Well we made it back to Pella, the ladies are back in classes and we are waiting for the “new” snow to melt.  It seems as if we hit the rewind button to over a week ago.  Almost as if we are waiting for our trip to happen.  But there is one major difference…the team.  We are different, we are closer, we are more together than we were a week ago.  Upon our return, I asked the ladies about what they enjoyed most about the trip and they gave the expected answers: the weather, the nice golf courses, getting to play outside, hanging out by the pool, etc.  Unexpectedly, every single person’s responses had to do with things we all did together. That is how we are different. It’s hard to believe that a group that spends as much time on and off the course, working out at 6am and hitting in the shed together could get any closer, but they did!  As a coach, I have many things that I would like our team to accomplish throughout the season, but I know there is one thing I can check off my list after last week: become a family.  The ladies on this team have created an environment that you would have to be crazy not to want to be a part of, and how they have conducted themselves while doing it makes me proud!! Plus we got a little better at golf, that’s always good.

Thanks for following along and we hope you had as much fun as we did, but i doubt it. 
It was a blast!! 
-Coach

Just in case you were wondering what some of those highlights may have been:

• Highs and lows (sharing with the team your high and low from each day, done at dinner)
• SNL with Justin Timberlake, until the last couple of skits (weird!!)
• The night we sat around the table talking was also pretty cool
• I loved our white team, purple team, team Chelsey day, it was hilarious!
• My favorite thing from the trip was just being together, especially doing Hi’s and low’s
• the team bonding around the dinner table
• being able to play outside in the sun
• Getting to golf on beautiful courses in warm weather!
• Our Harlem Shake video
• All of the bonding time the team had together.  I believe we are closer than ever!
• Going to Kokomo not once or twice, but three times.
• Golfing in the warm weather
• I really enjoyed getting to go outside of Phoenix to play. Tubac was a lot of fun and different from the other places we have played.
• I enjoyed our pool time!
• forming new bonds with teammates that I have known for a while now 
• the golf!!!!!!!
• all the inside jokes
• the sun!!!!!! However allergic I may be I still enjoyed!! 
• Golfing with the ladies at Arrowhead
• Making the Harlem Shake video
• Meeting a new friend, Tammy

There and back again

Well where to I begin? This has been another fantastic spring break! This entry is a little late because we spent the entire day traveling! We woke up early (some earlier than others) and got ready to say goodbye to the beautiful weather. After a nutritious breakfast of left over pizza and cereal, we used our Tetris skills to load up the van with all of our luggage. We took a final team picture as the sun rose and headed off to the airport.

                We made record time unloading everything and then waited for coach to return the van. Apparently everyone visiting Phoenix decided to leave Saturday as well on Southwest because we zigzagged for a long time (also not an easy thing to do with golf clubs). We finally made it through and got onto our flight to Chicago-Midway. Once in Chicago we ate lunch and got ready to board our final flight home to Des Moines.  We boarded the flight and then sat there for about 45min to an hour because of luggage and then traffic (good thing we had Scrable). By the time we took off, we could have landed in Des Moines. When we finally made it, around 7:20ish you could tell it had been a long day. We loaded the bus and just about everyone passed out.

                We finished the night with Half-priced Appetizers at Applebee’s. This trip has been one of the best! As a senior I will miss these ladies so much, but I know that they are a great group and are in great hands. They will continue to improve their game and grow. These trips take a team and truly turn them into a family. Everyone got closer and will have stories to tell for the rest of their lives. I will definitely miss these trips because the team is my family. We’ve played some amazing courses and had a great time! I hope you have enjoyed reading about our trip as much as we’ve had experiencing it!

-Ashley

Field of Dreams…Pool of Tears.

Kelsey’s Blog Entry!!!

 Friday morning started off with a bang as we visited the Timmers! Maurine graciously made mixed fruit, a casserole and cinnamon rolls, while Gary provided the team with some pretty great jokes. We also got to pick their famous grapefruit tree, and Taylor is the best worker I’ve ever seen pick that thing! She got up in the tree once again and picked everything in sight. Unfortunately, we were in a time crunch so we couldn’t go lawn bowling again or accept Gary’s offer to hangout with him all day at their rec center’s lazy river.

 After the Timmers we headed to the White Sox/Cubs game. We stayed for about four innings of the game, just enough time to see the Cubbies get creamed (sorry Jill & Nichole) and get on TV! We were sitting in the outfield and a homer was hit and it unfortunately hit somebody behind us. Fortunately, the person the ball hit was okay and we got some valuable airtime. The footage can be seen online if you’re curious to find some of your new favorite superstars.

 After a quick and delicious lunch at Sonic we headed to Jill’s former home in Phoenix! We had to tease her because she claimed she would recognize the house after she saw it, but they all looked the same for a LONG time in that neighborhood. After taking a quick picture of her at her house, we headed back to our own house back in Chandler.

 Today was the day of pool push ins and I swear that Timmy was the mastermind of almost all of them, but strategically wore headphones and held the flip cam for the majority of his pool time so he couldn’t be thrown in. Chelsey was thrown in the pool after being lured to it by saying a golfer hit a ball in the pool, mind you right after her shower. I was thrown in because of straight up anarchy! I was minding my own business, you know, writing my literature review out by the pool when it all went down. I stood up and was automatically attacked, so I dropped to the ground and held onto the outside table for dear life. After about a 3-minute struggle, I finally was picked up and thrown in. While I was in the shower, Rachel was thrown in after a long struggle as well. All three of us were in our everyday outfits, so needless to say we were sopping wet for quite some time. Emily was also thrown into the pool several times throughout the afternoon, but she was in her swimming suit. Unfortunately, the flip cam also thought it needed to take a dip in the pool so it is currently drying out in a container of rice. (Hopefully videos will be up on our Facebook page before long.)

 Now everybody is starting to pack, and we’re getting ready for our final fro-yo run. I know we’ll all miss Phoenix so much, because this entire week was a blast! Some of us are tempted to drop out of school and chill in sun golfing forever. Oh well, we’re all going to make the trip back to chilly Iowa and probably a little bit of snow. To our loyal family, friends and fans, we’ll be seeing you soon!

 -Kelsey

Jill finiding her old home.

Team at the ball game

Ashley (center) after the home run ball.

The team with the pickings

A long day with a great finish!!

Today was a long day.  We started by getting dressed and ready to go watch our Central Dutch Softball team in a few innings of their tournament.  We took the drive through the desert and finally got to Tuscan, encountering a few “dust storms” along the way.  It was nice to see some familiar Dutch faces and cheer on the team for their warm-up and first few pitches. We couldn’t stay long because we were off to our first tournament of the year.  We played at Tubac Golf Resort, were they filmed some of Tin Cup.  This course was a diamond in the desert, fun but challenging.  We played a four person best ball against St. Lawrence University from New York; it was nice to play some golf with some new east coast friends.  An interesting unique characteristic about this course was that there was a bull on it, yes BULL. While the bull was nice it just stood around by the fence, but we had to get some pictures with it.  After our long tournament in the sun we decided to grab some Mexican Food from a recommendation from our new friends on the St. Lawrence team.  We were only 20 miles from the border so we knew it had to be good.  Oh, how it was!  We all made sure we ate enough before we took the 2 hour drive home, well coach drove and the majority of us sleep. 
Now we are at the house, showering and getting ready for bed. I know we will all sleep good tonight after our long day; but a nice one seeing a new part of Arizona. 

Nichole       

…Central College in Pella, Iowa…Central Iowa!!

There was a cow on the course, no bull.

Great finisihing hole.

What a view.

A great meal with the team. #i wish all my burritos had fruit

Animals feeding animals.

The winning team.

The team at The Raven at Verrado.

Today, we girls got to sleep in.  This was nice because we had a long day yesterday.  Coach cooked us a huge breakfast that consisted of eggs, potatoes, bacon, sausage, and toast.  All I can say is well done Coach because it was delicious!  After eating breakfast, we all got organized and headed to The Raven at Verrado.  This course was recommended to us to play by Taylor and her family.  It was a great recommendation if I do say so myself!

We played in groups of three.  To make the day fun, the first nine we played the game Wolf.  I am not the one to explain this game to you, so if you have further questions just ask Coach.  Wolf got a little boring (maybe because Taylor and Rachel were creaming me) so my group asked Coach if we could switch it up the second nine.  We decided to play a best shot for the second nine.  It was each group of three playing against each other.  During the best shot competition, I tried to feed a

Kelsey, Ashley and Nichole.

rabbit one of my Scooby Doo snacks.  It turns out they do not like them, however, Kelsey and Ashley found out desert chipmunks like wheat thins (said in Stewie Griffin voice). My team (Taylor Rachel, and I) ended up winning the best shot with a stellar performance of four under par.  Every time we got a birdie we made sure to scream as loud as we could so the group behind us (which included Coach) could hear us.  Everyone had a fun time at the course with just a little teammate competitiveness. 

            After we were done golfing, we ate at Port of Subs.  We all enjoyed watching Jeopardy on the TV while eating.  Turns out Kelsey, Ashley, and Coach know their Jeopardy.  Our supper got cut a little short due to Jill getting a wee bit to much sun.

Coach, Taylor, and Jill had to go to urgent care so Jill could get treated for hives/heat rash.  She is okay so there is no need to panic! 

This group closed out the day with three straight birdies.

             Currently, we are all chilling at the house watching Harry Potter and enjoying our wonderful sunburns/tans.

 Hope the snow is melting!

 Emily

Jill is feeling much better and having Taylor with her in the waiting room was much needed comic relief, for Jill, not the other people she was creeping on. Side picture below, haha.

Before….

…after.

New Friends and New Family

More new friends

New friends.

Enjoying dinner outside, great weather!!

The team with Phil VDB.

            The team got off to an early start this morning! We were up bright and early for our round with the Ladies League at Arrowhead Country Club, hosted by Phil and Izzie VanDenBerg. After our round we sat down for a great lunch with our new friends.

            Back at home we spent yet another afternoon by the pool. Since we had an early morning and a long day we opted to stay in for family dinner. We were treated to a five star meal by our personal chefs, Ashley, Kelsey, and Rachel. As we ate our chicken alfredo and garlic bread we discussed the highs and lows of our day. After we finished eating we sat around the table and had “family time,” talking about golf, college, and everything in between. It is times like this when I realize just how lucky I am to have found a place like Central. In theory the only thing we all have in common is golf, but in reality we share a much larger bond. We have grown from strangers to teammates to sisters.

Well, now that we have reached today’s cheesy limit, we concluded the night with some more FroYo, because you can never have enough. We are all back at home now unwinding and getting ready for our round tomorrow. In the morning we will head to our next challenge, The Raven at Varrado.

Thanks to all the family and friends back at home for supporting us on this trip! It means so much to everyone on the team!

Jill Huffman

First round down!!

Today started off much like yesterday. We girls slowly rolled out of bed and made our way down stairs for breakfast and hanging out. We spent another morning outside working on our tan. We had a fun day at the pool, throwing the football around and making Harlem Shake videos (don’t worry they will be on Facebook for you all to enjoy as well).

            Finally it was time for us to head to the course for our first official round of golf. We played at Ocotillo Golf Club and even got to play on the side that our house sits on. We managed to get all 18 holes in right before the sun set for the night. We all had some fun on the course laughing and getting to hang out with each other while doing what we came here to do. Some of us had some good days and some of us were just glad to have the first round done and under our belt.

            We are all back at the house now just hanging out and resting before we turn in for the night before an early round of golf tomorrow.

-

Love seeing all these palm trees.

Chelsey

First round here we come.

What a par 3!!

Wet toast and green grass…

 On this fine spring morning, most of us got the chance to sleep in.  When we woke up, we all ate breakfast…some of us more than others.  I was really impressed with the toaster so I tested it four times.  All four times I was extremely satisfied.  (Don’t worry Mom, I had grapes too!)  After breakfast, we all put on our swimsuits and went out to the pool to tan.  We bummed around outside for almost two hours, but eventually the heat was too much!  We checked the temperature and it was a balmy 54.  Iowa weather has really taken its toll on our internal thermostats.

            After our showers, we ate lunch and everyone got to see me at my best….watching Creighton basketball.  I was running around the house, yelling polite words at the TV, and screaming at every made basket.  Luckily, my personal embarrassment paid off as Creighton won their conference tournament!

            Around 1:00, we headed to the course for our first outdoor practice of the spring.  We got a lot accomplished, and were happy to hit off real grass instead of artificial turf!  After practice, we had to go stock up on more groceries.  Luckily, Coach didn’t ask if he could get a discount because he had to go shopping with a van full of college girls.  When we got back to the house, we all went back to the pool and hung out while Coach cooked dinner.  I was the first innocent victim to get pushed into the pool fully clothed.  I think that was Jill’s payback for when I threw my sock into her Mom’s pumpkin bars.  We had a wonderful steak dinner, and are now beginning an intense pool tournament.  For results, tune into ESPN’s Not Top 10.

            On a side note, I would like to wish my Dad a wonderful and happy 50^th birthday.  I hope you had a wonderful day and Nathan waited on you hand and foot.

Enjoy the cold weather!

Taylor

Rachel is not messing around

Putting

Putting practice

Great form!!

All together after practice…now lets eat!!

Taylor just trying to fit in.

…after.

Before…

Day of Firsts…

Today was a day of many firsts. It was my first time at an airport, first time on a plane, first time to the state of Arizona, and my first spring break in college. The day started very early for most of us, especially when you are so excited to leave in the morning you hardly sleep. We all arrived at green lot by 8:15 a.m. with smiley faces and eager to get on the bus. That is when we encountered our first problem.

The trunk of the bus was locked and we were unable to unlock it, so we packed all of our red duffle bags and golf travel cases inside of the bus itself. The bus was packed to the brim with 18 LARGE BAGS! It was miserable trying to figure out a way for everything to fit, but it did.

We arrived at the airport and checked in our bags first. Jill Huffman was a rebel packing her red bag to a mere 49.5 pounds. The limit is 50 pounds… We moved through the airport smoothly and even stopped by the CentralCollege wall to snap a photo before passing through security.

The first time through security was interesting to say the least. Kelsey’s hair was searched because apparently her hair is poofy enough to contain a small bomb.

We sat in the terminal for over an hour waiting to board the first plane. Taylor was being a pain in my side trying to make me nervous for my first flight, but I didn’t let her get in my head. We boarded the plane and the pilot sang the ISU fight song to all the passengers. It was raining quite a bit so we had to wait about ten minutes on the runway before takeoff.

The plane gained speed and we were off of the ground! My exact quote as we were taking off “This is so much better than a rollercoaster! I love this!” The flight to Chicago was very fast and we had to wait in Midway airport for another hour before our next flight to Phoenix.

We arrived at the Phoenix airport (it’s huge!) and went on a small journey to find all of our baggage. All eight of us girls surrounded ourselves around the conveyor belt to make room for again 18 red bags and golf travel cases. Some of the girls may argue we were in a shape of a trapezoid, or rhombus, or hexagon, or whatever shape one can think of. Ashley didn’t care; she just wanted to get our stuff and get out of the airport! Coach left us in charge of all the bags while he went by cab to get the van. He called and said that he would be at door 6 in a few minutes, so we moved all 18 bags outside to wait for him. We get the call minutes after everything is moved out of the airport that coach is at door 7. We look at each other in disbelief as we angrily move those bags back through the airport to the opposite side to the van.

With the van full of college girls and packed to the top with bags, we head to THIS MOST AWESOMEST HOUSE EVER!

We are all unpacked, already bought groceries, told each other our highs and lows of today, and enjoying the laughter of our random pictures we took so far. Golfing starts tomorrow at 1:00 and we are all exited for nice weather, grass, and soon tans.

-Rachel Cassens

The trip begins!!

Last look at snow for a week…we hope!!

Proud to be Dutch in the DSM!

All lined up and ready to go.

Jill wasn’t going to miss being in this photo.

The final countdown!!

More snow…hitting inside…stocking caps and big coats…ENOUGH!!  The countdown to our annual spring trip has begun, or for some people has been going on for some time.  The team will be departing from campus on Saturday morning making brief stops in Des Moines and Chicago, before landing in Phoenix for a week of sun, fun and most important…golf.  This blog will serve as a daily recap of what the team is doing from the players perspective.  We encourage you to follow along, enjoy, and leave messages and comments for the team as we go.