Iowa men’s golf head coach Mark Hankins has had a consistent goal heading into the team’s tournaments this season — finish in the top five.

So far, so good.

The Hawkeyes placed second in the Golfweek Conference Challenge in Riverside on Sept. 1 and finished in fifth place at the Golden Gopher Invitational on Sept. 14 in Wayzata, Minn.

Hankins’ goal remains the same as Iowa tees of at the 15-team Virginia Commonwealth Shootout today in Manakin-Sabot, Va.

“Finishing in the top 33 percent of the field means you have had a pretty solid performance,” Hankins said. “I think a top-five finish is a logical goal.”

The Hawkeyes bring the same team to Virginia that competed in the Gopher Invitational — juniors Vince India and Brad Hopfinger, and sophomores Barret Kelpin, Brad George, and Chris Brant. The group brings experience with all but Hopfinger having participated in the VCU Shootout last year.

“The course gives a lot of opportunities to make birdies,” he said. “I think our team is one that can make a lot of birdies in bunches, so we’ll see how we handle it.”

Hopfinger said he has been working on staying strong mentally in preparation for the tournament. After tying for first place for the individual title at the Golfweek Challenge, the Lake Forest, Ill., native said he expected too much out of himself in Minnesota.

“I’ve just been trying to keep a good mindset for this week,” Hopfinger said. “Last time, I had too high of expectations, so I’ve been trying to keep that under control.”

India agreed the team tends to struggle when individual expectations get too high.

“You can’t get ahead of yourself and don’t get too cocky,” he said. “It’s good to have confidence in yourself to a degree, but if you go out there expecting to finish in first place, you are just going to end up getting down on yourself.”

After playing close to home for its first tournament of the season, the Hawkeyes struggled a little during the first day of the Gopher Invitational, finishing the day in seventh place. Once they were able to settle in, they jumped up two spots to finish the tournament.

Hankins said traveling out of state may have had an effect on the team’s mentality, but getting the first road trip out of the way will benefit the squad.

“We weren’t quite as sharp as we would like,” Hankins said. “But every tournament is different, and we are familiar with this course. I think we will handle this tournament better.”

Hopfinger agreed, stating the travel may have thrown the team off.

“Most of our summer tournaments were close to home, and the Conference Challenge felt like a summer tournament to all of us,” he said. “When we had to travel for our last tournament, it kind of hit us that that the season has started. We’ve had a good couple weeks of practice and we should be ready to go this week.”