The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss Golf Course
8/14/2009 | Athletics
In most collegiate sports programs, the quality of the facilities used for training its athletes has a great deal to do with the success of the program. With the Whitten Golf Complex, the new driving range and the addition of the Country Club of Oxford, the Ole Miss golf program has taken a great leap forward in providing its athletes with the top notch facilities required to be competitive on a national level.
The Ole Miss Golf Club, located one mile north of the campus, completed a $3.5 million renovation in October of 2008. Renovation efforts included green complexes rebuilt to USGA specifications, fairways sprigged with 419 Bermuda grass, new cart paths, a fleet of 60 new electric golf carts, a state-of-the-art 900 sprinkler head irrigation system capable of pumping out more than 850,000 gallons of water a night, rebuilt sand bunkers and the addition of back tees on several holes, pushing the course to more than 7,000 yards in length. Also, the driving range has been doubled in size. Watermark Golf LLC/Nathan Crace Design was responsible for the renovation project.
"I'm excited for our team, our university and our town," said men's head coach Ernest Ross at the re-opening dedication ceremony. "This is simply a great step forward."
"To open a magnificent course like this is another step closer to being a SEC champion," women's head coach Michele Drinkard said. "This course will help build our golf program."
The John Whitten and Marianne Thaxton Whitten Golf Complex, completed in the summer of 2002, is a state of the art facility provided by the generosity of the Whittens. Golfers themselves, and supporters of the golf programs at Ole Miss, the Whittens wanted to ensure that Ole Miss had facilities to help propel the programs into the future.
The center houses team meeting rooms, locker rooms for both teams, coaches offices, areas for storage and repair of golf equipment as well as a state of the art center with computer equipment to help in training individuals.
In the fall of 2006, a new driving range opened to be used by both teams exclusively, and last year a new shortgame facility was completed, giving the Rebels their own practice area.
