K-State Golf Unveils Indoor Chipping & Putting Facility

MANHATTAN, Kansas - Less than a week after adding a pair of significant pieces for each program's future to open the National Signing Period, K-State men's and women's golf coaches surprised their team members with another new addition - an indoor chipping and putting facility.

Tuesday evening, both coaching staffs conspired to have their teams gather outside the new facility near Manhattan Regional Airport under the guise of meeting a Wildcat donor, but when the garage door was lifted a new piece of the team's development puzzle was revealed.

"It was fun (to see their faces)," K-State women's golf head coach Kristi Knight said. "This has been a hard secret to keep since we started planning this project. When Pro Putt finished on Saturday it became even harder. You want to show them, and then you've got 19 to coordinate between the men's and women's teams. It was fun having them hang outside and wonder, 'where the heck are they?' It's fun having these additions because you know how important it's going to be for us. We just want the best for them and for our team and I think they're going to enjoy hanging out in here."

The new, climate controlled facility features nearly 2,500 square feet of Pro Putt Systems indoor putting green and a FlightScope golf simulator allowing the both programs to virtually play more than 100 different courses. K-State's installation includes three different chipping surfaces - fairway, rough and green - and multiple putting undulations to simulate a myriad of situations at consistent, championship green speeds.

K-State will continue to call Colbert Hills its home course, which it has since 2000, and adds the new facility to a training mix that includes exclusive use of Colbert Hills' Par 3 Course and Heyka Practice Area and the current Indoor Practice Facility near the clubhouse.

"It's always been a big need for us, especially being in this climate and the conditions that we can encounter in the winter," K-State men's golf head coach Grant Robbins said. "We have a good indoor facility at Colbert Hills where we can work on ball striking, but we were really lacking the facility to work on putting and short game and touch and things like that.

"This was a need that's going to be addressed in future facilities projects, but luckily, (Golf Sport Administrator) Casey Scott, (Director of Athletics) Gene Taylor and (Deputy Director of Athletics) Jill Shields, were receptive to the idea when Kristi and I came to them with an idea to do something temporary. We were able to find a space and a product that's very good that we can actually move and transport to the new facility when that's done. It's going to be great for our team and really enhance our productivity during the winter months and help us be more prepared for those tournaments in the early spring."

The facility is less than eight minutes from campus and five minutes from the team's home at Colbert Hills. In 2018, the programs assumed exclusive use of the Par 3 Course and Heyka Practice Area at Colbert Hills in a new agreement aimed enhancing the student-athlete experience through consistent practice times, availability and improved maintenance of the greens and short game areas.

"With the Par 3 course at Colbert Hills along with the championship golf course, our indoor facility, then having this piece in place - a player can come here and improve their game and get better, no matter what the weather is like," Robbins said.

Last week the K-State men's team announced the addition of Luke O'Neill (Connemara, Ireland), one of the top amateur golfers in Europe under the age of 18, and Cooper Schultz (Andover, Kan.), the 2019 Kansas Junior Amateur Champion. K-State's women's team signed Napua Glossner (San Diego, Calif.), the 2018 SDJGA Player of the Year, and Gabriela McNeely (Mico, Texas), a two-time district champion in Texas.

The men will open the spring portion of their 2019-20 season on Feb. 23-25 at TPC Dorado Beach Collegiate in San Juan, Puerto Rico, while the women will begin their spring slate at the SMU/Dallas Athletic Club Challenge on Feb. 3.

Kansas State University Athletics

K-State Golf Unveils Indoor Chipping & Putting Facility

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