Tuesday marks the final day of the autumn portion of the Iowa men’s golf schedule, but the players won’t put golf on the backburner.

After finishing sixth overall at the Royal Oaks Tournament with a score of 42-over, Iowa wrapped up a fairly successful fall season Tuesday.

Although the players admitted they will take some time off, they are going to get back in the swing of things pretty quickly.

“We’ll take some time off and evaluate where each individual is with his game,” head coach Tyler Stith said.

The players are determined to take advantage of this opportunity to stay in form and stay in shape.

“I just really want to work on being comfortable off the tee and staying physically fit, so I can go out there in the spring and kick some butt,” freshman Jack Holmgren said.

Players suchas Brian Bullington are understandably looking forward to some time off, after a busy summer between seasons, which included a low score in the first round and eventual 13th-place finish at the Canadian Amateur Championship.

“Most of us have been playing almost nonstop since February, so I’ll enjoy taking a little time off,” he said. “But that’s really just on the golf end. We put more of an emphasis on getting in better shape, hitting the gym a lot more, and keeping everything in check,” Bullington said. “The big thing with the winter break is staying sharp, improving on anything mechanically, and physically getting into better shape.”

Each player will take a different approach in the winter, depending on a number of factors.

“Well go into our strength-conditioning program and focus on everyone individually,” Stith said. “The amount of playing that our guys will do through the holiday season will vary, but everyone will take measures to improve.”

Even if that playing time is short over the winter, everything counts toward staying sharp for the spring.

A year ago, the Hawkeyes focused in on improvement and went into the spring with a vengeance. They finished fourth in the Big Ten Match Play Championships, won the Big Four Championships, finished second at the ASU Thunderbird Invitational, first at the Hawkeye Great River Invitational, first at the Boilermaker Invitational, third at the Big Ten championships, and ninth at regionals.

That type of form can be attributed to the energy the team regains in the winter. While there are negative consequences of having the winter off, the Hawkeyes benefited from the break last season, and Stith is optimistic they will do the same this season if they take the right steps.

“We’ve definitely had a good start to the season, and I think things will get even better in the spring,” he said.

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