This weekend the ISU men’s golf team is heading to Indianapolis to not only compete in the Wolf Run Invitational, but to try and get a better idea of what kind of team it really is.

“Learning is the number one priority,” said coach Andy Tank, “We’re hoping the players can get a feel for actual competition, and learn to deal with the pressure.”

The golfers for Iowa State aren’t the only ones that will be learning from the meet. Tank said that he is curious as to how the players will be dealing with the intense pressure of playing against competition.

“It is something that you can’t simulate when you’re on campus playing with the team at practice,” Tank said, “We had a chance to get a taste when we had our qualifying rounds this weekend, but nothing can compare to the actual experience.”

Tank is expecting to really get an understanding of how his players will approach this tournament compared to how they usually go about in practice.

He went on to say he is anxious to see how his players will approach the competition and how they will handle the adversity of different shot situations that come with the pressure of tournaments.

Tank said getting to see these things happen in real tournament play will really help him as a coach, so he can actually see what needs to be worked on. That way, he can really teach the players what to improve on and help them cope with all the pressure that comes with playing.

One thing that has been a change this year is Tank has not awarded any player on his team a captain status.

When asked about what has prevented this declaration, Tank said he feels as though his team has several guys that can lead, and this way the responsibility and pressure doesn’t fall onto one guy.

At the Wolf Run Invitational, the ISU golf team will be facing a number of opponents including Big Ten and Big 12 teams: Missouri, Kansas State, Indiana, Penn State, Michigan, Northwestern and the defending tournament champions Illinois, who has, arguably, the best player in college golf, Scott Langley.

Going into the weekend, the men’s team doesn’t have a captain, or any idea what to expect, but that doesn’t mean coach Tank isn’t comfortable and confident with the team.

“With golf, you never really know what’s going to happen,” Tank said “so I can’t predict what will happen this weekend, but I feel confident in our preparation, and I feel like the talent is there, so I think that this weekend with all the anticipation, and pressure, will give us a good idea of where we stand so far as a team, and we’ll go from there.”