After its fall season ended Monday, and with winter quickly approaching, the Iowa women’s golf team will soon head indoors to work on its game during the off-season.

According to NCAA rules, a team cannot practice more than eight hours per week during the off-season.

Coming off a last-place finish at the Jim West Invitational, the Hawkeyes have a lot to work on during the winter in order to prepare for the spring.

“I think they’re definitely disappointed in how the fall season went,” head coach Megan Menzel said.

Members of the team agreed that there were positives, but pointed out things that are still in need of work.

“We’ll mostly work on the fundamentals of our swings and work on our short games,” sophomore Jessie Sindlinger said. “We’ll work a lot on our chipping and putting.”

Menzel also noted the short game as something the team will focus on during the winter. The fourth-year head coach said her golfers have been getting into trouble and giving up too many strokes on the putting green.

Along with chipping and putting, the golfers will also work on their physical fitness during the off-season. This includes both cardiovascular work and weight training.

Menzel plans on incorporating yoga into the Hawkeyes schedule in order to strengthen both their minds and bodies. The practice will increase the golfers’ flexibility, balance, and mental strength because “it’s good practice too for staying in the present moment,” Menzel said.

Each Hawkeye has a different plan of action as an individual for heading into the winter. Senior Shelby Phillips hopes to work on her mental game, while Elisa Suarez and Sindlinger both plan to work on improving their swings.

While the team does not want to completely divert its attention from the game, the offseason gives the golfers time to focus on other things as well.

“Off-season is the time to get ready but also relax,” Phillips said. “Being in season can be stressful, and this is the time to caught up on things that you haven’t been able to for a while.”

Suarez also said the off-season is a good time to work on things other than golf, mainly her studies.

Sindlinger, however, does not want to stray too far from her concentration on golf.

“During the season, we focus a lot on playing holes and getting out on the course, and during off-season we can’t do that very much since we are inside but we work more on our swings and fundamentals,” Sindlinger said.

Although the team did not achieve what it had hoped to during the fall season, Menzel is positive about what could lie in the future for the Hawkeyes.

“Thankfully, they have the ability to believe in each other, they all know they can do it, and it’s just a matter of doing it all on the same day,” she said. “I think they feel like they need to work hard this off-season, and they’re definitely looking forward to our spring schedule and feel as though they can make a good move in the spring.”

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