Over the Spring Break, the Blackburn College Men's Golf Team made a trip to San Antonio, Texas for a week of pre-season practice. The team's first stop was in Sherman, Texas where they played 18 holes at a local country club called Woodlawn Country Club. After spending the night in Sherman, the team made the six hour drive down to San Antonio. Once in San Antonio, the team met their hosts for the week Mike Smiley and his Lynn who are both Blackburn alumni (Class of '71. Mike Smiley is also a member of the Blackburn Board of Trustees. Bill Kanyusik was the other host for the week in San Antonio. Kanyusik let the team stay in his guest condo over the four day period. The team then hit at a local driving range on Sunday. After hitting at the range, the team then travelled to Mike Smiley's house located just outside San Antonio, where the team ate dinner and visited with Mike and his wife.
On Monday morning, the team went and played at the Air Force Base in San Antonio called Randolph Country Club. Freshman Anthony Harper said "Randolph was a great course for us to play because of the windy conditions and the constant fly over of Air Force Jets. Golf is a game where we are supposed to be quiet so the jets really made you focus on your shot." On Tuesday the golf team got to play at Oak Hill Country Club in San Antonio. The team thought that their tee times might get pushed back due to early rain but the clouds cleared and it turned out to be a beautiful day for golf. The course was in great condition. The Oak Hill Country Club used to hold the Texas Open until they changed the location to TPC San Antonio. The team played 36 holes at Oak Hill. On Wednesday, the team played their final course at The Quarry. The Quarry was a links style golf course similar to the conference location of Aberdeen Country Club. The course was extremely challenging and brought out the best in all of the golfers that played. When asked about the golf team, Bill Kanyusik said "I was so surprised at how far these guys hit the ball, its amazing to watch. I was also very impressed with the politeness of the team and how they appreciated this opportunity that was given to them." Kanyusik said "The team is more than welcome to come back again; I really enjoyed watching them play golf." On Thursday morning the team made their long 17 hour trip back to Carlinville.
The team looks to start their season on March 24th at Belk Park Golf Course in Alton with a 10:00 tee time start.