Few people realize that the ETSU men’s golf team defeated Stanford University in 1996 while Tiger Woods was still playing for that team. Perhaps equally overlooked is the $2.4 million golf facility currently servicing the men and women’s golf teams at ETSU.
The two-story, 3,000-square-foot Warren-Greene Golf Center was completed in August 2004 and was voted the No. 1 collegiate facility in the country by Golf Digest in 2005.
“Our goal was to have one of the finest on-campus golf facilities in the country, and I think we’ve accomplished that,” said Fred Warren, head coach of the ETSU men’s golf team.
“I actually had the idea [for the center] in 1994,” Warren said. “I started trying to raise some money, and some things happened.”
William B. Greene, Jr., chairman of Bank Tennessee Corp., volunteered his financial support and personal connections to help the golf center come to life. William “Bill” Green and Coach Fred Warren now share the honor of having their respective last names joined together to provide the center’s title, hence the Warren-Greene Golf Center.
“He got involved and said, ‘Let’s think bigger,'” Warren said of Greene. “He’s the one that got Tom Fazio involved.”
The practice course adjacent to the golf center was designed by world-renowned course architect Tom Fazio and stretches across the ridgeline next to the ETSU observatory. While the breathtaking view alone adds a romantic flair, the course itself contains a variety of features designed to help players work on different areas of their game.
“It’s very good – very, very good” said junior women’s golfer Lucy Gould of the practice course.
Senior men’s golfer Rhys Davies, currently ranked fifth nationally, cites the Warren-Greene Golf Center as a large part of the reason he chose to play for ETSU.
“I was recruited by a number of different universities,” Davies said.
Davies first toured ETSU’s campus roughly four years ago before the golf center was officially completed but was still taken with the promise of what was then architectural drawings and a muddy field.
“I could see it was going to be a fantastic area, plus the program’s got a great reputation,” Davies said.
With its crisp landscaping, bubbling fountain and slate roofing, the two-story clubhouse alone might lure potential recruits to ETSU.
The exterior of the facility is an impressive sight to behold, but it is the spacious interior of oiled hardwood, slate-tile flooring and high ceilings that truly provide the clubhouse feel.
All of this, however, is dwarfed by the importance of what is arguably the golf center’s single greatest feature: the computer-enhanced video monitoring program designed to help players dial in their swing.
“Golf is a golf swing,” said Stephanie Reynolds, head coach of the ETSU women’s golf team. “If you don’t have a video you can never see yourself swing the golf club.”
The V-1 System, as the monitoring program is dubbed, records each golfer’s swing digitally and allows users to view their swing at almost any rate of slow-motion or even frame-by-frame.
“It’s the complete package here of having the video system, having the short-game areas, having the indoor golf, the building, our offices, all the stuff right here on campus,” Reynolds said.
“I believe that having this facility allows us to recruit players from all over the world.”
“I think [the center] has a bigger impact on player development than it does recruiting,” Warren said.
With international players from at least six countries currently on this year’s roster, it remains entirely possible that the skill-sharpening facilities of the Warren-Greene Golf Center may continue to keep ETSU golfers at the top of their game.

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