STARKVILLE — Mississippi State golf coaches will have a hard time finding a better college facility than the one the Bulldogs will be using come August.
It was announced last year that Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point would become the new home to both MSU men’s and women’s varsity golf programs. The $2.2 million project will add all sorts of amenities for the student-athletes to help better their games.
Old Waverly, which hosted the 1999 U.S. Women’s Open, is already one of the better golf courses in the south. By adding the new facility, it has a chance to stand alone when compared to other facilities in the Southeastern Conference and around the country.
“There will be no facility in the country, especially in the SEC, that can mirror what we have,” said Brown-Lemm who will start her sixth year at MSU in the fall. “It’s that good, the quality is there, and the maintenance is there. It’s just going to be an amazing facility to get better on.”
The project includes a driving range, short-game area, a unique putting green shaped as the state of Mississippi, three other putting greens with their own unique design giving the MSU student-athletes a selection of options, a team clubhouse, and indoor hitting bays. The 6,300-square foot team clubhouse features locker rooms, players’ lounge, coaches’ offices, indoor putting center (with Sam PuttLab training system), exercise room and conference room. The men and women will have separate amenities in the clubhouse.
“Rain or shine, flood or snow, we can do something out there,” said Brown-Lemm who beams when talking about the new facility and her program.
The 2,431-square foot indoor hitting bay will be equipped with two Trackman swing and ball flight analysis systems and a club repair room. All of these projects are expected to be finished before the fall semester starts in August.
Old Waverly was founded by MSU alum George Bryan. MSU’s Athletic Administration building, the Bryan Building, is named after his father, John H. Bryan Sr. The Bryan family is once again stepping in and helping with MSU athletics.
“With the support of the Bryan family and other key donors, we will soon have one of the top facilities anywhere,” said men’s coach Clay Homan in a school release. “This facility has been given a tremendous amount of thought and planning and is sure to give our student-athletes all they need to excel at the highest level.”
Brown-Lemm and Homan have seen success on the recruiting trail the last couple of years, but this will give them another talking point when they talk to recruits who are not familiar with MSU.
Brown-Lemm – who recruited Ally McDonald and Rica Tse who have already won professional events just months after finishing at MSU – has already seen the effects of the new facility in her recruiting.
“I’ve got access to some incredible young golfers that want to be apart of something like Mississippi State, that are hungry to continue what Ally and Rica started,” said Brown-Lemm who will watch McDonald compete in this year’s U.S. Women’s Open which begins today.
McDonald was a last-minute addition to the U.S. Open field that will take place this weekend at Lancaster Country Club in Pennslyvania. She will start her journey today with a 7:24 a.m. tee time. She is grouped with Austin Ernst and Lee-Anne Pace.
Along with having a new practice facility, Old Waverly is adding another 18-hole golf course to its property. It was revealed earlier this year that the Bryan family had joined forces with golf course architect Gil Hanse and outdoor brand Mossy Oak to create a 7,400 yard, par-72 golf course – the Mossy Oak Golf Club.
Hanse is also designing MSU’s practice facility. Hanse and his team renovated Trump National Golf Club – “The Blue Monster” – in Doral, Florida. He is also designing the Olympic Golf Course in Rio de Janerio, Brazil, which will be home to the 2016 Olympics.
The course is expected to be entirely finished in the fall of 2017, with nine holes done and ready to play in the fall of 2016. The new golf course will give MSU an added dynamic.
With the new practice facility, Old Waverly, and the Mossy Oak course, Brown-Lemm believes the property located just southwest of West Point High School, will be one of the best in the nation, not just at the college level.
“I can potentially see us being top 10 in the United States for golf facilities,” she said.
Ben Wait is a sports writer for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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