Women In Flight Fuels Golf Success
By Rob Moseley
Editor, GoDucks.com
Winning a Pac-12 individual championship, as Caroline Inglis did April 22 in Colorado, required every element of her game to click at the same time. First among equals, though, was her putting.
Inglis shot a career-low 67 to open the three-round tournament. Her ability to hit fairways lapsed a bit in the second round, which she made up for by getting up-and-down six times on the front side. In the final round, Inglis closed with another 67, and again credited her touch with the putter.
“My putting speed was really good,” Inglis recalled a few days later. “If I didn’t hit it, it was close; I’d just have a tap-in instead of a 4-footer. Which took some stress off, for sure.”
Not coincidentally, two days before leaving for Pac-12s, Inglis and the rest of the Ducks sat in as head coach Ria Scott and assistant Teresa Puga completed training for the AimPoint system of reading greens.
AimPoint has becoming increasingly popular in the collegiate and professional ranks as a technique for diagnosing the slope and speed of greens through feel rather than sight. The Ducks, who begin play Thursday at an NCAA Regional in San Antonio, say its adoption by their team has had a direct effect on their success over the past season, including Inglis’ conference title.
That success is one of the best early examples of the athletic department’s year-old Women In Flight program in action. Designed to provide expanded opportunities and resources for Oregon’s women’s programs, Women In Flight provided funding for the women’s golf team to participate in “The Program” as a preseason team-building and leadership device, and to consult with staff from AimPoint prior to the conference championships.
“We’re so excited with the growth of Women In Flight, and the direct impact the program has on the female student-athlete experience,” said Callie Wagner, assistant director of development for Women In Flight. “It’s amazing to see our women’s programs reaping the benefits within the first year, and we can’t wait to watch the impact Women In Flight will have as we continue to spread our wings.”
The success of Scott’s golf team has provided objective proof of Women In Flight’s ability to impact UO women’s programs. As a team, the Ducks averaged 31.61 putts per round in 2013-14; since first adopting AimPoint at the beginning of this season, they’ve dropped their average to 30.91 putts entering Regionals.
Senior Cassy Isagawa, “a feel player” with her putter until this season, according to Inglis, has cut her average putts from 31.47 to 30.59 by employing AimPoint. Sophomore Marcella Pranovia has shaved nearly a stroke per round thanks to improved putting, cutting her average putts from 32.41 to 31.47.
Pranovia credits that improvement to AimPoint, and thus in turn to Women In Flight. “It made everything easier,” Pranovia said. “I couldn’t read greens for anything, to save my life. It’s really helping.”
Scott said Isagawa will stick with the AimPoint techniques she learned at Oregon as she moves on to a professional career after this spring. Those techniques were reinforced during the coaching certification that took place prior to the Pac-12 tournament, a visit by AimPoint staff that was funded by Women In Flight.
“It’s something that’s so specialized, a lot of teams don’t have access,” Scott said. “For us to be able to have that financial support to do it is huge.”
Women In Flight also funded Oregon's participation in "The Program," a military bootcamp-style preseason team-building weekend. From that, Scott determined it would be beneficial to name a team captain for the first time in recent years, a designation that went to Inglis.
Wagner, who played lacrosse at Oregon, hopes to help provide more of the same as Women In Flight continues to grow. “As a former student-athlete at Oregon myself, the program is near to my heart,” she said. “I’m passionate about the mission of Women In Flight, value the commitment Oregon Athletics has made to support our women’s programs and understand the importance of enhancing the female student-athlete experience.
“Women In Flight is breaking down stereotypes, challenging tradition and empowering women through sport. We’re building a community around women’s athletics, and we’re so thankful for all of our Women In Flight donors.”
Learn more about Women In Flight by clicking here.
