Billiards, table tennis and disc golf among the bonding activities for UGA golf teammates

The metal chains clinked as Buck Brumlow’s disc soared into the basket. Brumlow and his University of Georgia golf teammates Blake Parkman and Maxwell Ford laughed as Parkman’s disc ricocheted off the wooden post holding a birdhouse.

Nearby, Trent Phillips and Ben van Wyk took turns shooting pool inside UGA’s Boyd Golf Center. A fishing pole waited in the corner next to a shelf, where framed photos display fish caught by UGA golfers.

When the 20 hours of organized practice allowed by the NCAA is over, many of the UGA golfers on the men’s team remain at the golf course – not just practicing golf, but playing other sports and engaging in leisure activities.

This is a way for the team to de-stress and bond, said Nicolas Cassidy, junior golfer, which is especially important in the postseason. On Friday, the Bulldogs advanced to match play at the Southeastern Conference championship in St. Simons Island.

This year’s team meshes well despite the golfers’ different personalities, an improvement from the year before, Cassidy said.

This closeness has emphasized to the golfers that college golf is not just an individual sport.

“I think it's more that we care more this year about how the team does versus individual results,” Cassidy said. “If the team wins, no one cares how anybody else played.”

Over the years, the team has fished and played football, basketball, baseball, billiards, table tennis, chess, cards and, oh yeah, golf. Disc golf is the newest addition.

“It's team bonding, but we don't really classify it as that,” said Brumlow, a freshman. “It's just hanging out and being friends.”

After being “pretty much banned” from the locker room due to COVID-19 precautions, Cassidy said, the golfers gained full access to the locker room and facilities last fall.

After practice, more than half of the golfers will stay at the golf course for hours to practice more or take advantage of the amenities, head coach Chris Haack said.

“Golf is one of the most time-consuming sports even when you're not in competition,” Cassidy said.

Despite the lack of free time, the golfers have taken more opportunities to bond as a team.

Brumlow started playing disc golf before his senior year of high school and now, he has brought disc golf to the UGA golf course. In the locker room, Brumlow’s disc golf basket holds an array of colored discs. Set up at the UGA Golf Course entrance are a half-dozen disc golf baskets, just a two-minute ride by golf cart.

Brumlow’s biggest concern coming into his freshman year was getting comfortable living in a new place. Playing basketball with other golfers last semester and playing disc golf this semester helped with the transition, Brumlow said.

Playing disc golf also builds skills beneficial for golf.

“It takes a lot of creativity to play disc golf,” Brumlow said. “I actually think it might help my golf game.”

Haack echoed this idea. Games like table tennis and billiards helps the golfers understand angles and improves their hand-eye coordination, Haack said.

Haack moved a pool table from his house into the locker room this season. He said he wants to provide the team an outlet to relax.

Behind the pool table is a lounge of black faux leather couches and a coffee table, which holds a chess board. UGA football player figurines stand in ready position in lieu of traditional chess pieces.

“I challenged any of them to try to beat me at chess; still to this day I haven’t been beat,” Haack said.

The rhythmic tink! of a table tennis ball also can be heard from outside the Boyd Golf Center.

No matter what sport or game the UGA men’s golf team is playing, it provides benefits to these athletes, some of whom go on to play professionally.

“Professional golf can be a little bit of a lonely sport,” Haack said. “So it's really important that these guys really find out the outlets, the hobbies and things that they like to do when they get away from the golf course.”

Reporter Sophie Ralph is a student in the University of Georgia’s Carmical Sports Media Institute.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: How UGA golf teammates bond outside of practice, NCAA play