The Mountaineers’ men’s golf team had consistent success in the fall season, placing in the top three in three of their five tournaments. Head coach Danny Forshey said he believes that this doesn’t impact the spring season and they must stay hungry for success.

“We’re not one to look back on what we’ve done,” Forshey said. “What we did in the fall won’t have any impact on what we do this week or this season. If you look back on it, I think we had a change of mentality. Taking over a program, there’s a bunch of built-in reasons why you’re not supposed to win here, and we don’t buy into that. We think it’s an advantage to have the cold weather.”

It is hard to have good golf conditions in Boone winter weather. The grass is different from any other place because of the cold, which limits how much practice the team gets in. This leads them to focus on conditioning and being prepared physically to play every day. The team faces obstacles because of the landscape and weather, but through Forshey’s focus on mentality and conditioning, they are making these obstacles an advantage.

“When you can’t do certain things, you find other ways to get better,” Forshey said. “Running, working out…whatever it might be. We get off the mountain whenever the weather’s bad, and when it’s bad off the mountain, we’ll use the indoor facility. We’re really working on training their minds, not making any excuses of why we can’t do it.”

App State brings in multiple new faces looking to make an impact, including freshman Sverrir Haraldsson. Haraldsson is from Iceland and has experience competing at the highest level. He competed on the 18U national team in Iceland and won the player of the year award at his home golf club.

“He’s been a great addition to our squad, he’s a big-time recruit,” Forshey said. “We are excited to see what he looks like this week. I’ve talked to Sverrir for a while and the one thing I noticed was his mentality. He’s a competitor and he’s played in some high level competition in Iceland and Europe before he ever got here and he fits in with who we are.”

Sverrir looks to bring that success to App State and help this team have a successful spring with his experience on the biggest stages.

Forshey had transfers come with him from Bethune-Cookman and also recruited freshman Addison Beam, who he spoke highly of after his impressive debut in the fall.

“He played the last couple tournaments for us and has been coming on strong, seeing a lot of development in him. It’s always interesting to see when you have three months off after your last tournament, where does a freshman show back up?” Forshey said.

Beam, a Cherryville, NC native, won the individual title as a senior in the 2018 1A State Championship, which was part of the reason why Forshey believed he could be huge for this team.

With a mix of freshman and transfers coming in, there are a lot of new faces on this team. Forshey has brought this new mentality with the new players and has brought it to the veterans on this roster.

“I’ve coached in perfect weather before, not saying you get content, but I think we are a much hungrier team than I’ve ever coached,” Forshey stated. “My hope and goal for this team is to compete with themselves at all times and compete to be the best we can be.”

In a place where golf doesn’t seem to always fit naturally, Forshey said he believes this mentality and chip on their shoulder will make App State men’s golf a force to reckon with when they get off the mountain and compete.

The Mountaineers began their season with an 8th place finish out of 14 teams in the Martin Downs Collegiate in Palm City, Florida. Their next tournament is the Bash At The Beach in Myrtle Beach, SC on March 9 and 10.