Cassie Golfs To College:  The Inside Story of Ladies' Collegiate Golf

Director's Note:  BuffaloGolfer.Com has tried for years to find a female voice to write for the site.  Recently we toyed with the idea of having a college golfer keep a journal on what it's like to play post-high school golf at a competitive level.  In an incredible run of luck, we found both in Cassie Stein, a division 1 golfer at Robert Morris University.  After checking with the university's compliance department (to ensure that Cassie's eligibility would not be jeopardized), we decided to go for it.  In between classes and practice sessions, Cassie will find time to write her impressions and experiences in college golf for BuffaloGolfer.Com.  Cassie's words will be her own, all her own, with no editing.  After all, with a bunch of middle-aged men writing most of our other columns, what could be more refreshing than a young, female voice?  With that introduction, welcome to Cassie Golfs To College:  The Inside Story of Ladies' Collegiate Golf.

September 2008
Bucknell		 October 2008
Youngstown		 November 2008
Akron		 April 2009
NEC Championship		  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

April 2009
NEC Championship

The Robert Morris University Women’s Golf Team had 3 tournaments this spring. The first one in Savannah, Georgia, another one at Mount St. Mary’s University, and the most important one which was the Northeast Conference Championships in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The first tournament of the year was in Savannah, Georgia like I said. First of all, both the boys and girls teams went down. It was our first tournament of 2009 and we were all excited to play. We got down there early Saturday morning. We had a nice relaxing evening because we knew the next day we would have to put our minds to work and play our practice round.
The next day rolled around and it was time to play our first round of the year. We all got to the range and everyone was hitting it pretty well. We played the round, and I have to say I hit it pretty good, considering it was our first time out since the end of October. Both teams went out to dinner that night and rested up for the next day because we knew it would be a long one.
The women’s team was rearing and ready to go in the morning, but I wasn’t. We got to the course and it was not good. I didn’t hit it well on the practice range and it carried over into the round itself. I wasn’t hitting my clubs good, nor could I keep a drive straight to save my life. I finished that round with a 97. I was not happy with the results on the first day. So I headed over to the practice range and putting green to work on my game. One of the guys on our men’s team and I stayed behind to practice more while the rest of the team headed back to the hotel. I had to fix my swing and my putting stroke. I did, hoping the next day would be better. And it was. Well, a little better. I put up a score of an 89. I was a little bit more pleased, but not completely satisfied. My swing was ok and the putting was so, so. Though it was my first tournament, I cut myself some slack. Now that that tournament was behind me, it was time for our teams to have some fun considering it was our spring break. That night we went down to downtown Savannah to have dinner and some fun, which we all needed after that tournament. The next day came around and our coaches had set up a fun day for us. We were to play in a scramble tournament with two boys and two girls on each team. It was honestly the most fun I had all trip. All the boys and girls finally came together as one big team. It was fun, even though my team didn’t win. He lost by one stroke. Bummer! After that we went to dinner for out last night in Georgia. The next day was our last. Since our flight wasn’t until late at night, some of us went to a practice range to work on our game. Then we flew home. It was an awesome experience to play down south and hopefully we could do this more in the future.
About three weeks later, the next tournament rolled around. The Mount Saint Mary’s Spring Invitational was next, but actually I didn’t play in this one. Before we went to Georgia my coach told me I was going to play in the Conference Championships. I was so excited and glad he recognized that I was a good player. So I didn’t go to this tournament because he wanted to choose the other players going to championships. With that in mind, I had to keep practicing everyday and keep working on my game in order to ready for the finals.
Well the week of the championships rolled around and I felt more ready then ever. I was excited, nervous and anxious to get to Hershey for the tournament. We left early Thursday morning to get there for our practice round at 1:15 pm. Finally, we arrived and the course was beautiful, a little windy, but nice. The team played the course and got to know it very well because we would be playing there for the next three days. After hitting the ball pretty well and being very pleased with my practice round, that night we had our team dinner. It was fun and loose. I definitely needed that because my nerves were starting to get to me. By the time I knew it, it was Friday morning, 6 am. Time to get up and get moving. The alarm went off and I was ready to go. We got to the course at about 7 am and when we got there, we were told we were in a frost delay. Awesome, that’s all I needed. NOT! I was so nervous as it is and now this happens. We weren’t delayed too much, but I didn’t tee off until 9:10 now. I was really nervous on the first tee, but after that I was fine. On the first day, I proceeded to shoot an 85, which I thought was pretty good for the first day. And it was. The rest of the team shot 77, 80, and 86. We were in 4th place as a team after the first day, which was amazing! I was pumped and so was the team. That night, the Northeast Conference held a banquet for us at the Hershey Country Club. It was nice, but we were all pretty tired from our round that we just wanted to go to bed. So again, we went to bed early and got up at the crack of dawn again, 6 am. Day 2. I couldn’t wait to get on the course today so I could play better than that 85. But again, I was super nervous again. Today, my parents were there to support me, which was really exciting too. This time my hands were really shaking on the first tee. I honestly thought I was going to top my tee shot today, but I didn’t. I hit my 7 wood right down the center of the fairway. But for the next couple of holes I was nervous too. It was a weird day. My best shot of the day was when I came up to the fourth hole and it is a short par 3. I pulled out my pitching wedge and it was dead straight to the pin. It landed and it hit right in front of the hole and hit the flagstick. I thought I got a hole in one! It was close but it didn’t drop for me. It was ok. I proceeded to make par. I hit the really well today, but the trouble was my putting. I am afraid to tell you how many putts I had today so I won’t but it was a lot. I ended up with an 84. Pleased but I needed to work on my putting. I headed to the putting green. The rest of the team came in with numbers of 81, 82, and 88. We had dropped a couple of strokes as a team and we dropped down to 6th place. As a team we were not happy and we knew we needed to play better the next day. That night we each got to go out with our families, which was fun. We went to the Hershey Chocolate Factory. It was so cool! I think I needed that after those last two days. The next day would be even better too because we got to sleep in! The tee times didn’t start until 12:30 so the team got to sleep in until 9:00 am. It was amazing! We got the course finally and it was so hot out! I didn’t know if I was going to make it through the day. I hit it very well on the range before my round and I knew I could play even better than the last two days. We wanted to prove ourselves to each other, but more importantly make a name for ourselves in the Northeast Conference. I put up a new low score for my freshman year at Robert Morris with an 80. It was a feeling that was so great that I can’t even explain it. And each of the other girls came out firing too. The scores were low today with 78, 78 and 79. We fired off an all time team low of a 315! There is no feeling like that after that round. Though we didn’t win the Northeast Conference Championship, we accomplished a lot. We finished in 4th place as a team! And each one of us finished well individually too. It was an awesome four days together. It was an all around great experience for my first time at the Conference Championships and hopefully more in the years to come. Play well over the summer and I’ll talk to you in the fall!

 

 

 

November 2008
Akron

Hello again. September 29th through September 30th, I traveled to the Zippy Invitational in Akron, Ohio. We left the 28th of course to have a practice round. The practice round went well, hitting the ball straight. Later that night, one of my teammates invited us to her house for a home cooked meal. It was the best meal since I had arrived at school. Absolutely amazing. We headed back to the hotel for a good night rest.

Arriving at the course, I was ready for the 36- hole day. Warming up bright and early, it seemed like it would be a good day. Well it didn’t turn out as planned. I started to hit my irons longer than I usually do, which questioned how long it every club. I finished my first with a 95. The other reason I didn’t play well was because of my shoulder. It had bothered me in the past, but not when I was in school. It had acted up again. I was not pleased at this point and I wanted to redeem myself. After lunch in between rounds, I wanted to start fresh on the second 18 of the day. I started off strong and wanted to keep the momentum. I finished with an 88. I was sort of pleased with my second round, but I knew I could play better. They had dinner at the course for us that night and finally headed back to the hotel. I needed to clear my head and play better the next day.

Sleeping well and rested up for the day event, I wanted to play better. The warm-up again went well and I was ready to play. Again, I started off strong and wanted to continue it. I went even par for the first 5 holes. I ended up with another 88, but I was happy with it. I hit it well. I finished 3rd on the team. Next weekend, finally we have off. It will give us a good break in between our next tournament. And it’s our home event, where we hope to play well. Until then, play well.

 

 

 

Octtober 2008
Youngstown
 

Hi. This past weekend, the Robert Morris Women's golf team traveled to Youngstown State University to compete in our second event of the year. The team left on Sunday morning for a practice round in the afternoon. Unfortunately, it was raining and we couldn't play the course, we were only able to walk it. I felt good about it though. The course wasn't too long or hilly. Perfect, I knew I would shoot well. After walking the course, we headed back to school to get a good night rest to be ready for the next morning.

The day finally arrived. And I was super excited to get out there and play the course. When we arrived, we were told it was wet and we were allowed to play pick and clean through the green, which was good. Warming up is when I started to get nervous again, but I tried putting it out of my mind. Until I got to the first tee, wow, were my hands shaking. But I put it behind me again. I went even par through the first three holes. I knew it, but I didn't get too happy about it. Then I went three over through seven. I just had that feeling that it would be a good day. Then I got to hole number eight. That was when I blew up. Finishing the first nine with a 44.

I tried putting the front nine behind me, but I couldn't. I knew I shouldn't have thought about it, but I did. I didn't play too well on the back either, coming in with a 49. I was not pleased with my play. I knew I could have played so much better than I did. Finishing the day with a 93. That night, I wasn't very happy.

After having dinner at the course, we headed back to the hotel. The weather started getting bad, the wind picked up and it started to rain. It got so bad, that the power went out at the hotel for about two hours. I went to bed early, hoping to have a better day tomorrow.

Getting up early, I felt ready to play. We were at the course by 7:30 and started to warm-up, but right after I finished my putting routine, the tournament director canceled the rest of the tournament. The weather the night before had knocked over trees and flooded to course. Our team was so upset because we wanted to redeem ourselves from yesterdays play. We got in our van, and headed back to school. Our next tournament, the Zippy Invitational is not until September 28th-30th which is in Akron, Ohio. Until next time, play well!

 

September 2008
Bucknell
 

Hello all! My name is Cassie Stein and I am a freshman at Robert Morris University. I also am a member of the Robert Morris University golf team. Robert Morris is located in Moon Township, Pennsylvania about 20 minutes from Pittsburgh. Before starting at RMU, I attended Nichols School, which is in Buffalo, New York where I played on the golf, soccer and hockey teams. But I decided to continue golf in college.

The season began on August 27th with a brief meeting to go over the schedule for the year and to practice for the tournament next weekend. Traveling to Bucknell University would be our first challenge. The tournament was September 5th through the 7th. Some of the teams playing were Penn State, Rutgers, and Youngstown State. This would be a big test for the team. Leaving that Friday morning, I was excited to get on the road and play in my first collegiate tournament. I couldn't even sleep on the bus ride down. We got there and we had a tee time for our practice round. The course was long and hard with tight fairways. During the practice round, I didn't hit it too well. So I thought I was in for a very long weekend. But I gathered my thoughts and told myself I could do it. The team grabbed some dinner and hit the hay early for some rest.

The next morning rolled around, luckily we got to sleep in, but it was raining all morning. It didn't look good for playing conditions. As any freshman would be, I was getting nervous. Not because I couldn't play with the girls but I didn't want to choke on the first hole with people watching me. We headed to the course and they had postponed the start of the tournament. Not good, I was still nervous and this really didn't help. We went back to the hotel to hang out and wait to see if the rain would ever stop, and of course it didn't. The tournament was canceled for the day. I would have to wait another day to play in my first college golf tournament and besides playing in my first tournament; it would be 36 holes.

Bright and early the team was up. The first shotgun was at 8 am, which meant for us being at the course by 6:15 for our time on the practice range. I hit a few and then went to do my putting routine. I wasn't as nervous as I was yesterday, which was weird because we didn't even play. I felt I was ready to play. It was time to head to the tenth tee where I started my day, 175 yards, par 3. The first two girls hit, both of them putting it on the green, and then that is when I started getting nervous. I asked myself, "What did I get myself into?" It was my turn to hit, I took a deep breath and went through my routine before I hit. The one thing I didn't want to do was "top" my first ball and I did because I was nervous. I thought to myself, this is going to be a long day. But it actually wasn't. The two other girls I played with were friendly and fun to play with. The first round I shot off an 87, which I was very happy about, being my first tournament and all. So I was excited to play the second 18. Most people probably wouldn't say that but I did. The second round, I played even better. Posting an 83. I could have kept playing. I was ecstatic afterwards. The team finished the tournament in 8th out of 12. Pretty good for our first tournament together this year. I finished in 34th and 2nd on the team. I couldn't believe it. It was the best experience of my life. We got back on the bus and headed back to school. Once again, I could sleep on the ride home, I was too excited. I talked to all of my family members that night, and they couldn't have been more happier for me. All around, it was a great weekend. Next up, Youngstown State Tournament, till then hit em' straight.