Mike Small has the best program on campus.

The Illinois men’s golf team proved that fact once again Sunday afternoon when it won its fifth-straight Big Ten Championship, and Thomas Pieters picked up the school’s third-straight Big Ten individual title. The team has also qualified for five straight NCAA Championships, something it will try to improve on this May.

Sure, Justin Spring won a national title last year and four straight Big Ten titles leading up to that, but two of the last three individual NCAA golf champions have been Illini.

Spring also doesn’t have to face the same problems that Small encounters.

The men’s golf program has the distinct disadvantage of being located in the north, where it is not possible to play golf year-round. In the winter, Small’s squad must play at the Demirjian Golf Practice Facility, an indoor complex, while its opponents get to play outside on actual golf courses.

This disadvantage is obvious when looking at past NCAA Champions. The last northern school to win an NCAA title was Minnesota in 2002. And the last before that? Ohio State in 1979. Before that? Purdue in 1961. For the record, that’s three northern champions in 52 years.

While Illinois’ other programs host many meets, the men’s golf team must travel thousands of miles over the course of the season to places like Sarasota, Fla., and Goodyear, Ariz., for a regular season meet.

It’s much too cold for golf during much of the spring semester, so Illinois only “hosts” one meet a year — the Olympia Fields/Illini Invitational in Olympia Fields, Ill., two hours north of campus — in September.

The rest of the Big Ten also has this disadvantage, but Illinois is clearly on top of the conference. The five-title run demonstrates that. So does the nine-stroke margin with which the Illini easily won this weekend’s tournament.

Small’s beginning to have a presence around the world, an increasingly necessary thing in a college golf world that relies more and more on international talent. Small has recruited his fair share of foreign standouts; defending National Champion Pieters and freshman phenom Thomas Detry are both native Belgians. Small has also brought in two west coast talents in David Kim and Brian Campbell, both California natives.

Illini can be seen everywhere in the golf world. Small’s top two players in the last two seasons, 2010 NCAA champion Scott Langley and two-time Big Ten Champion Luke Guthrie, are currently on the PGA Tour. Pieters, a junior who announced he will forego his final season of eligibility, will likely make it three next season. Guthrie and D.A. Points both finished in the top 10 at Sunday’s Zurich Classic.

The program isn’t going anywhere. While Small keeps losing talented players, he keeps replacing them with young talent. This year’s squad had no seniors, and Pieters was the lone junior. The other four contributors, two sophomores and two freshmen, will be back next season.

You can expect the trophy case at Demirjian to continue to fill.

Johnathan is a sophomore in Media. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @IlliniColumnist.