The Valparaiso University men’s golf program has announced its schedule for the 2024-25 season, which will feature 11 tournaments including five in the fall and six in the spring culminating with the 2025 Missouri Valley Conference Championship on April 20-22 hosted by Drake at Des Moines Golf & Country Club in Des Moines, Iowa.
“In my 14 years of coaching, this will be the strongest schedule that we have ever competed within a full season,” head coach Dave Gring said. “We are thrilled with the opportunities that both our fall and spring season present and the ten tournaments will prepare us very well for the Missouri Valley Championship in late April 2025. We are blessed to have the opportunity to play at championship-style golf courses in beautiful cities, both within and outside the country."
The journey to that championship begins in Browns Summit, N.C. as the Beacons compete in the Bryan National Collegiate, hosted by UNC Greensboro at Bryan Park Golf Club on Sept. 8-10. The team will make consecutive trips to the Centennial State as Valpo partakes in Colorado State’s Ram Masters Invitational (Sept. 17-18 at Fort Collins CC in Fort Collins, Colo.) and Colorado University’s Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational (Sept. 30-Oct. 1 at Colorado National GC in Erie, Colo.).
A head-to-head showdown with DePaul will take place on Oct. 7 as the Demons vs. Beacons Challenge occurs at The Dunes Club in New Buffalo, Mich. The fall campaign will conclude with the team’s second straight season voyaging to Monterrey, Mexico for George Washington’s Monterrey Collegiate Classic at Club Campestre Monterrey on Oct. 25-26.
“We have three new events that we will compete in this fall,” Gring said. “We will travel to Browns Summit, North Carolina and play in the University of North Carolina Greensboro's tournament for the first time. Our second event will be at Colorado State in Fort Collins, CO. We haven't played in that event since 2016. Lastly, we added a dual event with DePaul University at the prestigious Dunes Club in New Buffalo, Mich. Many golf aficionados consider The Dunes Club the ‘Pine Valley of the Midwest’ and the ‘best nine-hole course anywhere.’
The spring slate begins the same way the fall docket ends – with a destination trip. For the second consecutive season, Valpo will head to Dorado, Puerto Rico for UNC Greensboro’s Dorado Beach Collegiate at TPC Dorado Beach on Feb. 23-25. The team will head to the GCU Invitational hosted by Grand Canyon in Phoenix for the fourth straight season on March 11-12. For the second consecutive year, the Mobile Bay Collegiate is on the docket, this time from March 23-25 at RTJ Magnolia Grove Falls in Mobile, Ala.
The Golfweek/AGT Intercollegiate is on the schedule for the third straight year as the Beacons head to True Blue GC in Myrtle Beach, S.C. on March 31-April 2. The final tune-up prior to the conference championship will be the Hoosier Collegiate, hosted by Indiana University, at the Pfau Course in Bloomington on April 5-6. This will be the seventh time total and the fourth straight year that Valpo has played in that event.
“Within our spring schedule, we will return to San Juan, Puerto Rico and compete in the Dorado Beach Collegiate for the second consecutive year,” Gring said. “We will compete over Spring Break in Phoenix, Ariz. for the fifth consecutive year and then play in quality tournaments in Mobile, Ala., Myrtle Beach, S.C. and Bloomington, Ind., prior to our championship in Des Moines, Iowa. The team is ready to take the momentum they developed from their summer tournaments and start competing this fall.”
Head coach Dave Gring’s program will hope to continue its tradition of excellence in 2024-25 including a run of particularly successful seasons in recent years. Valpo has sent at least one individual to NCAA postseason competition in each of the last three seasons, and the team as a whole has competed in a national postseason tournament in back-to-back years.