Contact: Sammy McDavid
Mississippi State's 18-hole golf course continues to receive national attention.
Golfweek, an Orlando, Fla.-based publication, is ranking the par-72 public links among the Top 10 university and college courses in the Eastern United States. Listed at ninth, it follows the University of Virginia and precedes the University of Georgia.
Previously, Golf Digest magazine recommended MSU in its "Places to Play" listings in 1990, 1994 and 1996.
In the 1998 Golfweek survey, Williams College in Massachusetts is regarded as having the best campus links east of the Mississippi River. Others in this top group include Yale University in Connecticut; Colgate in New York; Mt. Holyoke, also in Massachusetts; Duke in North Carolina; and Penn State and Bucknell, both in Pennsylvania.
With a circulation of some 90,000 in the 50 states and Canada, Golfweek is the only major golf-oriented publication distributed weekly. In its national rankings, the magazine divided college courses among East, Central and West divisions. Oklahoma State's course is named best in the Central Region, while Stanford is the best in the West.
Located three miles east of the Starkville campus on state Highway 182, the Brian Ault-designed MSU course features a championship layout on gently rolling hills. In addition to athletic pleasures, it also serves an educational purpose as a teaching laboratory for the professional golf management and the golf and sports turf management academic programs.
One of only four sanctioned by the Professional Golfers Association of America--and the only one in the Southeast--MSU's golf management program prepares students for careers as club professionals or directors of golf. Currently, nearly 200 students are enrolled from throughout the U.S.--and from as far away as Australia and Ireland.