FORT WAYNE, Ind.—Creating an opportunity for student-athletes to practice year-round led the University of Saint Francis to invest in a state-of-the-art golf simulator. On Wednesday, the men’s and women’s golf teams joined in the dedication of the Trackman Golf Simulator at the USF Presidential Event Center.
USF Chaplain Rev. John Sheehan, SJ, delivered the dedication prior to the golf teams’ Senior Night festivities.
“Having the Trackman studio is huge because in years past our golfers would have had to go to numerous places to practice in the winter or on rainy days,” USF Golf Coach Corey Potts said. “Now they can drive a minute from campus to practice. Students get immediate feedback with accurate results on every swing they take. That allows them to adjust parts of their swing to keep improving.”
The Trackman Golf Simulator combines radar capability with high-end optics to track and display the full trajectory of shots, from short putts to 400-yard drives, pinpointing the landing position with superior accuracy. It also maps the shot’s 3D trajectory in real time, along with impact and launch data. Golfers can virtually play at iconic courses such as Pebble Beach, Valderrama, Royal Birkdale and St. Andrews.
USF golf team members can schedule personal practice time during the school’s business hours. The simulator was installed and ready for use this spring.
“With this studio, we were able to practice three or four times more than in the past,” said Bryce Turner, who earned a bachelor’s degree in finance in 2021 and a master’s degree in business administration in 2022. “We could start seeing patterns in our swing and watch our progress throughout the winter. There are tests, called combines, for our skills and they give us certain performance scores and feedback to see how we progress. It helped a lot with our ability to get our swing going into the season.”
USF honored its senior golfers on Wednesday, including Turner and fellow men’s player Brent Trela and women’s players Sydney Heinbaugh and Jordan Cox.
For more information on USF golf, contact coach Corey Potts at 260-399-7700, ext. 6236.
Founded in 1890 in the Catholic Franciscan tradition, the University of Saint Francis offers more than 60 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs through the College of Health Sciences; College of Arts, Sciences and Business; and College of Adult and Distance Education. In addition to its traditional programs, USF designs focused curricula for working adults in Fort Wayne, Crown Point and online. USF Downtown houses the university’s business and music technology programs while offering enhanced internship and networking opportunities for students. The University of Saint Francis, recognized as an NAIA Five-Star Champion of Character institution, has 18 athletic programs boasting two individual and four team NAIA national championships. Approximately 2,200 students from a broad geographic region attend USF.