Sometimes you stumble upon some wild stuff on Twitter.
Today’s find was this story from Golfweek about Shattuck-St. Mary’s new on-campus indoor golf facility.
I find this pretty interesting. Shattuck is a fancy expensive prep school about an hour south of Minneapolis in the town of Faribault. The school has become something of a hockey power as current NHLers Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews and Zach Parise all attended the school.
Now the school has spent north of $500,000 on a golf practice facility. Details from the story:
The facility includes a 2,800-square-foot turf room with a putting and chipping green, a 550-square-foot video and putting analysis room with JC Video software and TOMI putting system, a 700-square-foot study room, locker rooms and offices.
“Our whole goal was to mimic some of the top facilities in the Midwest, look at their facilities and try to emulate as best as we could those things they have and what would give our kids the best opportunity to practice and call a home,” Higdon said.
The program has players from all over the world. And the coaching staff features a PGA pro/former DI college coach and a former Big Ten women’s golfer/mini-tour player.
The team plays golf nationwide and it appears that the players are going to get regular good instruction. To say this is different than the high school golf experience I had would be a huge understatement.
Only Golf Matters 
If I were a Shattuck parent or graduate, I would find it nauseating that my school would spend half a million dollars on a golf practice facility. How can that possibly be a school’s best use of half a million dollars? I say this as a *fanatical* golfer.
I agree to a point.However, it does excite me to see a northern school make the investment into golf. I worry about the growth of the game in the next 10-20 years. The popularity has definitely leveled off since the Tiger Woods boom last decade and clubs are starting to feel the impact of this. If our area can develop more top tier golfers (amateur and pro) I believe the youth will take notice and in turn it will help keep the game as relevant as it is today. Maybe I’m still bitter about having to wear a parka in late March and having to knock it around the frozen tundra of Meadowlark CC in Melrose 15 years ago. haha