RIGHT: Zeke Shen, president of the University
of Virginia’s club golf team, qualified for the
VSGA Amateur and Delta Dental State Open
of Virginia in 2018.
Tournament play is Saturday afternoon and
Sunday morning.
“[Students] can drive to and from and never
miss class which is important. We pride our-
selves: Students first, golfers second,” Hart says.
Finding golf courses willing to give up
weekends for NCCGA tournaments is a chal-
lenge, but “it’s gotten easier because of our
reputation,” Hart added. “We’re able to find
courses. We don’t go to high-end or low-end
courses. We try to find mid-level courses that
look at the opportunity to get revenue, to grow
the game and help students succeed.”
This spring 350 players will compete in the
national championship at Purdue University
in Lafayette, Ind. Purdue has been the host for
the men’s and women’s NCAA Championships
and NCAA regionals. It’s the largest college
tournament in the U.S.
who because of squad size limitations hadn’t held a
walk-on tryout in 13 years. A spot on the Division I team
opened up in the spring of 2018.
What has happened since has changed Jordan’s
life and made him a club sports rarity.
Hardwick invited Jordan to join the varsity team.
“I thought he would be a good representative of
our golf team whether he played well or not. I told
him I would put him on the team the rest of [the
2018] season, and we’ll see where it goes, and if
everything’s good, you’ll have a spot [as a senior],”
recalled Hardwick, who is retiring at the end of this
season after 36 years as the Hokies’ head coach.
Jordan was a medalist in last fall’s qualifying. Since
joining the team, he has played in every tournament
(including the ACC Championship) as a team member
or individual.
“Everything that’s come with going from club golf
to Division I is just been so exciting for me. Everything
is fresh and new. I always work and practice in the
facility trying not to take it for granted. I didn’t have it
a year and a half ago,” says Jordan, who found out
on his birthday he’d been giving a scholarship. “My
game has definitely gotten so much better.”
Jordan promotes club golf every chance he
gets, and he says he’s indebted to teammate Mark
Lawrence Jr., who raved to Hardwick and associate
coach Brian Sharp about the guy on the club team.
“Every year [club golf] gets bigger. It wasn’t like
this my freshman year. It was just me and Colton
and a few others and now there’s a load of guys on
the club golf team,” he says, noting that they have
been roommates all four years and Grow was the
club team president last year. “It’s a great deal…
it’s competitive…[they] try to do a ton of stuff to
involve everybody; [they] have socials with other
organizations. It’s not just golf.”
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ZEKE SHEN knew a little bit about
club golf on the collegiate level when
he graduated from Jefferson Forest
High School in Forest, just outside of
Lynchburg.
A couple of friends who were a year
ahead of him went to the University of
Virginia, joined the club golf team and
told him about it.
“In high school I played a lot of
tournaments with the goal of playing
Division I, but when it came down to
it, the opportunity I had for golf didn’t
match up with what I wanted to do
academically,” says Shen, a fourth-
year student. “When I came to UVa, I
didn’t think I would golf much. I kind
of put it on the back burner.”
But he didn’t give up the sport. He
qualified for Virginia’s club team
as a freshman and currently is the
president of a club that boasts a roster
of about 100 players.
Club teams don’t have coaches. They
have officers. Shen works with a vice
president, two treasurers and an event
planner for social gatherings.
Golf Club in nearby Zion Crossroads
has opened its doors to the team.
“Myself and a handful of guys were
already members, with several more
joining, and the staff has been extremely
helpful in getting our team out there,”
Shen says. “Our members love Spring
Creek, and I credit a lot of our team’s
tournament success to practicing on
such a demanding yet fun course.”
As president, he has made it a goal “to
allow as many people as I can here at
UVa to have access to golf because it’s
not always most logistically simple or a
financially simple thing to do. I think club
golf has been a great resource for that.”
Shen says playing club golf has meant
a lot to him, and he will continue to
promote it.
“I’m surprised how much I’ve been
able to improve in college. I didn’t
make a State Amateur or State Open
until this past summer. I didn’t even
sniff them in high school,” he says.
“Each year we get probably 20 to 25
new people. We are probably a little
larger than most club teams. The
way we do it, once you qualify your
first year, you have a spot for the
remainder of the years,” Shen says.
“The school gives us a lot of funding
and resources. We work with them
a lot.” “If you are in a position like I was
coming out of high school and the
DI scholarship opportunities aren’t
in place for you, there’s room and
organizations in college where you
can still do a sport you like. There is
no reason to give it up. I wish I hadn’t
turned away from it as much as I did.
Going to a college like UVa, part of the
reason I was able to get better is you
meet a lot of people who are similar
and you can compete with them.
Birdwood serves as the home course
for Virginia’s club team, but it has been
closed for renovations. Spring Creek “There are some really good golfers
at universities who don’t land on [DI]
teams.”
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