Washington Golf

During a recent trip to Washington National Golf Club, Matt Thurmond had the opportunity to introduce Kevin Spooner to “The Playground.”

As Spooner took advantage of the opportunity to utilize the Huskies’ private practice facility, the former Washington golfer turned to the program’s coach and said, “This is like real golf. These are real golf shots, but in a practice setting.”

Thurmond started to laugh.

“Yeah, that’s the whole point,” he said with a smile.

For anyone who has ever taken a swing at a driving range, each facility looks similar to all the others. Golfers stand in a line and club-by-club hit balls toward yardage markers.

Given the diversity in skill level, this traditional setup is necessary at most golf courses and dedicated driving ranges.

But The Playground, well, it’s “one-of-a-kind.”

“It’s golfers’ heaven."

It was designed for elite golfers to be able to authentically create all of the golf shots a player would take during a competitive round.   

“All the shots out here are real shots you’d have out on the course, but you can get a lot more of them than you get when you’re playing golf,” Thurmond said. “That’s when you really learn your best, when you’re right on the edge of your abilities and you have to have your senses heightened.”

The golfers in Washington’s program are at a level where they can work on shots from a variety of directions at the same time and have enough control over the ball to eliminate the risk of hitting a teammate.  

“We hit over the top of guys and right next to guys where it would be a safety concern other places,” Thurmond said.

At The Playground, Washington’s golfers get to hit shots directly onto the type of greens they would see during a competitive round. The practice facility was designed to be firm and fast all year.

“We just built it in a quality way and we’ll maintain it in a quality way that will make sure we have firm greens to chip on and hit wedge shots to all year,” he said.

The idea is for the Huskies to use their time on the course more efficiently than their competition.

So far, the new facility is working.

“It’s golfers’ heaven,” women’s standout Charlotte Thomas said. “You can’t get a better practice facility. That’s really helped us fine-tune our short game. We’ve really taken advantage of that resource, enabling us to hone in on our games. That’s been really good.”

Both as a practical tool to improve a golfer’s game and a recruiting tool to help bring in more top talent, The Playground has become a pivotal part of Washington’s program. 

“It’s changed everything for us,” women’s coach Mary Lou Mulflur said. “We have a place where we can go and work on any shot, any chip, any pitch, any putt, any tee shot, anything. We can do whatever we want. They don’t have to worry about somebody coming in, being in somebody’s way, any of that.”

Before OD Vincent became the executive director of the PGA Tour Northern Trust Open in 2013, the former Washington golf coach was a senior associate athletic director at the university.

In his role, with his understanding of the Huskies’ golf program, he was frequently a sounding board as The Playground was in its conceptual stage. To see it go from an idea to reality, Vincent views this facility as another tool to help both the men’s and women’s programs continue to flourish.

“The name is perfect for what Matt and Mary Lou want to accomplish out there,” Vincent said. “You want to get a lot done, but you want to have a great time as well while you’re doing it. You want it to be a place where the kids really want to go.”

“It’s changed everything for us. We have a place where we can go and work on any shot, any chip, any pitch, any putt, any tee shot, anything. We can do whatever we want. They don’t have to worry about somebody coming in, being in somebody’s way, any of that.”

The Playground is a place where the Huskies can practice in peace or crank up the music and toss a football. It is a golf oasis for every player in the program.

It is practical, but cool, and more importantly, it’s a fun place to practice.

As Mulflur tried to come up with the right way to describe the facility, she kept going back to one word: “phenomenal.”

Like Thomas said, The Playground is “golfers’ heaven.”