The ACU men’s golf team begins its spring season this week in New Orleans, Louisiana at The Atchafalaya Intercollegiate. The Wildcats will tee off Monday, playing 36 holes before ending the tournament on Tuesday with the final 18 holes.

The Atchafalaya is a very long and flat course, and will be a mystery to ACU, who has not played it until this season, but had their practice round on Sunday.

Tom Shaw, ACU head golf coach, said the practice round is very important for the team.

“That’s the day we really need to get a lot of work done,” Shaw said. “Every game to us is a road game. You game plan as much as you can.”

Twelve teams will complete at The Atchafalaya Intercollegiate; with five players representing each school’s team.

Seniors Dillon Vaughn and Luke Carpenter, juniors Ryan Beatty and Brandon Stites, along with sophomore Clarke Hudgins will represent the Wildcats in the season opening tournament. Shaw will also take freshman Garrett Glanton, who will play individually at the tournament.

The twelve teams will be broken up into groups of three, with the same ranked players competing against each other. Each team will then submit their four scores from the team, omitting their highest score.

Coach Shaw said that Glanton could win the tournament as an individual; however, he cannot use his score towards the team placing this week. NCAA Div. I golf requires tournaments to have at least 36 holes played to count towards rankings. Rankings apply to teams wanting to continue their play in April after conference tournaments.

“We are going to play in tournaments as we qualify,” Shaw said. “You can’t just think ‘I will turn it on at the {conference} tournament,’ it just doesn’t happen.”

Shaw said they would like to win conference even though they cannot take home the trophy.

“Our goal is just to improve from September one and feel like once we get to April we are playing as good as we have all year,” Shaw said.