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Muskie Golf - Raising the Bar!!!
By
Andy Mac Williams,
4/8/2013
Doug Steiner is celebrating his 25th year as Xavier's golf coach in a very special way. This Saturday(April 13th) marks the Official Opening of the Francis Xavier Homan Golf Practice Facility at Maketewah Country Club on Reading Road. It's a joint venture between XU Golf and Maketewah. It's gorgeous and functional!!
Doug and Maketewah GM Charlie Carpentar roughed out the concept over three years ago on the back of a napkin. This took vision. We were just coming out of an economic recession. The principals decided to dream BIG and be bold.
Maketewah had just marked its 100th anniversary as a club. It featured a mature respected Donald Ross designed golf course(including maybe the toughest Par 4 in the city-Number 7-always a double boggie for Andy Mac). The members had just been assessed for remodeling the club house. In a super competitive private club marketplace, Mak needed a new edge.
Steiner's idea of an indoor practice venue with locker rooms for Xavier mens and womens teams,offices,lounges and teaching space hit a responsive cord with GM Carpentar. XU was close by geographically. Maketewah had an ideal space to accomadate the new project.
Steiner embarked on an ambitious fund raising odessey and by gosh!! he found the money tapping into the Muskie golf family he'd created over a quarter century of recruiting and coaching and winning at XU.
A number of former Xavier golfers and their families contributed as did members of the Lew Hirt Society of which I'm proud to be an honorary member. This is the group of long range Muskie basketball fans with active branches in Toledo and Cleveland and Chicago and Indie and New Jersey who make many road trips to Cintas and elsewhere and count XU hoops among their top priorities in life.Dennis Riley and Tim Campbell and Harry Hewitt are among the Lew Hirt contributors.
The finished product is excellent. It's a stylish 10,000 square foot complex including a 3,000 square foot indoor putting green and short game practice area-4 driving bays opening to an outdoor short game area-team rooms for both Muskie golf teams-coaches' offices-a conference room and lounges for Club members and college players.
Steiner has always been creative in recruiting battles against the ACC,SEC and Big Ten. He's gone to Canada and South America for players. He's financed trips to Hawaii,California,Florida and other warm climates. Now facility wise XU Golf is beyond state of the art. Doug has shown great patience over the years-actually putting up with my weak game-playing with me and even trying to instruct me. He's created a neat brand basically from scratch with his golf team.
XU has won multiple MCC and A-10 Conference Titles over the years and made several NCAA appearances. 5 former Muskies are currently playing professional golf. 2007 grad Jason Kokrak is a PGA Tour member-currently about 70th on the Money List after an 8th two weeks ago at the Shell Houston Classic and a Top 25 last week at the Valero in San Antonio. He crushes the ball.
I had a chance to talk with Jason at Joey Sunderman's wedding last Fall and he's a humble articulate postive product of XU. He always gets a Xavier mention in on TV interviews also. Andy Pope(2006) is playing on the web.com tour and was a Monday qualifier for the PGA event in Tampa last month. He and Jason Kokrak were both in the field at Tampa.
Sebastain MacClean and Herbert Day are playing on the PGA Tour Latin America and Wes Homan is a PGA Tour Canada member. The future is bright for Xavier Golf.
Maketewah has added members as a result of the new facility.They have also upgraded their outdoor practice areas and modified the golf course. Plans are in the works to use the new building to foster youth golf in the area.
It's amazing what can happen when the vision is large. People work together and focus their efforts.
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