raised, the plans were put into blueprints, and the blueprints became a gorgeous new building with an amazing range for the ETSU golf team. This 14-acre practice field not only has fairways and putting greens, but also a new building that will now house the women’s and men’s coaches’ offices and a meeting room.
An outdoor patio called the Ross Observation Deck after Ken and Jeremy Ross, who were the architects on the building project, will also be located outside the building.
One of the major features of the building is the two indoor spots used to hit balls outside, when weather is too harsh outside to practice.
This state of the art facility will be a “great benefit to the men’s and women’s golf teams,” said Warren, who has been the men’s golf coach for the past 18 years.
The practice range, which lies on land that was originally owned by ETSU, started out as a large field. The great part of this property is that it is very secluded, giving the golfers the privacy and quiet that they need in order to get their jobs done.
ETSU was very fortunate to have Tom Fazio, who happens to be one of the top golf architects in the world, design the course for the golfers. Many man-hours have been put into this brand new area, including moving 40,000 square yards of dirt to level out the area in order for Bermuda grass to be laid down for the fairways.
Warren said that the deadline for this project keeps being pushed back further, and the new deadline is now set for mid March. Warren hopes that in eight weeks, his team will have a place where they feel at home.
This facility is not only beneficial to the golf team, but also to the ETSU students and faculty that use the ETSU observatory, which the new range is located near. At first, they thought that this new range may be a problem, but now the road will now be paved, and some trees were removed allowing a better view from the observatory.

Author