The Saluki men’s golf team began working out to get physically and mentally stronger for the spring season.

The team is training at the Troutt-Wittmann Center every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for roughly an hour.

“The kids are working in the weight room three days a week,” Coach Leroy Newton said. “They are going to be a lot stronger and they are going to be ready to go when the spring season starts.”

Newton said he expects the team will get stronger and likely improve its scores.

“I hope strength improves their scores,” Newton said. “We hope by them working out, and getting some legs under them that they will score better in the end.”

Newton said some team members are working out more often than required three days a week.

Junior Steven Souchek said he has a specific workout tailored to the extra time he has during the offseason, which he used so far to catch up on school, sleep and working out.

“We get a chance to focus on our studies a little more,” Souchek said. “But it also gives us a chance to work out a lot more, get stronger, and help the physical part of our games.”

Sophomore Drew Novara and Souchek both took a short break after the team’s last tournament on Oct. 15. Novara said he is getting back into golf mentality and has been working out with Souchek nearly every day.

“I’m starting to get back into the swing of things,” Novara said. “I just need to make sure the practice is focused on quality and not quantity, and I am really looking forward for the spring season to start.”

Novara said the offseason has gone better than expected thus far, and the athletes have all impressed the trainers.

“Everybody on the team has been working hard,” Novara said. “The trainers in there have been really impressed with the way we have progressed from last year.”

Newton said as the offseason progresses, the team will start running as well as lifting to get the athletes’ legs built up as much as possible. The golfers walk up to 36 holes a day, and by the back end of it they will need to have strong legs, he said.

The men’s golf team will begin its spring season shortly after winter break. Newton expects the team to compete a lot better after the productive offseason.

“We are looking forward to it,” Newton said. “The kids keep getting better and better so I think we will be all right. We have five to seven kids that can play and we hope when tournament time comes around, they will be ready to play.”