By Kirsten Kirtley, Senior Reporter
Daniel Campbell, the head coach of the Ranger golf teams, is wrapping up his first full season as the head coach at Northwestern.
Both the men’s and women’s teams have played three of the four events that they will participate in before the conference championships for both teams will take place.
All three of the events took place within the last three weekends.
Campbell said that, although it’s been a busy past few weeks for Northwestern golf, he thinks that the last three events for both the men’s and women’s teams have gone well.
“We had some positives and negatives and some ups and downs,” Campbell said. “That is the nature of golf. If everyone played well every time, it would be easy.”
Although both teams have played through challenging weather conditions in a few of the events they have participated in, there have been both expected and unexpected contributions from players on both teams, Campbell said.
“It’s been really awesome to see some people stepping up and playing some good golf,” Campbell said.
“My kids are working hard and having a lot of fun. I think we’re moving this thing in the right direction as a program.”
The following weekend, the women’s team will travel to the Newton’s golf tournament at Sand Creek Station in Newton, Arkansas.
After that, the teams will have another week off before the men’s team plays at the Harding golf tournament, located at the Cypress Creek Golf Club in Cabot, Arkansas.
Those will be the last two events before the conference championship takes place from April 23 – 25 at Hot Springs, Arkansas.
“We’ve improved our finish at almost every tournament that we played in last year that we came back to this year,” Campbell said.
He said the women’s team has improved by an average of eight shots this year, and the men’s team has improved by an average of five shots.
Campbell said he is happy with how his first year has gone as the head golf coach at Northwestern.
He said he thinks one’s first year anywhere as a head coach will have a learning curve, with new things that come up that one might not expect or be ready for.
“I think I’ve learned a ton this year,” Campbell said. “I think I’m very happy with the way that we’ve tried to change the culture of this program here.”