Setting a Standard for Excellence
Men’s golf taking a ‘been there, done that’ attitude to third straight NCAA Regional
Braidon Nourse
Waiting at the gate for a flight to Indiana for the NCAA Regional men’s golf tournament, Christoph Bleier cannot overthink a performance which has not yet happened.
Much like standing on the green looking at a ball 10 feet away from the hole, he can only think about the task at hand so much. He’s been there plenty of times before — at some point, he just has to move the putter to the ball.
That’s the kind of mindset the Colorado State men’s golf team needs to have entering its third straight go-round at the NCAA Regional. Monday, the Rams open play at the West Lafayette (Ind.) Regional, held at the Brick Boilermaker Golf Course. At the end of the three-day event, the top five teams will qualify for the national tournament, held in Carlsbad, Calif., beginning May 24.
Funny enough, before packing his bags from his hometown of Linz, Austria, he “didn’t quite have a clue” of what an NCAA Regional even was. He just wanted to play golf.
Since arriving for the 2021-22 season, going to the regional has been the only thing he knows — the Rams have not missed out on the tournament since his arrival.
Prior to the 2022-23 season, coach Michael Wilson inherited a group which had gone to the regional the year prior. Before he took the program over, the Rams hadn’t gone to consecutive regionals since 2018-19. Coming in, he did not want a regional appearance to be something to hope for; he wanted it to be an expectation.
In his first season at the helm, he didn’t just take his team to its second straight regional — he led the program to its first NCAA Championship tournament in 12 years.
At that moment, Bleier and Wilson knew they had something special.
“That was really, really special,” Wilson said. “There’s only 30 teams to do it and it’s challenging to do. College golf is deeper now than ever before. There are better coaches and a lot of really good programs, so to be one of those is awesome. You set out to achieve a goal and when you do it and you’ve kind of lived there, it’s almost hard to celebrate it because it’s an expectation.
“It’s good to sit down and be like, ‘Yeah, we did this.’ But now, let’s go get ready to compete in the national championship and try to win.”
Before that season — the first under Wilson — the Rams had a formidable roster, but more importantly a good team camaraderie, which went a long way in getting them to the 2022 regional. But any time a new coach comes in, the state of the culture can become fragile.
Wilson was aware of the type of players and people on his roster, and he didn’t want to shake any of it up.
So, during Wilson’s first team meeting, he did not step on a soapbox. Instead, he was all ears.
“We talked about winning conference, winning tournaments, making regionals and going to match play at nationals. We just put that goal out there,” Bleier said. “I think that inspired all of us. We had the idea, ‘Hey, we have a coach who really wants us to make it.’ When Coach got here, we all got along very well right away.
“We knew we were good players; we could compete, and we could set that standard of making regionals every year.”
I’ve found that if players take ownership of what they want the team to be and their identity in the team, it’s really powerful because then they buy in, it’s theirs and you can steer that a little bit as a coach.Michael Wilson
For Wilson, one of the pillars of turning that goal into a yearly occurrence was to establish four benchmarks mentally and physically to achieve each and every week.
One of them is an “express weekly goal” which each player shares with the group, whether it be to improve mental cues or a certain aspect of their game like drives or putts.
The other three remain constant: keep the incidence of three-putts limited to 4% or less for every competition, try not to tally additional strokes by losing a ball on the course and place extra importance on finishing strong, whether you’re shooting 8-under or 8-over.
Those four things have been something the team has embraced quite well, according to Wilson, especially right out of the gate of his tenure as a Ram. A feat made much easier by allowing the players to be themselves.
“I’ve found that if players take ownership of what they want the team to be and their identity in the team, it’s really powerful because then they buy in, it’s theirs and you can steer that a little bit as a coach,” Wilson said. “I think the team and I see pretty similar things in terms of being high achievers in what we want to do and how we want the team to look and function.”
With a talented roster and groundwork laid for a good culture, all Wilson had to do was give them the keys to the Corvette. Nearly two years later, guys like Bleier and Connor Jones are still anchoring the squad from a mental and physical standpoint.
Those two were massive in getting to qualify for an NCAA Championship berth. Bleier tied for first place at the regional last season; Jones came in third.
Usually, when Wilson cleans up around the clubhouse or completes any other tasks after practice, he’ll walk out to see Bleier and Jones both still working on their game. Often, they’ll be the last ones to walk out of the facility.
“It’s no surprise, you know,” Wilson said. “How do you get really good? It’s a lot of reps, a lot of time, a huge passion for it and it’s being a really good competitor. I think both of them take a really holistic approach in working on their mental game and their visualization. They’re leaving no stone unturned.”
For younger golfers like sophomore Matthew Wilkinson, who was the alternate last year, watching what it takes to get to the mountaintop is invaluable.
This time around, he will be in the lineup and his number will be called. For his first ride around the block, any words from guys who have been there, done that have been welcome.
“They just tell me to play my own game and to stay in it,” Wilkinson said. “You can’t win anything on the first day, but you can lose it. I think we all have a belief in each other; we’re the five who can get it done, continue on and make the push to nationals. But I think most of it just comes from believing in each other, trusting the work we’re doing in practice and the tournaments we’ve played leading into this. We’re just ready to go out and compete.”
Though he’s never played on a stage like this, he’s approaching it like any other tournament, just like Bleier. He knows from his teammate’s words and from his own experience he cannot stress over what’s to come.
But no matter how laid back the demeanor might be, nothing can take away from the internal eagerness to be there.
“I’m just excited to get out there and see a new golf course. I’ve heard it’s good,” Wilkinson said. “That always gets everyone on the team fired up to go into a place with good expectations. I think we’re just most excited to get out there, put a tee in the ground and get after it.”