The Illinois women’s golf team has never officially played at the Longbow Golf Club in Mesa, Ariz., but sophomore Samantha Postillion has.

For its second tournament, Illinois is travelling to Arizona to compete. The Illini will be up against a 16-team field for the Notre Dame Clover Cup Tournament.

“(Postillian has) shared her thoughts regarding the course and some of the key things to be successful in this particular golf course,” head coach Renee Slone said. “So everyone can keep that in mind as they’re preparing.”

A couple of those keys to success include the tightness of the course, which basically means that players’ shots will have to be especially accurate in order to keep the ball inbounds. Because the course is in the desert, it will be very easy for a player to hit her ball out of the fairway and into one of the many substantial bunkers.

“We need to hit it straighter because it’s a lot easier to miss the fairway at this course because there’s desert all over the place,” Postillion said.

The speed of the green at the course also tends to be faster than at most courses. This feature will affect the team’s putting by calling for softer putts.

“(I have to be) aware of how fast the greens are and how undulated they are,” redshirt sophomore Jacqueline Calamaro said. “(Postillion) let us know they’re not going to be as flat as last time.”

Both the tightness and green speed have been the driving factors for what the emphasis has been on in practice for the team. It has utilized the fast green at its indoor facility to better simulate the green at Longbow. To prepare for the width of the course, video technology could prove to be another key asset along with the practice surface.

“I’ve worked a lot on my swing mechanics with the video system that we have because I do want to keep my ball as controlled as possible,” Postillion said. “With putting, I’m just practicing lag putting, like longer putts, because I just want to get the speed to be good and similar to what we’re going to be playing.”

The Illini also have another source of information in former player Seul Ki Park (’08),who just competed in the 2013 Symetra Tour last weekend at Longbow; she let the team in on the current course conditions. She told Slone that the course is playing “firm and fast” and that the “greens are rolling pretty quickly.”

“With it playing firm and fast, the greens aren’t holding very well,” Slone said. “We’re going to have to really pay attention to our carry yardages and how far it’s running out so we know exactly where to land the ball.”

The Illini begin competition Friday with the first round, while rounds two and three will take place on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. The team hopes to bounce back and record its first positive tournament result of the spring season, especially with the extra foreknowledge of the course.  

“We got some information about the golf course,” Slone said. “That is going to help us hopefully prepare even better than we would be able to normally.” 

Alex can be reached at [email protected] and @AlexOrtiz2334.