Starting in fall of this year, the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse will be welcoming its twentieth intercollegiate sport to its repertoire; Women’s Golf.

The UWL athletic department introduced David Taebel serve as the head coach of the UWL’s newest athletic team. He is from the La Crosse area and currently coaches girls’ golf at Holmen High School. Before that, he was the head coach of both the girls’ and boys’ golf teams at Stoughton High School.

Women’s golf was a varsity sport during the 1970s until 1983. With its reinstatement, UWL is the last school in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference to add women’s golf back to the sport module, the grid of sports that all the schools offer.

As a long-time high school coach, Taebel says that it will be a rewarding experience to coach one step up at the collegiate level, “I am excited to lead the inaugural season and join in the reestablishment of the program”. He came upon the position through a job posting and knew it was something he wanted to be a part of.

In the past couple months, Taebel and UWL Director of Athletics Kim Blum, along with Deputy Director of Athletics Erin Thacker, have been in the process of solidifying a roster and developing a plan for current female prospective golfers as well as incoming freshmen. Taebel said it was exciting to see so many students interested in joining the team.

“This was a good addition to add opportunities for women and finding a sport that fits into the conference sport module,” Thacker stated. She said she has been working extensively with interested incoming freshmen and transfer students with releases and making sure all student-athletes are compliant to play.

The roster will consist of 8-10 girls, Taebel stated that they are also in the process of figuring out how they will choose the athletes for the team, “it’s been hard, most of the girls probably don’t have their clubs here at school, and most have probably not played in a while because of the winter season”. Although some of these beginning tasks have been difficult, Taebel enjoys the challenge.

It is fortunate that the La Crosse area offers numerous golf courses for play. Currently, Taebel is looking at Forest Hills and Cedar Creek Country Club in Onalaska for use for the team. He says the courses are very different, which makes for a great combination for players to work on their skills.

There will be a conference tournament in the fall. How each athlete performs then will determine whether they will qualify for nationals in the spring. With the semester coming to a close soon and summer right around the corner, there will be plenty of time for the golfers to prepare for their inaugural season.